Viewers need not be fans of dystopian literature to be engaged by a short video that traces the development of the genre from Plato to the present. Gulliver's Travels, The Time Machine, The Iron Heel, Brave New World, Animal Farm, and We...

Wouldn't it be great to live an a community without pain, without danger? Such a society is the goal of the community in The Giver. Using Lois Lowry's dystopian novel as the core text, class members read primary source materials about...

How does a society influence and shape individuals? Class members ponder this essential question as they read Lord of the Flies, as well as primary source materials about the historical background of the novel. As a final assessment,...

If you are considering adding or expanding a unit on utopian and dystopian literature you simply must check out this fabulous resource. Packed with plans, activities, project-based and 21st century learning opportunities, the unit uses a...

America was founded by dreamers, and the American dream still resonates in our country today. Track the American dream from its Puritan beginnings to its optimistic descendants with a instructional activity that focuses on speeches by...

Known as one of the most iconic advertisements of the 20th century, Macintosh's "1984" commercial has become more of a social statement. Present the ad to a new audience of viewers with a lesson focused on identifying dystopian...

The odds will be in your favor that young statisticians will volunteer to participate in this experiment. After watching a short video that is part of the PBS Math at the Core middle school collection, scholars engage in a lottery and...

Margaret Atwood calls her novel The Handmaid's Tale "speculative fiction" because she claims everything in the story has happened, is continuing to happen, and could happen again. With an interactive resource, learners examine three...

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is the focus of a Great American Read video that urges viewers to read this dystopian novel about a villainous society that oppresses women and minority groups.

Words matter. Words frame thought. Words are symbolic. Readers of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale examine how the words In Gilead's "New Language" reinforce the power of the government and provided insight into the symbolic level...

Talk about a teaser! A short video from the PBS series, The Great American Read, offers just enough information about Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale to fascinate viewers and have them reaching for the book. The author asserts she...

Ready Player One has been praised as a novel that captures the vitality, the allure, and the essence of the virtual reality experience. Speakers in a short video share their rationale for why Ernest Clines' dystopian novel should be...

Reverend Katrina Foster offers her rationale for why Winston Smith, the tragic hero of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, is her favorite literary character.

Doublethink and alternate facts? Big Brother and Facebook? 1984 and 2019? Sales of 1984 have surged and so has the use of George Orwell's dystopian classic in classrooms. Whether new to teaching the novel or a seasoned veteran you'll...

The burning questions is at what point do readers of Fahrenheit 451 recognize the many literary devices Ray Bradbury employs in his dystopian classic that warns of  a society that uses media to indoctrinate the public and denigrates...

The official motto of the World State, the unified government in Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel Brave New World, is "Community, Identity, Stability." Scholars explore how the motto is depicted in the text by answering comprehension questions...

Watch out! According to the tenets of Animalism, the philosophy of the revolting pigs in Animal Farm, anything walking on two legs is an enemy. With the novel study, pupils answer questions based on the first chapter of the classic...

Explore a dystopian world where independent thinking is outlawed ... in 1984. Learners invent similes and answer questions about the first two chapters of the famous novel. Next, pupils identify parts of speech from the text and complete...

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949, can seem strangely prophetic when compared to modern news events and politics. Readers of Orwell's dystopian classic sharpen their critical thinking skills by engaging in a shared...

Warning or prediction? Nineteen Eighty Four is the anchor text for a series of tasks that ask readers to compare the novel to the film as well as current events to those pictured in George Orwell's dystopian classic.

Whether you're new to using Nineteen Eighty Four in the classroom or you're an Orwell veteran, the materials in this teacher's guide are a valuable addition to your curriculum. The suggested activities prompt readers to create a newspeak...

The depth of Nineteen Eighty Four is in the details. Encourage a close reading of Orwell's dystopian classic with resource sheets that focus attention on the author's stylistic choices that lead to the betrayals that make Big Brother's...

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, published in 1985, remains a timeless and cautionary tale. Naomi Mercer offers a cogent argument for why Atwood's speculative fiction should should be a part of the modern language arts canon.