Mess with your Students' Minds with this *Animal Farm* Lesson Plan
In my first year of teaching I had to deliver Animal Farm to a class of 9th graders. I had recently been given the advice by a veteran teacher to "make every concept/book/idea real" for my students. With his advice in mind, I created this lesson--one of my first and still one of my favorites--a full experiment and exercise in manipulating a class of students!
In teaching this book, you can go the obvious route and discuss the Russian Revolution--and you probably should include historic parallels as part of the unit. I've found it equally important, though, to teach general concepts of power, manipulation of a populace, and corruption at the highest levels of organization. The goal of this lesson is to teach students (a) that leaders will lie and (b) how easy it can be to get played, if you're not paying attention. To do this, I separate the students in my class into animal groups, and as we read the novel, the "pigs" in the class get increased privilege over the rest of the animals, who get more and more mistreated and disenfranchised as we get through the book. If you execute this con in the right way, they don't even see it happening until it's too late.
Here's how I do it--change things up accordingly to your class schedule, students, etc.:
DAY 1:
After the students read the first chapter, give them a normal 5-question reading quiz--simple stuff to make sure they've read (i.e., What is the name of the farmer/farm where the animals live?). Most students should do well on this first quiz, and you should grade it as you would any other quiz.
All animals are equal YAYYYYY!
After the reading quiz on Chapter 1, tell the students that you'll be splitting them up into animal groups. Let them know that each group will be responsible for reporting in class what happens to that animal group in each night's reading. Students might wonder why they're a pig or a horse or a rat--tell them that you've created these groups totally arbitrarily. Breaking them into groups helps give students a sense of purpose when they're reading, as well as some fun "animal pride" when you break them into groups during class. Make a group for pigs, horses, sheep/cows/donkeys/cats, and rats. Let them have fun with this.
[Here's what they don't know]: There's nothing arbitrary about how you made the groups. Particularly with the pigs, you want to include students who are perceived leaders, on both the confident (cocky?) and the intellectual side of the leader spectrum. Your horses should be good, solid, sensible kids. Your sheep/cows/donkeys/cats can be somewhat random, and your rats should be good humored students who won't be offended that they're rats. [Note: it would work and could be even more interesting to select animal groups at random--surely there would be results there too--but I was always secretly intentional with it.]
[Here's what else they don't know]: Over the next 7 days (or however long you take to read the 10-chapter book), the pigs are going to gradually get increased privilege in the class, and the other animals are going to gradually be treated like second-class citizens.
Excellent.
I effect this manipulation in two ways: (1) Candy and (2) Quizzes that get harder and harder as you go, but that the pigs will always get hundreds on.
Manipulation through Candy
Bring in a paper bag of candy on Day 1--I always like Starbursts, but choose whatever works for you. Make it seem like the candy is unrelated in any way to the lesson. Lie and tell the students that you were at a function the night before where they had one of those "Guess How Many Pieces of Candy are in the Jar" raffles. Tell the story about how you thought it was really silly, but what the heck, right? So you filled out a guess, and lo and behold, your guess was the closest! (They'll ask what your guess was--have a specific figure ready for them.) But here's the thing, you tell them: You hate Starbursts! you used to love them when you were a kid, but you overdosed on them once and got real sick. Now the taste of them makes you sick. Tell them that you didn't know what you'd do with 583 Starbursts, but then you remembered that you teach high school, and your students would probably happily take care of them for you! They'll cheer wildly at their good fortune, and once they're eating the candy, they won't question the legitimacy of your story. The manipulation is in motion now! On the first day of the candy, bring plenty for everyone (this will mirror the initial windfall and equity of the harvest that the animals experience immediately after the Revolution).
After Day 1, bring less and less candy each day so that by Day 3, the rats aren't getting anything, by Day 5 the cows and sheep aren't getting any, and by the final couple of days, only the pigs are enjoying the candy. Always have the students sit by animal groups so that you can distribute the candy in the same order each day (starting with the pigs, who sit up front or near you). Start each class with the handing out of candy and the quizzes (returning yesterday's and giving that day's). I use a paper bag so that the students can't see how much candy is in the bag. Observe how the lesser animals start complaining. See if the pigs share (they won't). Diabolical, right?
Manipulation through Quizzes.
Each night assign a chapter to read, with the expectation that there will be a reading quiz the next day. Always 5 questions, always on a half-piece of paper (this way, you can grade them quickly and they can do the next day's quiz on the back of the previous quiz).
After that first quiz on Day 1 (the one that is normal and relatively easy and that most students will do well on), make the quizzes increasingly difficult. Ask for details that you would never actually expect them to recall. And grade them more stringently than you normally would. Quiz scores will go down, and that's the point. Again, be consistent in handing yesterday's quizzes back at the start of each day, right before you give the new day's quiz. This establishes a rhythm and structure and student expectations to the unit. Watch as the students start complaining! "These quizzes are killing me!" "I used to be doing well in this class." "I swear I'm reading, but then I get on the quiz and I just don't do well." Be prepared to spin these comments to your evil purpose, with matter-of-fact responses like: "You have to study harder--expectations are higher for you this year"; "Maybe you're not reading closely enough"; and "All of these answers are right in the chapter." You'll feel like a jerk, but that's kind of the point, so just do it.
