"1984" - George Orwell Lesson Plans

 

If you own a Kindle, and you want to read George Orwell's classic "1984", you are out of luck. It  was recently erased from the list of available titles, and Kindle customers were not notified of its removal until the title was already gone. Many news organizations covered the "1984" Kindle controversy, including the New York Times. Orwell's dystopian classic "1984" details government interference into personal privacy, the overtaking of the airwaves, and severe restriction of individual freedoms -reasons that make this real life erasing of the Kindle version so eerie. Who's responsible for the high-tech instant killing of the classic? Was it "The Party", "The Department of Records" or was it.... "Big Brother"?  It was actually Amazon who pulled the illegal cyber-copy of the classic off Kindle. Customers were not amused.

Hmmmm. Interesting. What would George Orwell have said? Personally, I think George was "spot on" with his predictions about the "dumming" down of society through elimination of words, and the media's influence on the collective social psyche. After all, with the advent of webcams, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites where folks post everything from "I'm out walking the dog", to "I'm going to sleep now", the concept of Big Brother isn't as outlandish as once thought.

The next series of lessons talks about how teachers can use George Orwell, and the dystopian classic "1984" in the classroom.  As students look at current events that affect privacy, and read "1984" they'll be able to make connections between Orwell's dystopia, and current events within our own nation and government.  From this knowledge they'll be able to create their own opinions about privacy, security, and government influence.

Lessons About The "1984" Phenomena:

Orwellian Activities

Although this lesson very loosely suggests activities that help students master the inherent themes within the Orwell classic "1984", the ideas presented within it are quite useful. Some suggestions include: keeping a diary to express privacy and write freely (like Winston Smith in the book did - although he was rebelling against the government), researching past and present communist leaders, creating political cartoons, and designing t-shirts or posters with warnings from "1984" that may be relevant to modern day security. Once an activity from this lesson is selected, in addition to implementing the lesson's activity, I would also have students write a compare/contrast essay using governmental "security" examples from the book "1984" with current government security issues, to see how they are alike, and how they are different. Students could then form their own opinions about government security.

What We Can Learn From 1984

This lesson is full of material and discussion fodder.  Students make connections between what was going on during the time that Orwell wrote the book "1984". They explore the events that were going on in Europe and the United States (Great Depression, Rise of Stalin, etc.) in 1949. Teachers are asked to write the word "privacy" on an overhead or LMO, and students are asked to divide their papers into two columns-one column representing 1949 and one column representing today.  Issues such as "corporate drug testing", "video surveillance", and "employers monitoring employees' emails" are also listed. Students break into groups and research, discuss and present their opinions and findings on these topics and how these topics are related to "1984". Finally, students act out scenes that depict potential scenarios that the issues covered within the lesson could yield.  For example, a scene might include an employee who's been fired due to her boss's reading of emails. One group member might play the employee, another might play the attorney, another might play the boss. The scenes must also include a reference to "1984". These are great ways to improve students' interpersonal skills, vocabulary, political awareness, history, and exposure to great literature. Because students will already be using the Internet to conduct research on such issues, perhaps finding real life cases of these kinds of situations in current news outlets might also be another way to reinforce the material.

Oceania

Students write a paper in this lesson comparing the Dictatorship in 1984's Oceania to that of any other dictator past or present.  After finishing the book, students pick a totalitarian regime that is similar to  Oceania's. After looking up links, and researching other countries and leaders in dictatorships, students note the human rights abuses that were exercised in the book "1984". With all of this information, students write a final paper discussing these topics, which is then turned into a student web page with all student papers. I like the way this lesson has a culminating task that is showcased on the web, combining writing with technology. Students might also benefit from graphic organizers, like t-charts and bubble maps to organize their ideas before putting them into rough drafts so that the countries and governments researched, and abuses highlighted in the book, can be organized efficiently.

Privacy at Princeton

The evaluation of privacy and security is the essential theme that runs throughout this lesson.  The lesson starts with two columns on the board-privacy and security. Students list what they think each means. Students read an article about a security/privacy issue that transpired on the campus of Princeton University.  They answer questions about their reading and then create a survey that deals with the issue of privacy and security.  I like the survey development aspect of this lesson, but think there should be some kind of "1984" tie in. Students could make a list of the ways the article read in class is similar to events that happened in "1984".