Animal Farm and Propaganda

Animal Farm is one of my favorite units to teach because is short, sweet, and full of great lessons on rhetoric and power!

First we review ethos, logos, and pathos. This year we tried "speed debating" and it was SO engaging for every student. With topics like "country vs rap" and "chips vs french fries" you KNOW the kids are going to be full of opinions.

Students had to reflect after each conversation; discuss how ethos, logos, and pathos were used; and practice claims, counter claims, and rebuttals through their debates. It was a great introduction to argument and lead right in to the "They Say/I Say" writing piece.

Set up for the speed debate! I had directional arrows to guide seat movement in dry erase marker written on each desk.

The speed debating instructions and worksheet are from Write on with Miss G. I've used the same idea of "speed dating" for reviewing characters in a novel, but this was definitely a new take and an REALLY engaging lesson for the kids.

To take the idea of propaganda and rhetoric to the next level, students then created propaganda posters for characters in the novel. They had a few requirements as far as using propaganda and text evidence, but the creativity was left up to them.

The activity was (unintentionally) perfectly timed with the elections going on that week, and my wall felt like the streets outside -- covered in political posters.

-Ms. K