Content and Pedagogy Unit for Theory and Concepts



Context

This Content and Pedagogy Unit will be implemented at Aurora Central High School in an 11th grade English class. Aurora Public Schools have a total enrollment of 33,000 comprised of 49% Hispanic students 25% White students, 21% Black students, 4% Asian students and 1 % Native American students. The common vision of the district is to graduate every student with the choice to attend college without remediation. Their mission is to teach every student the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to enter college or a career and become a contributing member of society who flourishes in a diverse, dynamic world. APS middle and high school students benefit from a comprehensive arts program that includes theater, music and visual arts. APS middle and high school students learn individual and team skills through our athletic programs. Adequate Yearly Progress reports are mandated in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The intent of AYP is to measure whether schools are on track for making proficiency targets set by the state and federal governments. By 2014, 100 percent of students are targeted to be proficient. This year, Aurora Central did not meet the requirement. ()

In 2005, the state average for reading levels of Colorado 10th graders was in the 66th percentile; 9th grade was 65, 8th was 64. However, regarding the 2004-05 “exceptional ability” category boasts the 90th percentile across grade 4 through 10, the highest at 97 for Colorado 5th graders. ()

The Aurora Community is vast with a variety of different demographics. At Aurora Central High School in Adams-Arapahoe 28, address 11700 East 11th Ave., 2,195 students attended during the 2003-2004 school year. There were 115 teachers on staff, giving Aurora Central a student to teacher ratio of 19 to 2. The school is 9th grade through 12th with 924 Freshmen, 535 Sophomores, 410 Juniors and 326 seniors. 61% of the student population is Hispanic, 16% is Caucasian, 20% is African American and the final 3% included both Asian and Native American students. The number of students gets significantly lower as the grade level increases because the drop out rate is a significant problem ().

In my classroom itself, there are 30 students of the aforementioned ethnic and cultural backgrounds. There are twice as many female students as males. Twenty-eight of the 30 students are just under the proficiency for 11th grade reading, meaning two students are at the 11th grade reading level. Eight students are at 4th, 5th and 6th grade reading levels. The other 20 students are at 8th, 9th and 10th grade reading levels. A text analysis of Fahrenheit 451 placed it at an 8th grade level, which dictates the need for attention concerning the less than proficient students do. Therefore, the entire novel will be read in class except for the very end and several differentiated extensions of lessons are included.

As mentioned, this unit was designed to be taught to 11th graders. Due to the seriousness and depth of the topic, maturity and experience is required to understand this unit completely. This topic may not be appropriate for conservative schools or religious schools. This is a subject to address at the beginning of the year. If there is parental

objection to any part of the unit, I will adapt it to only include the reading of the text with discussion, or provide a less offensive text with applicable differences in instruction.

Introduction, Rationale and Overview of Unit

Censorship has played a major role in our student’s education. It controls what teachers are allowed to teach, thus controlling what students learn. Due to this, it is important for students to be introduced to this concept and to the effects it has on literature and readers. Understanding the topic of censorship and the many roles it plays will allow students to think critically about how censorship affects them and others and to think critically about their own position on the subject. During this six-week unit, students will read and critically analyze Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 to develop a personal understanding of the text and how censorship plays a role in their lives. As Alsup and Bush said so eloquently, “Many of us became English teachers because we were readers. We had that special moment as young adolescents when we were lost in a book” (Alsup and Bush, 2003, p.1). My goal is to help create this for my students, hopefully with this novel and many others.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury takes place in an unspecified future time where self indulgence and fanatical anti-intellectualism has Americans completely abandoning restraint and forbidding the possession of books. In this dark future world, ignorance and censorship breed to create a dystopia of lonely, loveless, emotionally disconnected people whose only hero Montage chooses to defy his society by questioning why their Firemen burn books rather than read them. In his realization that people are now only entertained by in-ear radios and an interactive forms of television, Montag opposes all societal, governmental and super organized reason by questioning defiantly, why? In three parts, Bradbury illustrates the results of severe censorship and the loss of the value and worth of family and relationships in favor of entertainment and individually motivated lives. When Montag opposes this structured civilization by murdering his fire chief he is forced to hide outside the city walls where he finds a new culture of people who memorize books in order to keep them alive when nearly all of humanity is dying. In the end, Montag escapes with his new friends while the rampant apathy towards the significance of literature and history results in war, destruction and the ultimate disintegration of society.

The novel reflects several major concerns of the time of its writing, The Cold War including the “thought-destroying force" of censorship in the 1950s as well as the book-burnings in Nazi Germany starting in 1933 and finally the horrible consequences of the explosion of a nuclear weapon (). Bradbury illustrates these very real fears metaphorically in his fiction novel. Therefore, the essential question I will pose is, what does it mean to be free.

This novel will appeal to high school juniors and seniors because it’s subversive; students are innately inclined to disregard that which is acceptable and migrate towards materials that may be considered rebellious. It could easily be taught in conjunction with a film, or parts of films. In my imagined classroom I want to emphasize that with the technological saturation our society now experiences, this book speaks to the very real importance of literature as a tangible history of humankind. There are very real comparisons between Mildred’s Seashell and Bluetooth cell phones. People today surround themselves with enormous flat screen televisions synonymous with the “Family” in Montag’s living room parlor. Commercials today advertise our ability to take all our favorite TV channels with us in our cars, on our phones, in our ears constantly, slowly but deliberately severing important soulful connections between one another. My education is in Film Writing and I hope to incorporate movies engaging the students in thoughtful discussions about literature while incorporating different, interesting methods of literacy in order to include and motivate everyone.

Essentially, I want the students to leave my classroom asking themselves, if we are not careful, could this be a realistic future? Aren’t we already stripped of our freedom in many ways? They should be able to understand and answer the essential question from several different approaches.

Fahrenheit 451 was the most important element of this Unit. It provides the backbone to the study of government control, censorship and the meaning of true freedom. The novel is also a classic piece of literature; a piece that due to extensive references made throughout any educational career makes it very important to be familiar with. In addition, Fahrenheit 451 is a metaphorical critique of what Bradbury saw as an increasingly dysfunctional American society. The current American society has many of the same traits therefore references made in the novel are applicable today. This book makes its reader think about the story within it with reference to the real world.

Fahrenheit 451 is the most useful source included in this bibliography because it is the central novel of the unit. The other sources were supplementary to this, helping explain and validate the content of Fahrenheit. The information students will glean from this novel is reliable with the understanding that it is a work of fiction and should be regarded as such. The goal of using this source is to initiate conceptual thinking and understanding of the relationship between fiction and reality.

The Bill of Rights puts forth in this unit by providing the framework for thoughtful discussions about the nature of freedom.

Ginsberg referred to his poem Howl as, "a lament for the Lamb in America with instances of remarkable lamb-like youths," Part I communicates scenes, characters, and situations drawn from Ginsberg's personal experience as well as from the community of poets, artists, political radicals, jazz-musicians, drug-addicts, and psychiatric patients whom he encountered in the late 1940s and early '50s. Ginsberg says that Part II, in relation to Part I, "names the monster of mental consciousness that preys on the Lamb". Part II is a rant about the state of industrial civilization, characterized in the poem as Moloch. Ginsberg was inspired to write Part II during a period of peyote-induced visionary consciousness in which he saw a hotel façade as a monstrous and horrible visage, which he identified with that of God. Moloch is the biblical idol in Leviticus-in the Bible-to whom the Canaanites sacrificed children. Ginsberg intends that the characters he portrays in Part I be understood to have been sacrificed to this idol.

Part III, in relation to Parts I and II, is "a litany of affirmation of the Lamb in its glory" according to Ginsberg. It is directly addressed to Carl Solomon, whom Ginsberg met during a brief stay at a psychiatric hospital in 1949; called "Rockland" in the poem, it was actually Columbia Presbyterian Psychological Institute. This section is notable for its refrain, "I'm with you in Rockland," and represents something of a turning-point away from the grim tone of the "Moloch"-section. Of the structure, Ginsberg says Part III is, "pyramidal, with a graduated longer response to the fixed base.

Learner Outcomes

The Colorado Content Standards regarding Reading and Writing for the 11th grade are to be followed in this unit.

Standard ONE states, Students read and understand a variety of materials. Students in this unit will be challenged to read literature and other materials that stimulate their interests and intellectual abilities. Reading from a wide variety of texts, both assigned and student selected, provides experience in gaining information and pleasure from diverse forms and perspectives. Standard TWO: Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences. Writing and speaking are essential tools for learning, for success in the world. Developing a range of writing and speaking abilities requires continued study, practice, and thinking. Students will have many opportunities to write and speak for different audiences and purposes in this unit, therefore they need to be able to communicate expressively, informatively, and analytically. Growth in writing and speaking abilities occurs by applying skills to increasingly challenging communication tasks. Standard THREE says, Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. Students need to know and be able to use the English language. Proficiency in this standard plays an important role in how the writer or speaker is understood and perceived. Standard FOUR indicates, Students should apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. By moving beyond a literal interpretation of text to an analysis of an author's, speaker's, or director's purpose and perspectives, students practice and improve their higher-level thinking skills. Students need to recognize and evaluate different points of view and to follow a line of reasoning to its logical conclusion. Students need to think about their writing and reading skills and work toward improvement. Standard FIVE supports the use of supplementary texts in that, Students read to locate, select, and make use of relevant information from a variety of media, reference, and technological sources. In this age of information and technology, people need reading and information-retrieval skills that will enable them to access facts, images, and text from many sources. The sheer volume of data makes it necessary for information seekers to be able to wade through a maze of facts, figures, and images, and to identify what is useful and relevant. Finally, Standard SIX is the most applicable and important task the students will have. Students read and recognize literature as a record of human experience. This gives meaning to the entire unit; students should adhere to this first as a question and use all the information they gain in the unit to answer it for themselves ().

