Free Resources for 1984

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1984. What can I say about this book? I read it once and was like "ugh." Then I got assigned 10 Intensified and had to teach it as part of the curriculum, which I wasn't looking forward to. But let me tell you-this book creeps the fuck out of kids and I LOVE IT. It's so fun to teach...and, unfortunately, relevant for the times.

1984 Book Cover

I always had a hard time teaching 1984 because I could never settle on one theme to focus on. I finally gave up and just let the unit go in every which direction by the time we got to the end. The last time I taught 1984 wasssss a long time ago-maybe 2015?, so there are probably so many better materials that came out between 2016 and 2020. Regardless, below you will find some of the basic activities & charts that you will need to get moving. The materials are in the general order that I used them. My favorite activities were always the mood analysis and the book cover. I hope you enjoy these free resources for 1984!

Before Reading Activities

At the very start of the unit, before I even talk about dystopias or the book specifically, I try and get the kids thinking about surveillance societies and where they exist. To do this, I always started with this map activity where I had kids color in a map of the world according to levels of surveillance. They would color a country black if they thought there were high levels of surveillance, and blue if they thought they were low levels, and then everything in between. Inevitably, during this activity, kids will say something along the lines of "North Korea and Russia are surveillance societies...not the US." Once all the kids were dong coloring their maps, I would then reveal the actual map with the answers and kids would see that surveillance in the US is endemic...our government just hides it a little better. I always felt it was important to start this way because kids will always dismiss 1984 as "a book about North Korea" unless I shake that thought a bit at the beginning of the unit.

Here are the map activity directions & handouts;

• Map Coloring Activity (surveillance society predictions)

• Map Results

After the map activity, I would then get into more specifics about dystopias, 1984, and surveillance in the US.

• Dystopias: Definitions & Characteristics (ReadWriteThink)

• I Use This Awesome Lesson by Junius Wright from ReadWriteThink to start 1984

• 1984 Opening Journal

• "How Target Knows What You Want Before You Do" (Chapter in this book The Power of Habit)

• 1984 Reading Calendar and Annotation Requirements

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Vocabulary

• 1984 Vocabulary

• Word Chain Directions

• Vocabulary Matching Activity

• 1984 Practice Vocabulary Quiz

• 1984 Vocabulary Quiz (paid product)

1984 Vocabulary Quiz

Part 1

• Close Reading of Opening Passage

• Close Reading of Opening Passage (Version 2)

• 2 Minutes Hate Passage

• 2 Minutes Hate Discussion

• Types of Societal Control

• 1984 Plot Review of the Beginning of Book 1 (Takes up a big chunk of class)

• Propaganda Compare/Contrast

• Types of Propaganda

• Surveillance Article Assignment

• Understanding Winston

Part 2

• Mood Lecture/PowerPoint

• Determining Mood Practice Passage

• Mood Analysis Directions & Passage

• Symbolism PowerPoint/Lecture

• Symbolism Note-Taking Guide

• Symbol Analysis Directions

• Symbolism Groups

• Julia as Eve? Symbolism Analysis

• Literary Device Analysis

Part 3

• Part 3, Chapters 1 & 2 Discussion

• Part 3, Chapter 2 Passage Analysis

• Dystopian Character Conversation (and vocab review)

After Reading

• 1984 Ending Discussion

• Book Cover Directions

• Blank Book Cover

• Novel 1-Pagers (general)

• 1984 1-Pager

• George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language"

For the satire analysis, we watched an episode of Black Mirror titled "Nosedive" (I had to censor the ending to make it school appropriate but it was great fun to watch, otherwise.) If your school has strict viewing rules, I've also used Wall-E.

Black Mirror Episode that Pairs with 1984.

Wall-E pairs well with 1984.

• Satire PowerPoint

• Satire Note-Taking Guide

• Satire Movie Analysis

• Satire Film Assignment & Rubric

• Peer Grading of Peer Satires

1984 Essay Materials: Compare "US to 1984"

(2018 essay)

• 1984 Essay Assignment Sheet

• 1984 Essay Brainstorm

• Outline Directions & Model

• Body Paragraph Reflection

1984 Essay Materials: Research "Societal Controls in US to 1984" (2016 essay)

• 1984 Essay Assignment Sheet (2016)

• Intro Paragraph Pieces

• Paragraph Breaks

• How to Shorten Quotations

Great Choice Books That Connect to 1984

Depending on the year, I sometimes have time for the kids to read a dystopian choice book. The choices are myriad but here are a few that my kids have enjoyed over the years.

Divergent series by Veronica Roth

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

​\="[] The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Uglies by Scott Westerfield

Other Connections to 1984

Julia by Sandra Newman
This novel is written from Julia's point of view. I have not read it yet but it got great reviews in The Washington Post. Let me know your thoughts!

Crazy, Broke, & Stupid: How you will really feel for the first 10 years of your teaching career.

So as I mentioned earlier, a 1984 unit could go in 100 directions. I hope these free resources for 1984 are enough to get you started. If you have an 1984 materials that you would like to share, please feel free to post them in the comments section.