Sci Fi Story Performances & Categorizing
Objective
Big Idea
Student Performances
When the students came into class, they immediately broke into groups and organized their performances.
After ten minutes, the performances began, in the following order: Future Tense; Harrison Bergeron, A Sound of Thunder; Future Tense (second version, since there were two groups.
Watching "The Veldt"
After the students performed, we watched another Ray Bradbury episode, based on the short story, "The Veldt." Before I started the show, I explained to the students that we would be putting the science fiction stories into categories, so I encouraged them to think about how this story fits with the other selections that we have read.
Developing Categories Based on Theme
During the last part of class, I told students to join with others who had read different stories. Then, I gave them a piece of chart paper and a marker. I told them to sort the stories into categories, based on theme.
The list of stories included:
- Rain, Rain, Go Away
- The Pedestrian
- Mars is Heaven
- Gurture Tense
- Harrison Bergeron
- A Sound of Thunder
- The Veldt
- (Flowers for Algernon from earlier in the year.)
While they were working, I circulated and found two groups who (still) weren't connecting with theme. I was able to redirect them by asking them to elaborate on their one-word "themes" and they figured it out.
After they compiled their charts, I asked students to share.