The basic assumptions made about the students before beginning this unit are that students at this age are passionate about their convictions. It is assumed that students have had first hand experience with censorship. It is assumed that censorship plays a large role in the lives of 12th grade students. It is assumed that students will be mature in their handling of the issues presented in the novel

Explanation and Definition of Key Terms

The key terms and/or concepts I will be covering with your students are italicized. The novel reflects several major concerns of the time of its writing, which has led to many interpreting it differently than intended by Bradbury. This unit will therefore investigate different themes and controversies involved with the primary novel. Amongst the themes attributed to the novel were what Bradbury has called "the thought-destroying force" of censorship in the 1950s, the book-burnings in Nazi Germany starting in 1933 and the horrible consequences of the explosion of a nuclear weapon. "I meant all kinds of tyrannies anywhere in the world at any time, right, left, or middle", Bradbury has said ().

Other themes attributed to the novel that students will question and explore are the conflict if individual vs. his society and feelings of alienation. Students can make relatable connections with this as angst ridden adolescents. They will also be aware of the vital importance of Literature as a source of knowledge and history regarding the human race. Students will discuss the current value placed on entertainment over family, relationships and individually motivated lives. Students will learn what propaganda means and how is can motivate decision making through the use of argumentative fallacies. According to , propaganda “is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of large numbers of people. Propaganda presents information in order to influence its audience. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience.” Students will also learn about censorship, defined as the suppression or deletion of objectionable information, as determined by a censor, supervising public morality (). Students will be able to recognize examples of censorship in their own lives. Finally, the most important theme of this novel is the value and power of knowledge as opposed to ignorance and how knowledge leads to freedom. Ignorance is like living in a vast world full of light, but spending inside a dark cave. Students will understand this metaphor and be able to step out of that cave to gain concrete knowledge of their world and thus the freedom to explore it.

Assessment and Grading Plan

The final assessment of this unit will be a critical, thoughtful essay. This assessment encompasses all the element of the unit in one. Students will use the analytical thinking they learned form the various specific lessons and apply that to choosing an essay subject. They will articulate their ideas clearly in writing from what they learn in the unit’s vocabulary lessons. They may use their journal entries as well as their journal entries as ideas for their final essay topic. The student’s presentations will be a visual supplement to their final essay. The final essay will be worth 100 points and will be graded using the following rubric.

| Topic/Idea Development |

| Less than 50% | 50-60% | 60-70% | 70-80% | 80-90% | 90- 100 % |

|▫Little topic/ideas|▫Limited or weak |▫Rudimentary topic/idea|▫ Moderate |▫ Full topic/idea |▫ Rich and engaging |

|development, |topic/idea |development and/or |topic/idea |development |topic/idea |

|organization and/or|development, |organization |development and |▫ Logical |Careful and/or subtle |

|details |organization or |▫Basic supporting |organization |organization |organization |

|▫Little or no |details |details |▫ Adequate, relevant|▫ Strong Details |▫ Effective use of |

|awareness of |▫Limited awareness |▫Simplistic language |details |▫Appropriate use of |language |

|audience or task |of audience or task | |▫ Some variety in |language | |

| | | |language | | |

| Notes/Comments |

| | |Nicely Done |Needs Improvement |

|Topic Development |The overall effect of the essay |▫ clearly stated thesis |▫ unclear or missing thesis |

| | |▫ clear, concise, original |▫ weak, unfocused introduction |

| | |introduction |▫ unfocused or underdeveloped |

| | |▫ body paragraphs reflect and |body paragraphs |

| | |develop thesis |▫ missing weak or unclear |

| | |▫ conclusion nicely |conclusion |

| | |summarizes/completes the essay |▫ incorrect or incomplete |

| | |▫ thorough and correct response |response to the chosen prompt |

| | |to the chosen prompt | |

|Organization |The degree to which the essay |▫ effective pre-writing |▫ ineffective pre-writing |

| |is: |▫ consistently focused from |▫ unfocused, lacks focus unity |

| |▪ focused |beginning to end |and coherence |

| |▪ clearly and logically ordered |▫ effective use of paragraphs |▫ poor organization in |

| |▪ clarified by paragraphs and |▫ effective use of transitions |paragraphs |

| |transitions | |▫ no transitions |

|Details |The degree to which the essay |▫ carefully chosen, relevant |▫ need more effective choice of|

| |includes details and examples |details |relevant details |

| |that develop the main ideas |▫ details show instead of just |▫ development stops at listing |

| | |tell | |

|Language and Style |The degree to which the use of |▫ varied sentence structure |▫ needs more variety in |

| |language, including vocabulary, |▫ word choice enhances meaning |sentence structure |

| |word choice, clarity, and |▫ shows a personal and unique |▫ needs a richness in word |

| |sentence variety enhances the |tone, voice and style |choice |

| |essay | |▫ lacks distinct or personal |

| | | |tone, voice and style |

| Sentence Structure, Mechanics and Grammar |

| Needs Improvement | Moderate | Excellent | Superior |

|▪ Errors seriously interfere |▪ Errors interfere somewhat with|▪ Errors do not interfere with |▪ Control of sentence |

|with communication of ideas |communication of ideas |communication |structure, grammar, usage and |

|▪ Little control of sentence |▪ Too many errors relative to |▪ Few errors relative to length |mechanics (length and |

|structure, grammar and mechanics|the length of the essay or |of essay or complexity of |complexity of essay provide |

| |complexity of sentence |sentence structure, grammar, |opportunity for student to show|

| |structure, grammar, usage and |usage and mechanics |control of standard English |

| |mechanics | |conventions |

| Notes/Comments |

| | | Nicely Done | Needs Improvement |

|Sentences |The degree to which the essay |▫ clear and correctly structured|▫ unclear, awkward or incorrect|

| |includes sentences that are |sentences |sentence structure |

| |clear and correct in structure | | |

|Grammar and Usage |The degree to which the essay |▫ shows understanding of |▫ incorrect application of |

| |demonstrates correct |grammatical rules |grammatical rules |

| |▪ use of standard grammatical |▫ control of word choice and |▫ incorrect, inappropriate word|

| |rules of English |usage |usage |

| |▪ word usage and vocabulary | |▫ use of slang |

|Mechanics |The degree to which the essay |▫ evidence of proofreading |▫ needs more careful |

| |demonstrates correct |▫ control of spelling, |proofreading |

| |▪ spelling |capitalization and punctuation |▫ incorrect spelling |

| |▪ capitalization |adds clarity |▫ incorrect use of |

| |▪ punctuation |▫ essay shows advanced knowledge|capitalization |

| | |of mechanics |▫ incorrect use of punctuation |

Students will also be assessed informally throughout the unit using Exit Slips, Journal entries, short quizzes and test as well as participation in class, especially Socratic Seminar. Exit Slips will not receive a grade, just evidence of completion. Journal Entries will be read and I will provide students with notes and suggestions, again only assessed for evidence of completion. The short quizzes and test are to make sure the students are completing the reading a participating in class. They also allow me to know if I need to modify my instruction and schedule to accommodate students who are falling behind. In addition, these informal assessments allow for more points in the student’s final grade. Socratic Seminar is an activity where the students can share their ideas thoughts and analysis of the text. For those students who demonstrate understanding through verbal assessment this applies to them as well. My rational for these choices is to provide the students with as many different ways as possible to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the material. It is important to attack a topic from various angles in order to understand it fully. The full amount of points possible (260) is as follows:

• 5 journal entries – 20 points

• 8 vocabulary mini-lessons – 20 points

• Multiple Choice Test – 20 points

• Short Answer Test – 30 points

• Presentation – 50 points

• Final Essay – 100 points

• Participation (includes daily attendance, Enter and Exit Slips especially participation in Socratic Seminar and Writing Workshops) – 20 points

Mt dispersion of letter grade will follow the standard model:

A+ 96%-100%

A 90% - 95%

B 80%-90%

C 70%-80%

D 60%-70%

F anything below 60%

Sequence and Scope

Sequence for Fahrenheit 451 Unit

6-week Unit- 75 minute class

Essential Question: What does it mean to be free?

Assessment: Vocabulary Lessons, Journal Entries, Multiple Choice/True or False quizzes, short answer test and a final Five Paragraph essay that critically analyzes a theme or significant element of the primary novel.

Objectives:

(Content): Censorship affects every aspect of our lives, sometimes to a substantial degree.

Students will be able to apply literary terminology and knowledge of literary techniques (including but not limited to, rising action, style, mood, setting, protagonist, antagonist, point of view, foreshadowing, personification and flashback) to understand and write about a text.

