Day Five: Science Fiction

Lesson 1.5 Comparative Storytelling in Alternate Realities (Part 5): Science Fiction
Created by John Kotnarowski (Spring 2014)

Objectives: Students will be able to…

• Identify the common features and/or identifying characteristics of fantasy stories
• Place this tradition on a greater (historical) storytelling “spectrum” 
• Relate the cultural importance of this type of story telling to global culture and their own home culture
• Compare and contrast the common features of fantasy writing with other genres from the unit
• Students will demonstrate understanding of contrastive analysis by making and defending an argument for the genre categorization of the story, “A Study in Emerald” by Neil Gaiman.

Materials

Access to "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Access to "A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman

Common Elements Organizer

Comparative Genre Analysis Chart

Science Fiction "Thinglink"

"Thinglink" Scavenger Hunt Questions

Sources

Corréa, H.A. (1906). The war of the worlds. [Cover art]. Retrieved from:
    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alvim-correa12.jpg
Gaiman, N. (2003). A study in emerald. Retrieved from: 

    http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf

Le Guin, U.K. (1975). The ones who walk away from omelas. In The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1st 

    ed.). New York, NY: Harper & Row.

ReadWriteThink. (n.d.). Definition of science fiction. Retrieved from:
    http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson927/SciFiDefinition.pdf
Science Channel. (n.d.). Top 10 sic-fi books of all time. Retrieved from:
    http://www.sciencechannel.com/sci-fi/10-sci-fi-books-of-all-time.htm
Shelley, W. (2011). The history of science fiction v.1. Retrieved from: http://visual.ly/history-science-
    fiction-v1

Preparation

Students will come to class having read, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" and will use the notes they took with their common elements organizer to discuss the story in class. 

Teaching Instructions [60 minutes]

I. Schema Activation -> Discussion [10 minutes]

In small groups, students will discuss their reactions to the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin. The teacher will provide the following guiding questions: 

• What was your reaction to the story? Did you like it or not? Why?
• What do you think the central message of this story is? Why do you think so? 
• Is this central message culturally specific? Does it have implications for particular cultures more than others or is it universal? Why? 
• What about this story makes it science fiction? 
• What other science fiction stories have you been exposed to? 
• What are the common elements of science fiction? 

After the groups have finished discussing, the instructor will bring the class together and engage the group, eliciting responses to the same questions they were discussing. 

II. Schema Development: Thinglink Scavenger Hunt [10-15 mins]

Present students with this Thinglink image. They will be tasked with exploring the links with a partner to answer the questions found here. The first group to finish (with all the correct answers) wins (extra credit, a small prize (instructor's choice)). 

III. Intensive Reading Activity: Critical Genre Analysis "A Study In Emerald" [35-40 mins]

Now students will return to their original seats and read the Neil Gaiman short story, "A Study in Emerald". As they read they will take notes using this common elements organizer. When they finish, the instructor will put them into groups of 3-4  (ideally people who don't work together very often) depending on the class size. The instructor will ask them to answer the following question: 

What genre does this story belong to? 

Post-Reading: The students will have 12 minutes to develop an answer and an evidence-based argument to support their answer. They will be allow to employ any and all class resources (PPTs, videos, the analysis chart, the elements organizer, etc) but there are three required conditions: 

• The group must reach a consensus decision
• This consensus must be supported by at least two solid pieces of evidence from class discussions on the different storytelling traditions. 
• Each member of the group must be able to deliver the argument (so notes will be taken!)

After the group's have had a chance to prepare their argument, they will break into individual. One person from each of the groups will join one person from each of the other groups. In these new groups, the members will engage in a critical genre analysis debate. The instructor will monitor and encourage as the students have at it. 

IV. Homework

Students will finish their comparative genre analysis charts. They will be due at the start of the next class. Also, they will prepare short (2-3 minute) presentations to on their final project topics to give to the class. 

Finally, students will post reactions to the debate here.