While you're giving these difficult daily quizzes and grading the regular animals' quizzes like the meanest teacher in the world, give the pigs 5/5's no matter what. Early on you'll be able to just mark things correctly, as if it was an oversight on your part (teachers sometimes rush and miss things, right?). As time goes on, you may need to get more creative--sometimes when a pig gets all the questions wrong, I write a note: "John, I could tell in class that you read this, so don't worry about this one," or something to that effect. Here's the thing--it's a rare student that will argue a perfect score on a quiz, so they'll very happily accept your good will or mistakes as long as it's helping them (you can tie this into how power corrupts later). As you get deeper into the book, watch as the pigs' morale and swagger increases and the regular animals start feeling demoralized.
"Hello, Pig! You're more equal than others!"
THE FINAL QUIZ:
When you get to the tenth and final chapter, tell the animals that you know that the quizzes have been difficult, and that today you're going to do things a little differently. For the final quiz, each animal group can work together and use one book per group! Watch how they cheer and get excited and take out a book per group! Tell them to write their names at the top of their individual quizzes, and then say, "#1: What is the third word on page 107?" (or whatever arbitrary page you choose). Ask them to check their answers and then hand in this one-question quiz.The students will look at you incredulously, but then they'll understand that you're giving them a gift--after all, these quizzes have been hard, and clearly you're understanding this and giving them all an easy 100 because you're a nice teacher!
[Here's what they don't know]: Before class started, you had a quick and simple conversation with one of the pigs, where you gave him/her a different edition of the book with different page numbers. You simply handed them the book and said, "Use this during class today." Be kind of shady and C.I.A. about it, and watch how the pigs go along.
Collect the quizzes--you don't even need to go over this one after they hand it in, because everyone assumes they got the answer right. If any students see that the pigs had a different book or answer, just deflect--"Oh...well, I'll take a look at that when I grade it..." and then start teaching the final chapter.
THE REVEAL
It helps you teach well if you're a little bit of a wizard.
The last day of class is when it all comes out. Here's how I do it:
Hand out the graded open-book chapter 10 quizzes from yesterday. Big zeroes should be at the top of everyone's quizzes (except for the pigs, who have 100's). Act baffled and exasperated: "You guys, we need to talk about these quizzes. I'm at my wit's end here. I wanted to give you the chance for an easy grade, and I was absolutely shocked when I saw these answers. What is going on?!?!?" The students will immediately contest their answers, pointing out in their books the 3rd word on page 107! Let them get upset, and then quiet them down, saying, "Can we just talk about these quizzes in general?"
Ask them to take out all of their quizzes (this is where having them all on half-sheets of looseleaf is good). Ask them to look at their grades. And then say, "I just want to get a sense of how you're all doing...raise your hand if you've averaged a 1/5 on these quizzes" (mostly all hands will go up)..."OK, keep your hands up if you've averaged a 2/5 on the quizzes" (some hands will drop)..."A 3/5?" (more hands down)..."a 4/5...a 5/5?" By now only the pigs' hands will be raised, and the rest of the class may start to see what's going on.
Then I say, "Pigs--how did you manage to do so well on these quizzes?" See what they say--they may act like they really did well, or they may share how they actually didn't do well on them, how you gave them points, and how you gave them a different book for the open-book quiz. Some light bulbs will start going off as some (but not all) students begin to realize the deck was stacked and the pigs were given advantages. Then say, "What if I told you all that these quizzes weren't going to count?" [Applause, thank you's because they think you're just being nice.] "But what if I told you that I never planned to actually count these quizzes? What would you say?" [Allow for some general reaction.]
Then say, "Let me ask you another question...Rats, when was the last time you got candy in this class?" This is when they'll all really get it, and when they'll start to realize that it was all an elaborate lie orchestrated by you, a genius mastermind to teach them something. They'll be shocked and appalled and amazed that you made up a whole story about the candy raffle...they'll question everything...it'll be like the surprise ending of Fight Club or Sixth Sense when you realize that Ed Norton and Brad Pitt were THE SAME GUY or that Bruce Willis was DEAD THE WHOLE TIME! [post-hoc spoiler alert!]
But what exactly are you teaching them through this? I focus on two main things:
That power corrupts (look at how the pigs so easily leaned into their positions of privilege with the candy and the quizzes; I cite specific class moments of bravado or dishonesty on the pig-students' parts over the course of the unit).
That anyone in positions of authority (i.e., even I) might lie and manipulate the people they lead. Don't trust authority just because they're in charge. Don't accept something just because it's on TV or on the Internet or published. Question everything and trust your instincts. We discuss how they were so easily conned into believing certain things; how they were made to feel stupid through the quizzes even though they were completing the reading; how they were demoralized; how their instincts may have told them one thing, but they went along anyway.
[NOTE: This lesson works best if you've established a good rapport with your students. If you're regarded as a jerk, or are one of those teachers who relish how much the kids hate you, you might want to pass on this (and maybe on teaching as a profession?). It may also be wise to clear this lesson with your department chair or administrator so that they know what you're doing and why you're doing it. Finally, I would advise not entering (the fake) quiz grades into any live online grade book in order to avoid parent calls. For any questions or advice contact me!]