Students will be able to analyze a text in order to make predictions, draw conclusions and finally synthesize and convey that information in an organized, cohesive piece of writing.

(Skills): Students will be able to read for a purpose.

Students will be able to write a coherent, organized essay.

Students will be able to make connections regarding the affect reality has on the writing of fiction,

Students will be able to identify the author’s viewpoint, purpose and historical viewpoint.

Students will understand the different components of an effective thesis statement.

Students will understand how to connect those elements in a cohesive manner.

Students will understand how to clearly state the objective of their paper

Students will understand how to use a thesis statement to outline a paper.

|Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday |

|• Opening Lesson for |• Vocabulary |• Read Aloud pages 23-30 |• Independent Reading |• Journal Entries DUE |

|Fahrenheit 451 |• Independent Reading |• Vocabulary |pages 30-40 |• Socratic Seminar topic:|

|Includes pre-reading |pages 11-22 | |• Second Lesson on |Questions so far… |

|survey | | |Government Control | |

|• Read Aloud 1-10 | | | | |

|• Independent Reading |• Vocabulary |• Non-Fiction Lesson on |• Bill of Rights re-write|• Journal Entries DUE |

|pages 40-50 |• Independent Reading |The Bill of Rights |due |• Socratic Seminar topic:|

| |pages 50-60 |• Quiz |• Vocabulary |Censorship |

| | | |• Read Aloud pages 60-67 | |

|• Independent Reading |• Vocabulary |• Poetry Lesson HOWL |• Vocabulary |• Journal Entries DUE |

|pages 68-80 |• Multiple Choice Quiz |• Read Aloud pages |• Independent Reading |• Socratic Seminar topic:|

|• Multiple Choice quiz |• Independent Reading |100-108 |pages 109-120 |Poetry |

|preparation |pages 81-99 | | | |

|• Independent Reading |• Vocabulary |• Non-Print Lesson |• Vocabulary |• LAST Journal Entry DUE |

|pages 121-135 |• Short Answer Test Prep.|• Read Aloud 136-143 |• Short Answer TEST |• Socratic Seminar topic:|

|• Short Answer Test Prep.|Second Free Write |• Short Answer Test |• Independent Reading |Freedom and Free Will |

|Free Write | |review |pages 144-160 |• HOMWORK: Finish the |

| | | | |novel |

|• Independent Reading (if|• Thesis Statement |• Five Paragraph Writing |• Writing Workshop cont. |• Group Work: visual |

|needed) |Writing Lesson |Workshop |• Opening Paragraph rough|presentation workshop of |

|• Discussion of Final |Exit Slip: Graphic Org. |• Rough thesis statement |draft DUE |advertisements |

|Paper |of rough statement |DUE to participate in | | |

| | |workshop | | |

|• Group Work: visual |• Group Presentations |• Group Presentations |• Group Presentations |• FINAL PAPER DUE |

|presentation workshop of | | | | |

|advertisements continued | | | | |

Lesson Plan #1: Opening Lesson

Novel: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Grade Level: 11th Grade

Essential Questions: What does it mean to be free?

Goal/Purpose: Students will learn how to recognize connections between literature and reality.

Skills: Colorado Content Standard # 2: Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.

● Students will be able to convey their thoughts in writing.

Colorado Content Standard # 4: Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.

● Students will be able to use various literacy skills to critically analyze the material.

Colorado Content Standard #6: Students read and recognize literature as a record of human experience.

● Students will be able to appreciate literature.

Assessment: Admit/Exit slips Reflection/Journal Entries Observations of Discussions

Final Essay/Art Project

Materials: Copies of Fahrenheit 451

Blank White Paper

Sequence:

10 min Anticipatory Set

As a free write, students will answer all or some of the following questions: Are personal relationships important? Why or why not? What is censorship? Have you ever been censored? How? What did you do about it?

10 min K-W-L Group Work

In pairs, students only answer the first two questions what do you know? In addition, what do you want to learn about censorship and freedom?

5 min Whole class share their answers to the K-W-L

10 min Presentation of different media concerning censorship and a brief discussion about banning books using video clips and current non-fiction articles. Here we can talk about archetypes in society and other prevailing themes we see in everyday life that can be associated with censorship and control.

20 min Read aloud of the first section.

10 min As guided practice, briefly discuss the setting, mood, motives and any other information the novel initially presents. Have the class make predictions about what will happen next and support that with evidence. Record their ideas on the board will they take notes

5 min Exit Slip/Conclusion: The exit slip will be to complete the Pre-Reading Survey for the next class.

Homework/Independent Practice: Be prepared to turn in Pre-Reading Survey at the beginning of the next class. This will not be graded but used to modify instruction if needed.

Differentiated Instruction: Students will participate in different learning methods including, visual, auditory, group and independent. Student will work with partners to voice their ideas and receive feedback from a fellow student rather than an authority. I will model some of the ways I determine mood, theme, setting, protagonist and antagonist to get the students thinking about the different elements of fiction. After the first 40 pages, I will assess the student’s understanding of the material individually. If they are having trouble, I will break the class into groups and conduct small consultations brainstorming ideas.

Suggestions for Extension: We will continue to discuss the novel slowly as the class reads formulating and discussion questions I have as well as questions the students have. We will also read nonfiction articles on censorship and banned books to further the student’s understanding of the topic.

Lesson Plan #2: Government Control

Novel: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Grade level: 11th Grade

Essential Question: What does it mean to be free?

Lesson Specific Question: How does a Government control its society?

Goal Purpose: The students should be able to make connections between fiction and reality, specifically how one influences the other. The students will also be able to understand the history of government control as it pertains to Fahrenheit 451.

Skills: In accordance with Colorado Content Standards (CCS)

● CCS 1.a., students will be able

to compare and contrast text with different themes or ideas.

● CCS 1.d., students will be able to infer by making connections within and among texts.

● CCS 4.a., students will be able to identify the author’s viewpoint, purpose, and historical/cultural context from information presented in the text.

Assessment: Enter and Exit slips and participation, the students will turn in the graphic organizers they complete in class.

Materials:

Graphic Organizers for recording quotations and responses for each student. Copies of Fahrenheit 451. Blank white paper.

Sequence: (75 minutes class)

5 min - Anticipatory Set: Students will answer the question: How does a

government controls its society? Or, more specifically, how does the government control your life?

10 min - Modeling/Mini-Lesson: Discuss student responses and pass out

different newspaper, magazine and internet photographs of famous

instances in the history of governmental control. For example, one picture

will be of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Give brief lecture

about government control and discuss what they already know about the

topic. Also, I will talk about the elements that make up totalitarian governments and give some examples like Nazi Germany.

10 min - Guided Practice: After viewing all the different visual clues, as a group

compares and contrasts democratic governments and totalitarian ones in

two columns on the board. Generate the student’s knowledge of current

events and other information they may have noticed the way.

25 min - Independent Practice: First, I will read aloud, and then the students will

read a few paragraphs aloud switching from one student to the next and finally, students will silently read while looking for and recording quotations and explanations, which describe the society and government within the novel.

20 min - Guided Practice: In pairs, students will select 3 quotations they feel best

represent the government control in the novel and share them with the group. I will my own completed model of the graphic organizer to demonstrate how it works as well as record everything on the board.

5 min - Closure/Conclusion-Exit Slip: I will collect their quotation/response

worksheets. Students will be asked to provide three questions they have

so far about the novel as their Exit slip.

Differentiated Instruction:

To incorporate further learning opportunities for the gifted and talented students I will offer an extra credit opportunity. Students may research the topic of banned books by finding a current article in the newspaper, from the internet or another source and be prepared to discuss it in class. This lesson also provides instruction for a variety of student needs by including visual aids, group and independent work as well as teacher modeling. The students who are part of special education will be required to choose only one quotation and explain why it is important.

Suggestions for Extension:

This lesson is primarily meant to activate the student’s critical thinking skills and guide them toward asking valid questions that will eventually lead to compelling essay topics. We will revisit this activity again near the end of the unit to reiterate the importance of using quotations to support their ideas in writing. It also will help the students make connections between their world and the outside world. I would like them to think even further about what motivates them to write and how current events shape our lives through every facet whether it is the media or classic literature.

Non-Fiction Lesson Plan #3

Essential Question: What does it mean to be free?

Novel: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Grade: 11

Goal: The students will be able to understand how non-fiction relates to fiction and a real world sense.

Objectives: The objectives of this lesson are to in compliance with Colorado Content Standard 1.d.: students will be able to infer by making connections within and between texts. CCS 1.g.: Students will be able to locate and recall information in text with different text structures. CCS 5.c.: students will be able to paraphrase, summarize, organize and synthesize information from a variety of sources.

Assessment: Exit Slips

A 5-question quiz to assess that the students finished the first of three parts to the book. No notes.

Worksheets on the revision of Amendments 1 and 4.

Materials: Blank White Paper

Copies of Fahrenheit 451

Copies of the quiz

Copies of the Bill of Rights

Sequence: 75 minutes

Admit Slip/Independent Practice (15 minutes):

Students will take the 5-question quiz. It is not a pop quiz, students will have known about it from a previous class.

