Content Objectives
In order to explore the author’s craft, several new concepts for students will be introduced in this unit: Freytag’s Pyramid, the concept of reading and responding to fantastic literature like a critic, and writing like an author of speculative fiction. The unit will start with an introduction to Freytag’s Pyramid as a means of plotting the events of a narrative. Freytag’s Pyramid, a diagram that is commonly used to analyze the plot of a story, will be introduced to get students to think about how fantasy worlds are created in fiction and to adopt literary language to discuss how plot progresses. Students will read and view the exposition of Wizard of Oz to understand how a framing device can work to launch a dream world. In order to better understand some of the underlying meaning, students will be introduced to the concept of what it means to read like a critic (see the Appendix). After reading, viewing and discussing the opening of Wizard of Oz, students will read modified literary criticisms of the opening of Oz based on readings that were done in seminar. Students will read this criticisms to not only better understand the text and film, but to begin to understand what it means to write about literature like a critic.
From Oz, the focus of the unit will move on to a specific type of fantasy land, the dystopia. Characteristics of dystopian societies will be taught as the class engages in a study of Anthem. It is hoped that by delving into the dystopian world of Anthem, that students will understand the key elements of dystopia and a different construction of alternative world from Oz. As we engage in our study of Anthem, my students and I will practice our craft as readers as we look at modified critical responses to Ayn Rand and Anthem. Students will write in response to Anthem emulating the style and substance of the critical responses that are read in class. In this phase of the unit, students will also practice their craft as writers to analyze and produce their own pieces of science fiction, horror, fantasy or utopian/dystopian literature. These writing exercises will lend themselves to a rich source of writing material with the goal of producing a polished piece of fiction writing by the end of the unit.
In order to understand how students have grown in their capacity to read like a critic, students will be provided with a clean copy of “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury. Students will read and annotate the text. They will identify the parts of the story that correlate with Freytag’s Pyramid and respond to it using the critical language that was introduced in the unit. Students will also demonstrate their knowledge by composing a story using Freytag’s Pyramid as a planning tool from on the writing exercises that were done in class during our reading of Anthem.
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