Week 6 Assignment: Dystopia and 1984 by Ms. Sabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0 en-us 2022-04-14 01:46:43 UTC 2026-01-27 08:26:44 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f441.png The House of the Future MsSabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143246863 I show this YouTube video when we start looking into the world of Dystopia and 1984. It's fascinating to see what people thought the world would be like and how technology would help.

In terms of race and diversity... well-- there isn't any. But that does open the door to discussion based around why not and what the climate was like at the time. ]]> 2022-04-14 01:49:37 UTC https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143246863 The Far Off Future of...1999 MsSabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143248572 The students get a kick out of this video. What life would be like "in the future" world of... 22 years ago. This video is especially fun since they go outline "schooling at home" and it conjures a lot of "No! No more ZOOM!" from the ckass.]]> 2022-04-14 01:51:07 UTC https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143248572 What the Dead Man Said by Chinelo Onwualu MsSabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143254744 A short story about climate change, migration, and family secrets, "What the Dead Man Said" is a look at a dystopian future through a modern lens. It draws on the experiences of its BIPOC narrator but is not reliant solely on race to express the tension and ties.]]> 2022-04-14 01:56:19 UTC https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143254744 Dune Song Suyi Davies Okungbowa MsSabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143260575 The story explores the politics of totalitarianism and a government that seeks to protect its people by curtailing their freedom. Touching on very real connections to past and current totalitarian rule, this short story confronts the hopelessness felt by many and the willingness to risk it all to escape.]]> 2022-04-14 02:01:28 UTC https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143260575 Ray Bradbury once wrote, "In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in a dainty cone plugged into her right ear. There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap-opera cries, sleep-walking, helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction." MsSabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143263950 I give students this quote as we begin The Pedestrian because again, it's topical for the world we live in. Students (and teachers, let's be honest) have earbuds in constantly. There is a very "eye-roll" element to this quote, of course, but it really does make the students think. 

In terms of multicultural elements, again, this can come down to personal experience and input from the class. ]]> 2022-04-14 02:04:38 UTC https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143263950 Orwell used the homophobic epithets "nancy" and "pansy", such in his expressions of contempt for what he called the "pansy Left", and "nancy poets", i.e. left-wing homosexual or bisexual writers and intellectuals such as Stephen Spender and W. H. Auden MsSabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143275177 In 12th grade, we are able to confront things a bit more head-on and if I don't bring up Orwell's homophobic views, believe me, a student will quickly. And they're not wrong to do so-- hiding behind "Well it was 1940!" doesn't erase what the man said. Instead, we look hard at his (and Bradbury's, etc.) views and examine how it colored his choices and decisions in his writing. We do the same with race and religion as these writers were not shy in their critique of everyone. ]]> 2022-04-14 02:14:16 UTC https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143275177 What’s Really Orwellian About Our Global Black Lives Matter Moment MsSabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143283626 Priya Satia's opinion piece asks students to confront the personal experience of Orwell's police days and the connection to the very real trauma many face in the current movement. ]]> 2022-04-14 02:21:15 UTC https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143283626 The 'Product of Its Time' Defense: No Excuse for Sexism and Racism MsSabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143286339 Noah Berlatsky's article is an excellent example of not allowing a piece to hide behind being "the product if its time." Students can discuss the death of the author concept, death of the media, the idea of reading something with or without a contemporary lens and more. 

The 'Product of Its Time' Defense: No Excuse for Sexism and Racism

]]> 2022-04-14 02:23:42 UTC https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143286339 Ray Bradbury on Race and Segregation:The Case of “Way in the Middle of the Air”and “The Other Foot” MsSabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143291310  Juan David Cruz-Duarte's essay highlights the racism present both within the universe of the short stories and in real world in which they were published. By reading each story and excerpts from the essay, students get the chance to discuss how and if these stories do justice to the subject. The idea that there is more to be said than simply using race and current events as a vehicle for the plot is something students need to dig into and can discuss in groups or together as a whole. ]]> 2022-04-14 02:28:10 UTC https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143291310 Black People on Mars: Race and Ray Bradbury MsSabadini https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143295893 Read in tandem with Cruz-Duarte's essay, this opinion piece is written in far more student-accessible language. In addition, it touches upon a very real and personal story by its POC author. Students are able to draw connections, examine history, and, when read alongside the short story itself, contribute to the debate and discussion surrounding race, gender, sexuality, and more in Bradbury and Orwell's dystopias. ]]> 2022-04-14 02:32:19 UTC https://padlet.com/MsSabadini/if7b69dhd2w8ovv0/wish/2143295893