Anticipatory Set/ Whole Class Share (5 min):

Students will engage in a brief discussion of the question “What does it mean to be free?” I will write topic words the students say on the board or overhead.

Mini-Lesson (15 minutes): The Bill of Rights

I will introduce the document to the students a talk briefly about its history and meaning in this country. I will begin with the First Amendment, then students will take turns reading aloud each of the Amendments and I will engage them in a conversation about what they mean. We will also discuss how the constitution can or cannot define a country.

Guided Practice (20 minutes): On the chalkboard or overhead, I will very briefly model for the students how to takes notes on a piece of work highlighting specific words and phrases while also explaining my choices. I will also take brief notes in the margins to demonstrate how to remind myself why that word or section is important. We will discuss The Bill of Rights to the constitution and how it might be reflected in the society of Fahrenheit 451.

Group Work (15 minutes)

In small groups of three or four students, on blank pieces of paper, the students will re-write the first and fourth Amendments to mirror the civilization in the novel. I will model how to do this with the Second Amendment.

Exit Slip :( 5 minutes)

Students will answer: What questions do you have about the novel so far? What can I do to slow down or make the lessons more interesting?

Independent Practice/Homework: I will inform the students that this piece of non-fiction can be used later as a reference when writing formally about Fahrenheit 451. This will start the though process of choice concerning what to use when writing a formal paper. For homework, the students will record any questions or comments they may have about the novel and the class activities.

Extension for Lesson

This lesson is designed to prepare students to think critically about the connection between fiction and reality. The students will understand how authors use their work metaphorically to comment on something else, often politics, social grievances and freedom. Through the course of this unit, everything we do extends to the goal of synthesizing ideas in an organized manner to prepare for formal essay writing.

Differentiated Instruction: The modeling of annotations will demonstrate to students how

to find important information. Students will work in small groups in order to

share information and assist each other with their interpretation of Amendments 1

and 4. I will walk around the room and confer with individual students who are

struggling with the revision.

Writing Lesson Plan # 4

Essential Question: What does it mean to be free?

Novel: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Grade: 11th grade

Goal: Students will understand how to write an expository thesis statement representative of their major claims about the novel supported with evidence.

Objectives (Content): Students will understand the different components of an effective thesis statement.

Students will understand how to connect those elements in a cohesive manner.

Students will understand how to clearly state the objective of their paper

Students will understand how to use a thesis statement to outline a paper.

(Skill): The Colorado Content Standards assess ion this lesson are: 4.b.; students will be able to use reading and writing to define a problem, evaluate options and propose a solution. CCS 4.e., students will be able to evaluate the quality of ideas in a text by applying criteria and supporting the conclusion. CCS 6.d., students will be able to develop and support a thesis about the craft and significance of a particular piece of work.

Assessment: Admit/Exit slips

Top portion of Graphic Organizer

Materials: Graphic Organizer

Blank white paper

Copies of the novel

Sequence: 75 minutes

5 min Admit Slip: Students will answer the question: What message is the book Fahrenheit 451 trying to send? Students should support their answers using three pieces of evidence from the text.

10 min Anticipatory Set: I will engage the class in a general discussion about the writing of essays and their purpose in academia. Where does one begin the writing process? Explain to the students that they should think about these questions in terms of writing an essay.

20 min Mini-Lesson: Introduce the general purpose of a Thesis Statement, what it is, what it does, where it goes etc…Emphasis the importance of organizing their essays around a topic, theme or character and introducing that in full, in their complete thesis statements. I like to say, “Remember, an essay writes itself if you have a concrete, all inclusive thesis statement.”

20 min Modeling: Using my thesis statement, completed on the Graphic Organizer (as an overhead, hopefully) I will model how to use it effectively by explaining the steps I took to write it. I will do this portion of the lesson very slowly, answering questions as they arise.

15 min Independent and Group Work: Students will use their graphic organizers to begin formulating ideas for their essay independently. Next, in assigned pairs, students will use that Graphic Organizer to discuss and further investigate their topic with a partner. I will roam the class, briefly meeting with each pair to answer questions and record any difficulties for additional instruction.

5 min Exit Slip: Students will jot down their preliminary thesis statements, I will accept whatever the students have, no matter how rough as long as they turn in something.

Independent Practice/Homework:

Students will use their graphic organizer to write the first draft of their thesis statements.

Differentiated Instruction: I will choose the groups because that way I can place less proficient students with more proficient ones, hoping they will help explain the material in further detail to their partner. This lesson uses visual modeling as well as group work to ensure all students’ needs are met.

Extension for Lesson: This lesson would normally be taught in conjunction with another lesson about writing workshop regarding the five-paragraph essay. To facilitate understanding for the entire unit, it would be reasonable to assume that the writing portion would span at least for one week of class. If there were big problems with class or specific student comprehension, I would take a step back and re-teach the parts that need the most time. For those students who have difficulty understanding the concept of a thesis statement I will simplify the assignment by taking one piece of supporting evidence off the graphic organizer. I will also try to break the Graphic Organizer into parts and ask the student to articulate the answers first before trying to write them down.

Poetry Lesson Plan #5

Novel: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Grade level: 11th grade.

Essential Question: What does it mean to be free?

Lesson Specific Question: The students will answer the character Mildred’s question “Why should I read?” “What for?”

Goal Purpose:

My goal is for students to understand and be able to interpret and discuss poetry in conjunction with other genres in literature, specifically, Fahrenheit 451.

Skills:

In accordance with Colorado Content Standards (CCS)

● CCS 1.b., students will be able to interpret and critically read a variety of texts.

● CCS 1.d. student will be able to infer by making connections within and among

texts.

● CCS 6.a., students will be able to read and respond to classic and contemporary

novels, poetry…from a variety of cultures and historical periods that are

familiar and unfamiliar.

Assessment:

Enter and Exit slips, participation of each student and graphic organizer.

Materials:

Copies of Alan Ginsberg’s poem Howl, copies of Fahrenheit 451, the appropriate amount of Graphic Organizers for whole class activity.

Sequence: (75 minutes class)

5 min - Anticipatory Set: Students will fill out an Enter slip answering the

question “Why should I read?” They will be required to use and example from the book to elucidate their answer for full credit.

10 min – Group Work: In small groups of 3 to 4, students will discuss their

answers while I will guide them toward six possible answers. I will record all possible answers on the board. As a class, we will talk about the importance of reading in order to learn and evolve as people.

15 min - Modeling/Mini-Lesson:

I will give a brief mini lesson concerning the structure, variety and

significance of Beat poetry. I will ask the students what they know about poetry in general, maybe bring up the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to spark their interest in the genre, and record their answers on the board. I will also briefly introduce Alan Ginsberg, his contributions to Beat Poetry (non-traditional) and its historical significance, his influences as well as his close connection with Colorado. Students will take notes while I lecture.

40 min - Guided Practice: Students and I will read Howl by

Alan Ginsberg together, I will start. As a class, we will discuss the entire poem but focus specifically on three significant sections highlighted in RED. Students will use a simple graphic organizer to take notes about the poem.

After reading the first three pages, students will be asked to discuss the significance of the poem but specifically the first section in RED on the first page. I will offer my theory and engage students in a conversation encouraging questioning emphasizing that poetry is a difficult medium.

Class will continue to read the next four pages of the poem and stop to discuss the second RED section in the same fashion. Students will again take notes and be encouraged to ask questions. (Questions do not have to be about the RED section but can be about any part of the poem, I chose these three, but there are many more.)

When the read aloud is finished, the class will discuss the final RED section and the significance and theme of the poem in its entirety. I will again encourage questioning as well as offer my opinion while emphasizing that poetry is a subjective form of expression and any interpretation if it is genuine is valid.

Students will be encouraged to find their own part of the poem not in RED and think about it as a possible topic for Socratic Seminar.

5 min - Closure/Conclusion-Exit Slip: Students will keep their graphic organizers

as a reference and turn in an Exit slip with a question or thoughtful observation about the poem for assessment. Students have the option to discuss the final stanzas of the poem on their Exit Slip as well. This is an enormous amount of comprehension to expect to be completed in an hour and fifteen minutes. In the case of time shortage, the students will finish reading the poem and taking notes and discussing it in the next class.

Differentiated Instruction:

This lesson includes a great deal of guided practice as a group, which helps all students, become involved in the material. Concerning the advanced or experienced students, I might ask them to help me explain the poem better by offering their opinion of it and why. For the students who are in special education, or simply have a hard time understanding the poem, I will offer time at the end of the day to explain the RED sections in more detail as well as direct them to some excellent websites and available books for them to research the genre in more detail. In the class directly after this one, class will spend time reflecting on the poem and I will address any concerns they have from their Exit Slips.

Suggestions for Extension:

As with all the other lessons in this unit, the work the students complete in class will be implemented in developing a thesis statement as well as developing valid, critical questions that can be asked and answered in the final assessment essay assignment. Student can use their graphic organizer to generate questions about all forms of poetry and thus their own writing. Another extension of this lesson is to allow student to choose which excerpts from the poem they want to write about and discuss and bring in poetry that is more applicable.

Lesson Plan #6: Non-Print Lesson, Advertisements

Novel: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Grade Level: Grade 11

Essential Question: What does it mean to be free?

Goal/Purpose:

Students will be able to observe and understand the purpose of non-print media-advertisements-in order to make connections between it and the novel. They will, as a final assessment of this lesson, create and explain their own advertisements.

Skills: According to Colorado Content Standards, after this lesson students will be able to recognize the power of language and use that power ethically and creatively. Students will apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. Standard Two will enable the students to support an opinion using various forms of persuasion (factual or emotional) in speaking and writing. Students will be able to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate a variety of written and spoken material.

Assessment: The homework for this assignment as well as the final product will

be my assessment.

Materials: • Blown up copies of sample newspaper and magazine advertisements

• Video Clips of car commercials, political ads and Saturday morning toy commercials

• Various Magazines

• Blank white paper

Sequence: (70 minutes)

Anticipatory Set: (10 minutes) Students will be asked to answer this question in writing, “What is your favorite commercial, and why?” I will participate and share my answer to initiate discussion. I will guide the discussion to how commercials and ads affect us. Do we buy those products? How much and how often?

Modeling/Mini-Lesson: (15 minutes) I will present a brief history of advertising from WWII propaganda to the McDonalds Corp. I will also include statistical data about how much money we as Americans spent on products over the last 40 years, as well as how much money corporations spend on producing ads. I want to use the passage of time to emphasize the magnitude at which advertisements manipulate. I will use examples and teach the students how to read between the lines of a non-print format.

Guided Practice: (30 minutes) Using the Think/Pair/Share group instruction method, the students will pair up with each other and observe the different ads. For each individual ad, they are to think about how the ad makes them feel, jot it down and then share with their partner. I will randomly call on each group throughout the lesson and ask them to share what their partner said with the class to ensure participation from all members.

Independent Practice/ Closure/Conclusion: (15 minutes) Using the magazines and newspapers, the students will each find a sample ad and think about how it is manipulating. The students will then use the ad they chose and write their answer as an exit slip.

Differentiated Instruction: This lesson includes visual, auditory and kinesthetic elements. The students will look at, listen to and finally create their own advertisements. In the event there are students who need extra assistance, I will provide more time after school to look at and watch the various ads and commercials.

Extension: This lesson will extend to a final assessment where the students will create their own advertisements, in any format they choose (cleared by me). It will be part of the final assessment for the entire unit, which includes and essay and a short test.

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Routines and Structures

This unit consists of six full weeks of interactive instruction. The entire primary novel will be read in class through a routine of independent reading and reading aloud by both student and teacher. Each week, all three methods are addressed. Throughout the unit, students will participate in routine vocabulary lessons, generally on Tuesdays and Thursdays in order to continually analyze the material in the novel as it come into question. Every Friday, students will participate in a Socratic Seminar in order to discuss and receive feedback about the themes and issues in the novel. In addition to those whole class group meetings students will write short journal entries for four weeks before the final assessments due on Fridays. Journal entries should be no more than one page typed or hand written. For Whole-Class Activities throughout this unit the students will have discussions about the artistic intent; and the historical, cultural, and social background of the primary novel. There will be student/teacher reading and discussion of text as well as discussion of important issues presented in the book and the importance of different perspectives. In Small-groups the activities are smaller discussions of the text, issues, and perspectives including a more in depth look at the thoughts of student’s peers. The individual activities include independent reading, individual writing for journal entries as well as finding and commenting on censorship articles and a small amount of homework. Students will answer an exit slip for every class except the first and last.

Differentiated Instruction

According to the Milner text, “Classrooms organized with an awareness of the diverse needs, interest, and abilities of students with the hope of engaging each student in learning. A differentiated approach does not seek to standardize learning or uniform ally assess students, but to design instruction that simultaneously addresses manifold student populations within class” (Milner, 2008 p. 499).

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The preceding illustration shows how my classroom will facilitate inclusive learning. The desks will be in the Socratic Seminar position throughout the unit to emphasize the need for discussions about the lesson, not just Fridays. There is a privileged independent reading area for students to feel comfortable reading in class. The two desks to the side of my desk are for students who may not be able to focus, but who still deserve to be a part of the classroom.

In order to differentiate my classroom, concerning the content, I will use texts at varying reading levels to supplement the primary novel, provide organizers and use examples and illustrations based on student interests. For students to understand the process of reading and writing I will vary the pacing of student work, use cooperative grouping, develop activities that lead to a variety of perspectives on topics, highlight critical content in the text and segment large assignments and projects. For example, students will use a variety of different approaches to understand the primary novel like read aloud, silent reading, non-fiction comparisons and a section on visual presentations for those students who learn differently. To further promote comprehension of material I will provide bookmarked Internet sites at different levels of complexity for research, develop rubrics for success based on grade level expectations and individual student learning needs and teach students to use a range of presentation tools and technology. Overall, in order for all students to have a positive experience I will model respect and help students develop multiple perspectives on topics and issues. I will hold myself accountable for offering an equitable participation for each student as well as allow for choice and individuality. I will not make allowances concerning workload for less proficient students but I will allow for more time during class and after school to ensure all people are included and up to speed on the instruction.

Annotated Bibliography

Aurora Public School Information. Information and Statistics. Published in 2005. Retrieved November 25, 2007 from > and )

>)

These were necessary sources because without them I could not imagine a classroom

where this Unit could be implemented. I was able to gain perspective on my own

idealistic tendencies concerning the novel and make sure I could use for real when I

become a teacher.

Alsup, J. & Bush, J. (2003). But will it work with real students? Scenarios for teaching secondary English language arts. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

The main argument of this book is that all teachers and aspiring teachers benefit from the real life experiences of other teachers. This book illustrates the benefits of using real-life accounts to elaborate on how aspiring teachers learn to effectively teach reading and comprehending English language. The book presents pedagogical narratives written by secondary teachers to illustrate specific situations regarding the teaching of reading, followed by thoughtful responses by experienced teachers and educators. It also includes concise summaries of related theory and research and debates in the field. It concludes with a description of how secondary English teachers can use these descriptions in the classroom to become analytical, insightful instructors. Because this book is primarily concerned with understanding through reading, it was a helpful source for developing this unit. It was also useful because it provides concrete examples of teaching narratives that address literature and reading, writing, language and grammar, second language learners, management and discipline that helped me plan and differentiate my entire unit.

Burke, J. (2003). The English teacher’s companion, Second Edition. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

The book has extensive and often far-reaching chapters concerning the teaching of reading, writing, speaking, listening and thinking. It also provides information on composing a curriculum, measuring student progress, media literacy, issues in teaching Secondary English, applying for a teaching position, organizing a content based unit and the politics of education. This source provides extensive and specific lesson plan ideas and unit assumes very positive outcomes to those lessons. Therefore, this book did not address my specific concerns about the novel Fahrenheit 451, though it did help me formulate my general ideas concerning motivation and creating interesting lesson.

Milner, J. & Milner, L. (2007). Bridging English, Fourth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bridging English takes into account the range of student learners a teacher will encounter from the gifted to the reluctant and struggling.  It addresses the special needs of English language learners and anticipates the need of its readers.

What is helpful about the Milner's is that they do not hesitate to give their textbook a personal voice that provides their own perspective on theories and research as it relates to Secondary English instruction. Their classroom ideas are essentially their own preferences however and it can be difficult to take their experiences and put them into practice for myself. This source was also helpful in its myriad of lesson plans for the different genres of Language Arts like poetry instruction ideas.

I personally cannot stand textbooks with the same old KWL charts and five paragraph essay formats, which I use for my final assessment rubric. This source provides innovative, current lesson ideas that are not familiar to most English teachers and were easily adapted to my unit. This source definitely stands out from similar texts as more comprehensive and user friendly while helping me connect my unit with teaching language through a variety of mediums.

Various Authors. Fahrenheit 451. Howl. Bill of Rights. Retrieved November 29, 2007 from ..

An excellent source for looking up anything. I found this very useful in that the suite

gives very brief but factual and concrete definitions. It also offers thematic analysis and

the possibility for further learning through extensive related links.

(For information regarding the primary novel Fahrenheit 451 and the poem Howl, please see Rationale section.)

Appendices of Handouts and Supporting Materials

All Informal Assessment Materials:

Fahrenheit 451

Pre-Reading Survey

1. What is the value of reading for you?

2. What things in your life encourage or discourage reading? Is this good or bad? Why?

3. What would life be like for you if you were unable to read (i.e., were illiterate)?

4. What would life be like for you if you weren't allowed to read (i.e., society had rules about what you could or could not read)?

5. How many "videos" have you seen in the last year? How do you select them?

6. How many times per week do you read the newspaper? Which paper?

7. How many magazines do you read regularly? (i.e., via subscription) Name them.

8. How many books have you read in the last year?

For school _____ For pleasure _____

9. In your thinking, what are the principal differences between video and reading?

10. Approximately how many hours of TV do you watch each week? Why?

11. About how much time do you spend listening to music/MTV during a typical day?

12. Outside of school assignments, what writing do you do, if any? What kind is it?

For example, do you keep a diary or journal? Do you do any writing elsewhere, like at work?

13. How many personal letters have you written in the last year? How many personal letters did you receive?

14. Do you draw, sculpt, throw clay, do crafts, or engage in similar hobbies?

Fahrenheit 451 Significant Quotation Exercise

10 Quotations 10 Responses

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

6. 6.

7. 7.

Which 3 quotations are the most important?

Why?

What do they say about the society in which Fahrenheit 451 takes place?

Fahrenheit 451

QUIZ

“The Hearth and the Salamander”

What does the title “The Hearth and the Salamander” mean?

Clarisse says her uncle was arrested for being a “pedestrian.” What was the crime he committed?

What are some of the activities that this society provides for its young people?

Do any types of books still exist in this society that are legal?

How does this society change the meaning of the line from the Constitution that states, “All men are created equal”?

Build your very own

THESIS STATEMENT

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Complete sentence here:

Lesson #5 Graphic Organizer

First RED excerpt

This reminds me of….

This is like or unlike Fahrenheit 451 in that…..

I want to understand this part better because…

I know this part means….

Second RED excerpt

Third RED excerpt

HOWL

By Alan Ginsberg

For Carl Solomon

I

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by

madness, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn

looking for an angry fix,

angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly

connection to the starry dynamo in the machin-

ery of night,

who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat

up smoking in the supernatural darkness of

cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities

contemplating jazz,

who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and

saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tene-

ment roofs illuminated,

who passed through universities with radiant cool eyes

hallucinating Arkansas and Blake-light tragedy

among the scholars of war,

who were expelled from the academies for crazy &

publishing obscene odes on the windows of the

skull,

who cowered in unshaven rooms in underwear, burn-

ing their money in wastebaskets and listening

to the Terror through the wall,

who got busted in their pubic beards returning through

Laredo with a belt of marijuana for New York,

who ate fire in paint hotels or drank turpentine in

Paradise Alley, death, or purgatoried their

torsos night after night

with dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, al-

cohol and cock and endless balls,

incomparable blind; streets of shuddering cloud and

lightning in the mind leaping toward poles of

Canada & Paterson, illuminating all the mo-

tionless world of Time between,

Peyote solidities of halls, backyard green tree cemetery

dawns, wine drunkenness over the rooftops,

storefront boroughs of teahead joyride neon

blinking traffic light, sun and moon and tree

vibrations in the roaring winter dusks of Brook-

lyn, ashcan rantings and kind king light of mind,

who chained themselves to subways for the endless

ride from Battery to holy Bronx on benzedrine

until the noise of wheels and children brought

them down shuddering mouth-wracked and

battered bleak of brain all drained of brilliance

in the drear light of Zoo,

who sank all night in submarine light of Bickford's

floated out and sat through the stale beer after

noon in desolate Fugazzi's, listening to the crack

of doom on the hydrogen jukebox,

who talked continuously seventy hours from park to

pad to bar to Bellevue to museum to the Brook-

lyn Bridge,

lost battalion of platonic conversationalists jumping

down the stoops off fire escapes off windowsills

off Empire State out of the moon,

yacketayakking screaming vomiting whispering facts

and memories and anecdotes and eyeball kicks

and shocks of hospitals and jails and wars,

whole intellects disgorged in total recall for seven days

and nights with brilliant eyes, meat for the

Synagogue cast on the pavement,

who vanished into nowhere Zen New Jersey leaving a

trail of ambiguous picture postcards of Atlantic

City Hall,

suffering Eastern sweats and Tangerian bone-grind-

ings and migraines of China under junk-with-

drawal in Newark's bleak furnished room,

who wandered around and around at midnight in the

railroad yard wondering where to go, and went,

leaving no broken hearts,

who lit cigarettes in boxcars boxcars boxcars racketing

through snow toward lonesome farms in grand-

father night,

who studied Plotinus Poe St. John of the Cross telep-

athy and bop kabbalah because the cosmos in-

stinctively vibrated at their feet in Kansas,

who loned it through the streets of Idaho seeking vis-

ionary indian angels who were visionary indian

angels,

who thought they were only mad when Baltimore

gleamed in supernatural ecstasy,

who jumped in limousines with the Chinaman of Okla-

homa on the impulse of winter midnight street

light smalltown rain,

who lounged hungry and lonesome through Houston

seeking jazz or sex or soup, and followed the

brilliant Spaniard to converse about America

and Eternity, a hopeless task, and so took ship

to Africa,

who disappeared into the volcanoes of Mexico leaving

behind nothing but the shadow of dungarees

and the lava and ash of poetry scattered in fire

place Chicago,

who reappeared on the West Coast investigating the

F.B.I. in beards and shorts with big pacifist

eyes sexy in their dark skin passing out incom-

prehensible leaflets,

who burned cigarette holes in their arms protesting

the narcotic tobacco haze of Capitalism,

who distributed Supercommunist pamphlets in Union

Square weeping and undressing while the sirens

of Los Alamos wailed them down, and wailed

down Wall, and the Staten Island ferry also

wailed,

who broke down crying in white gymnasiums naked

and trembling before the machinery of other

skeletons,

who bit detectives in the neck and shrieked with delight

in policecars for committing no crime but their

own wild cooking pederasty and intoxication,

who howled on their knees in the subway and were

dragged off the roof waving genitals and manu-

scripts,

who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly

motorcyclists, and screamed with joy,

who blew and were blown by those human seraphim,

the sailors, caresses of Atlantic and Caribbean

love,

who balled in the morning in the evenings in rose

gardens and the grass of public parks and

cemeteries scattering their semen freely to

whomever come who may,

who hiccuped endlessly trying to giggle but wound up

with a sob behind a partition in a Turkish Bath

when the blond & naked angel came to pierce

them with a sword,

who lost their loveboys to the three old shrews of fate

the one eyed shrew of the heterosexual dollar

the one eyed shrew that winks out of the womb

and the one eyed shrew that does nothing but

sit on her ass and snip the intellectual golden

threads of the craftsman's loom,

who copulated ecstatic and insatiate with a bottle of

beer a sweetheart a package of cigarettes a can-

dle and fell off the bed, and continued along

the floor and down the hall and ended fainting

on the wall with a vision of ultimate cunt and

come eluding the last gyzym of consciousness,

who sweetened the snatches of a million girls trembling

in the sunset, and were red eyed in the morning

but prepared to sweeten the snatch of the sun

rise, flashing buttocks under barns and naked

in the lake,

who went out whoring through Colorado in myriad

stolen night-cars, N.C., secret hero of these

poems, cocksman and Adonis of Denver-joy

to the memory of his innumerable lays of girls

in empty lots & diner backyards, moviehouses'

rickety rows, on mountaintops in caves or with

gaunt waitresses in familiar roadside lonely pet-

ticoat upliftings & especially secret gas-station

solipsisms of johns, & hometown alleys too,

who faded out in vast sordid movies, were shifted in

dreams, woke on a sudden Manhattan, and

picked themselves up out of basements hung

over with heartless Tokay and horrors of Third

Avenue iron dreams & stumbled to unemploy-

ment offices,

who walked all night with their shoes full of blood on

the snowbank docks waiting for a door in the

East River to open to a room full of steamheat

and opium,

who created great suicidal dramas on the apartment

cliff-banks of the Hudson under the wartime

blue floodlight of the moon & their heads shall

be crowned with laurel in oblivion,

who ate the lamb stew of the imagination or digested

the crab at the muddy bottom of the rivers of

Bowery,

who wept at the romance of the streets with their

pushcarts full of onions and bad music,

who sat in boxes breathing in the darkness under the

bridge, and rose up to build harpsichords in

their lofts,

who coughed on the sixth floor of Harlem crowned

with flame under the tubercular sky surrounded

by orange crates of theology,

who scribbled all night rocking and rolling over lofty

incantations which in the yellow morning were

stanzas of gibberish,

who cooked rotten animals lung heart feet tail borsht

& tortillas dreaming of the pure vegetable

kingdom,

who plunged themselves under meat trucks looking for

an egg,

who threw their watches off the roof to cast their ballot

for Eternity outside of Time, & alarm clocks

fell on their heads every day for the next decade,

who cut their wrists three times successively unsuccess-

fully, gave up and were forced to open antique

stores where they thought they were growing

old and cried,

who were burned alive in their innocent flannel suits

on Madison Avenue amid blasts of leaden verse

& the tanked-up clatter of the iron regiments

of fashion & the nitroglycerine shrieks of the

fairies of advertising & the mustard gas of sinis-

ter intelligent editors, or were run down by the

drunken taxicabs of Absolute Reality,

who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually hap-

pened and walked away unknown and forgotten

into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alley

ways & firetrucks, not even one free beer,

who sang out of their windows in despair, fell out of

the subway window, jumped in the filthy Pas-

saic, leaped on negroes, cried all over the street,

danced on broken wineglasses barefoot smashed

phonograph records of nostalgic European

1930s German jazz finished the whiskey and

threw up groaning into the bloody toilet, moans

in their ears and the blast of colossal steam

whistles,

who barreled down the highways of the past journeying

to each other's hotrod-Golgotha jail-solitude

watch or Birmingham jazz incarnation,

who drove crosscountry seventytwo hours to find out

if I had a vision or you had a vision or he had

a vision to find out Eternity,

who journeyed to Denver, who died in Denver, who

came back to Denver & waited in vain, who

watched over Denver & brooded & loned in

Denver and finally went away to find out the

Time, & now Denver is lonesome for her heroes,

who fell on their knees in hopeless cathedrals praying

for each other's salvation and light and breasts,

until the soul illuminated its hair for a second,

who crashed through their minds in jail waiting for

impossible criminals with golden heads and the

charm of reality in their hearts who sang sweet

blues to Alcatraz,

who retired to Mexico to cultivate a habit, or Rocky

Mount to tender Buddha or Tangiers to boys

or Southern Pacific to the black locomotive or

Harvard to Narcissus to Woodlawn to the

daisychain or grave,

who demanded sanity trials accusing the radio of hyp

notism & were left with their insanity & their

hands & a hung jury,

who threw potato salad at CCNY lecturers on Dadaism

and subsequently presented themselves on the

granite steps of the madhouse with shaven heads

and harlequin speech of suicide, demanding in-

stantaneous lobotomy,

and who were given instead the concrete void of insulin

Metrazol electricity hydrotherapy psycho-

therapy occupational therapy pingpong &

amnesia,

who in humorless protest overturned only one symbolic

pingpong table, resting briefly in catatonia,

returning years later truly bald except for a wig of

blood, and tears and fingers, to the visible mad

man doom of the wards of the madtowns of the

East,

Pilgrim State's Rockland's and Greystone's foetid

halls, bickering with the echoes of the soul, rock-

ing and rolling in the midnight solitude-bench

dolmen-realms of love, dream of life a night-

mare, bodies turned to stone as heavy as the

moon,

with mother finally ******, and the last fantastic book

flung out of the tenement window, and the last

door closed at 4. A.M. and the last telephone

slammed at the wall in reply and the last fur-

nished room emptied down to the last piece of

mental furniture, a yellow paper rose twisted

on a wire hanger in the closet, and even that

imaginary, nothing but a hopeful little bit of

hallucination

ah, Carl, while you are not safe I am not safe, and

now you're really in the total animal soup of

time

and who therefore ran through the icy streets obsessed

with a sudden flash of the alchemy of the use

of the ellipse the catalog the meter & the vibrat-

ing plane,

who dreamt and made incarnate gaps in Time & Space

through images juxtaposed, and trapped the

archangel of the soul between 2 visual images

and joined the elemental verbs and set the noun

and dash of consciousness together jumping

with sensation of Pater Omnipotens Aeterna

Deus

to recreate the syntax and measure of poor human

prose and stand before you speechless and intel-

ligent and shaking with shame, rejected yet con-

fessing out the soul to conform to the rhythm

of thought in his naked and endless head,

the madman bum and angel beat in Time, unknown,

yet putting down here what might be left to say

in time come after death,

and rose reincarnate in the ghostly clothes of jazz in

the goldhorn shadow of the band and blew the

suffering of America's naked mind for love into

an eli eli lamma lamma sabacthani saxophone

cry that shivered the cities down to the last radio

with the absolute heart of the poem of life butchered

out of their own bodies good to eat a thousand

years.

II

What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open

their skulls and ate up their brains and imagi-

nation?

Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unob

tainable dollars! Children screaming under the

stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men

weeping in the parks!

Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the

loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy

judger of men!

Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the

crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of

sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment!

Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stun-

ned governments!

Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose

blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers

are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a canni-

bal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking

tomb!

Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows!

Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long

streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose fac-

tories dream and croak in the fog! Moloch whose

smokestacks and antennae crown the cities!

Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch

whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch

whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch

whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen!

Moloch whose name is the Mind!

Moloch in whom I sit lonely! Moloch in whom I dream

Angels! Crazy in Moloch! Cocksucker in

Moloch! Lacklove and manless in Moloch!

Moloch who entered my soul early! Moloch in whom

I am a consciousness without a body! Moloch

who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy!

Moloch whom I abandon! Wake up in Moloch!

Light streaming out of the sky!

Moloch! Moloch! Robot apartments! invisible suburbs!

skeleton treasuries! blind capitals! demonic

industries! spectral nations! invincible mad

houses! granite cocks! monstrous bombs!

They broke their backs lifting Moloch to Heaven! Pave-

ments, trees, radios, tons! lifting the city to

Heaven which exists and is everywhere about

us!

Visions! omens! hallucinations! miracles! ecstasies!

gone down the American river!

Dreams! adorations! illuminations! religions! the whole

boatload of sensitive bullshit!

Breakthroughs! over the river! flips and crucifixions!

gone down the flood! Highs! Epiphanies! De-

spairs! Ten years' animal screams and suicides!

Minds! New loves! Mad generation! down on

the rocks of Time!

Real holy laughter in the river! They saw it all! the

wild eyes! the holy yells! They bade farewell!

They jumped off the roof! to solitude! waving!

carrying flowers! Down to the river! into the

street!

III

Carl Solomon! I'm with you in Rockland

where you're madder than I am

I'm with you in Rockland

where you must feel very strange

I'm with you in Rockland

where you imitate the shade of my mother

I'm with you in Rockland

where you've murdered your twelve secretaries

I'm with you in Rockland

where you laugh at this invisible humor

I'm with you in Rockland

where we are great writers on the same dreadful

typewriter

I'm with you in Rockland

where your condition has become serious and

is reported on the radio

I'm with you in Rockland

where the faculties of the skull no longer admit

the worms of the senses

I'm with you in Rockland

where you drink the tea of the breasts of the

spinsters of Utica

I'm with you in Rockland

where you pun on the bodies of your nurses the

harpies of the Bronx

I'm with you in Rockland

where you scream in a straightjacket that you're

losing the game of the actual pingpong of the

abyss

I'm with you in Rockland

where you bang on the catatonic piano the soul

is innocent and immortal it should never die

ungodly in an armed madhouse

I'm with you in Rockland

where fifty more shocks will never return your

soul to its body again from its pilgrimage to a

cross in the void

I'm with you in Rockland

where you accuse your doctors of insanity and

plot the Hebrew socialist revolution against the

fascist national Golgotha

I'm with you in Rockland

where you will split the heavens of Long Island

and resurrect your living human Jesus from the

superhuman tomb

I'm with you in Rockland

where there are twenty-five-thousand mad com-

rades all together singing the final stanzas of the Internationale

I'm with you in Rockland

where we hug and kiss the United States under

our bedsheets the United States that coughs all

night and won't let us sleep

I'm with you in Rockland

where we wake up electrified out of the coma

by our own souls' airplanes roaring over the

roof they've come to drop angelic bombs the

hospital illuminates itself imaginary walls col-

lapse O skinny legions run outside O starry

spangled shock of mercy the eternal war is

here O victory forget your underwear we're

free

I'm with you in Rockland

in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-

journey on the highway across America in tears

to the door of my cottage in the Western night

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

Amendments 1-10 of the Constitution

[pic]

The Conventions of a number of the States having, at the time of adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added, and as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution;

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States; all or any of which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution, namely:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment VII

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Possible Journal Questions

Specific Questions:

Provide two examples of how Bradbury uses symbolism in Fahrenheit 451 and the

message he is trying to convey with the symbols he uses.

This text does not define one character as a protagonist or antagonist; however that does not mean this text does not have one. What do you think Bradbury was trying to convey in these roles?

This text is flooded with imagery. Provide at least 3 examples of where imagery plays a major role. You may use your book?

Why would society make "being a pedestrian" a crime? (Clarisse tells Montag that her uncle was once arrested for this.

Captain Beatty quotes history, scripture, poetry, philosophy. He is obviously a well-read man. Why hasn't he been punished? And why does he view the books he's read with such contempt?

Why do you think the firemen's rulebook credited Benjamin Franklin-- writer, publisher, political leader, inventor, ambassador--as being the first fireman?

Once Montag becomes a violent revolutionary, why does the government purposely capture an innocent man in his place instead of tracking down the real Montag? Might the government believe that Montag is no longer a threat?

General Questions:

What is moving literature? What literature moves you?

When do you sit and think? What opportunities do you have to reflect? What topics do you reflect on?

Have you altered you life based on something you’ve read? In what way(s) do you live by what you’ve learned by reading?

Why do we read at all?

What is the significance of the title? Celsius 233

What kind of world would have firemen starting fires instead of putting them out (and throwing kittens in trees)?

What might replace police in the future?

How would survivors of a nuclear war reconstruct civilization?

How does a government control or affect out lives?

How important is knowledge?

What does is mean to truly be free?

Multiple Choice /True or False Quiz (20points total)

Part ONE:

Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE?

1. Because the First Amendment secures our right to freedom of speech, our society does not need to concern itself with the issues surrounding censorship.

2. Clarisse was killed because she was a political radical.

3. Mildred remembered she had overdosed but did not care.

4. Reading instruction manuals or rule books was not allowed.

5. Clarisse was afraid of her peers.

6. One cure for depression was driving as fast as one could.

7. Faber called himself an intellectual coward.

8. 'Academic' became a dirty word.

Part TWO:

Multiple Choice: Choose the best answer from the options offered.

9. Montag's inability to understand what he read was:

A. like a Phoenix

B. like a sieve and sand

C. irrelevant to his purpose

D. symbolic of society

E. censorship of the mind

10. The old woman is burned with her house because:

A. She is ignorant about the law

B. the authorities forgot to arrest her before the firemen got there

C. she calls the firemen names

D. she won't show them where the books are hidden

E. she chose to burn with her books

11. According to Beatty, society changed because:

A. everyone wanted it

B. the leaders wanted it

C. the laws changed

D. the firemen wanted it

12. Montag has books hidden:

A. in the basement

B. under the closet floor

C. under the bed

D. in the air-conditioning vent

13. Beatty knew Montag read from books:

A. when he took the book from the old woman's

B. throughout the novel

C. when Mildred and her friends informed him

D. because Montag stayed home sick

14. How many parlor walls did Montags have?

A. one

B. two

C. three

D. four

E. five

Part THREE:

Identify the speaker or the person the passage is about.

A. Montag

B. Mildred

C. Beatty

D. Faber

E. Clarisse

F. Granger

G. Mildred's friends

H. None of the above

15. With the brass nozzle in his fist, with this great python spitting venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history (p 3).

16. People don't talk about anything ... They name a lot of cars or clothes or swimming pools mostly and say how swell! But they all say the same things and nobody says anything different from anyone else (p 33).

17. Sometimes I'm ancient. I'm afraid of children my own age. They kill each other

(p 32).

18. Where's your common sense? None of those books agree with each other. You've been locked up here for years with a regular damned Tower of Babel (p 41).

For Two extra credit points, provide evidence/examples of why family life was not important in Montag's society:

Sample Fahrenheit 451 Vocabulary Activities

Complete the following sentences using the novel by adding the missing word. (Note page number at the end of each sentence.) Then provide the definition of the (missing) word as it is used in that instance in the novel. You will be expected to know these words and their definitions for the test over Fahrenheit 451.

Part One

1. ... she was like the eager watcher of a _______________ show (11). marionette

2. It was like coming into the cold marbled room of a ________________________

after the moon has set (12). mausoleum

3. ... felt the ____________ etched on its silver disk, gave it flick .... (13). salamander

4. ... needle plunged down from the _______________ of the Hound .... (26). proboscis

5. ... the sign of the _______________________________ on his hat (28). phoenix

6. It's like a lesson in ___________________________________ (28). ballistics

7. It has a ______________________________ we decide on for it (28). trajectory

8. His hands were ______________________________________ (44). ravenous

9. He was the victim of _________________________________ (48). concussion

10. ... whirled in a ____________________________________ ... (48). centrifuge

11. You drowned in music and pure _________________________ (48). cacophony

17. ... standing there, ___________________ in the bright small t.v. screen ... (146). limned

18. He saw a great _________________________ of stars form ... (152). juggernaut

19. ... all _____________________ and moss and ragweed odor ... (156). cardamom

Part Two

*Find five new or unusual words (to you--you be the judge) on your own.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

In the space provided, define and give the significance in the story of the following words:

37. proboscis--

nose; blunt object = hound had deadly needle nose

38. cacophony--

harsh, jarring sound = society was noisy with TV, ads

39. centrifuge--

separation from center = Montag separated from society

40. cardamom--

smell = Montag's senses came alive upon getting out of city

41. word of your own--

Use this to help you define these terms in relation to Fahrenheit 451:

Imagery: Imagery in its literal sense means the collection of images in a literary work.

Simile: a figure in which a similarity between two objects is directly expressed.

Metaphor: an analogy identifying one object with another and ascribing to the first object one or more of the qualities of the second.

Symbolism: In its broad sense symbolism is the use of one object to represent or suggest another; or, in literature, the serious and extensive us of symbols.

Foreshadowing: The presentation of material in a work in such a way that later events are prepared for. Foreshadowing can result from the establishment of a mood or atmosphere, as in opening of Conrad's Heart of Darkness or the first act of Hamlet.

Rising action: The part of a dramatic PLOT that has to do with the COMPLICATION of the action. It begins with the EXCITING FORCE, gains in interest and power as the opposing groups come into CONFLICT, and proceeds to the CLIMAX.

Protagonist: The chief character in a work, usually the good guy.

Antagonist: The character directly opposed to the protagonist. A rival, opponent, or enemy of the PROTAGONIST, usually known as the bad guy.

More Advanced Vocabulary Building Questions (These questions are to be only asked five at a time throughout the unit during vocabulary lessons.)

Identify which of the following are present in each sentence:

A. simile

B. personification

C. alliteration

D. metaphor

E. allusion

F. onomatopoeia

G. hyperbole

1. His hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning.

2. He let the elevator waft him into the still night air.

3. Her dress was white and it whispered.

4. Monday burn Millie, Wednesday burn Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn 'em to ashes, then burn the ashes.

5. The little mosquito-delicate dancing hum in the air, the electrical murmur of a hidden wasp snug in its special pink warm nest.

6. He felt his chest chopped down and split apart.

7. One of them slid down into your stomach like a black cobra.

8. She had both ears plugged with electronic bees...

9. The bell in the ceiling kicked itself two hundred times. The brass pole shivered.

10. The cards fell in a flurry of snow.

11. A book lit, almost obediently, like a white pigeon.

12. He lay far across the room from her, on a winter island separated by an empty sea.

13. ...pretty colors running up and down the walls like confetti or blood or sherry or sauterne.

14. The mind drinks less and less.

15. Magazines become a nice blend of vanilla tapioca.

16. ...If you read fast, and read all, maybe some of the sand will stay in the sieve.

17. The train radio vomited upon Montag.

18. This book has pores.

19. What? Men quoting Milton? Saying, I remember Sophocles?

20. ...here comes a very strange beast which in all tongues is called a fool.

21. What traitors books can be.

22. Montag sat like a carved white stone.

23. The books...leapt and danced like roasted birds, their wings ablaze.

24. The house fell in red coals and black ash. It bedded itself down in sleepy pink gray cinders and a smoke plume blew over it.

25. Give a man a few lines of verse and he thinks he's the Lord of all Creation.

26. You think you can walk on water with your books.

27. There is no terror Cassius in your threats, for I am well arm'd so strong in honesty that they pass by me as in idle wind, which I respect not!

28. Even now it seemed to want to get back at him and finish the

injection which was now working through the flesh of his leg.

29. A shotgun blast went off in his leg every time he put it down...

30. ...out of the sky, fluttering, came the helicopter like a grotesque flower.

31. Montag held his breath, like a doubled fist, in his chest.

32. Time was busy burning the years.

33. This dark land rising was like that day in his childhood.

34. And then the city rolled over and fell down dead.

35. We'll build the biggest goddamn steamshovel in history and dig the biggest grave of all time and shove war in and cover it up.

Fahrenheit 451

Essay Possibilities

In what ways is Fahrenheit 451 a work of Science Fiction?

Discuss how censorship began in the story and evaluate the characteristics of censorship in our society as they compare to Fahrenheit 451.

Evaluate what caused Montag to eventually rebel against his society.

Discuss whether or not Beatty wanted to die. If you think he did want to die, provide reasons for this. If you think he did not want to die, explain your view.

Montag can be described as being on a journey in Fahrenheit 451. Explain where the journey takes him in body and mind. What do you consider the three major milestones that Montag passed on his journey?

Compare the Parlor Walls to television. While you may include physical descriptions of each, focus on the social implications Bradbury is concerned about. Evaluate how closely our use of T.V./video comes to Mildred's absorption with the Parlor Walls.

Drawing on class discussion and evidence in the book, answer the question Mildred poses, "Why should I read? What for?"

Compare and contrast the society in Fahrenheit 451 with ours.

Compare the movie version of Fahrenheit 451 to the book version. OR How is the movie version of Fahrenheit 451 a symptom of what the book version was warning about?

Rubric for Visual Presentation Assessment

|Level of Achievement |General Presentation |Reasoning, Argumentation |

|Exemplary |Addresses the topic of advertising |Demonstrates an accurate and complete understanding|

|60 points |States a relevant, justifiable answer |of the topic of advertising |

| |Presents arguments in a logical order |Uses several arguments and backs arguments with |

| | |examples, data that support the work |

|Quality |Combination of above traits, but less consistently |Same as above but less thorough, still accurate |

|40-50 points |represented (1-2 errors) |Uses only one argument and example |

|Adequate |Does not address advertising manipulation |Demonstrates minimal understanding advertising |

|30-40 points |explicitly, though does so tangentially |manipulation, still accurate |

| |States a somewhat relevant argument |Uses a small subset of possible ideas for support |

| |Presents some arguments in a logical order |of the argument |

|Needs improvement 10-30 |Does not address the question |Does not demonstrate understanding of the |

|points |States no relevant arguments |assignment |

| |Is not clearly or logically organized |Does not provide evidence to support response to |

| | |the assignment |

|No Answer | | |

|0 points | | |

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Supporting evidence, action, felling, fact, narrative tool.

Supporting evidence, action, feeling, fact, narrative tool.

Supporting evidence, action, feeling, fact, narrative tool.

Subject (who) and Claim (what you think about the novel) for the paper.

Your answer:

Your answer:

Your answer:

Your answer:

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