Final Product: Dystopian Museum Exihibition

Whoever said museums were boring obviously has never been to ours! Your culminating project for Little Brother will be to create a three-part museum exhibit. Check it out here! Use this slideshow to help you start planning your project.

Resources to use throughout the novel

• E-copy/audio-book of Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - It's posted here, but you responsible for bringing your hard copy to class.

• Little Brother novel guide! - It's posted here electronically, but you should complete and submit it via hard copy.

• Presentation: Reporting Events - remember, these ideas cross over into other types of media.

Activity 1: Orwellian Society

The title Little Brother is a play off the term "Big Brother" - a phrase coined by George Orwell in his classic novel 1984. Listen to this clip of Doctorow speaking about George Orwell. What, according to Doctorow, is the major difference between the way they each view technology?

What does Orwellian actually mean? Explore it in this TEDed lesson: "What "Orwellian" really means - Noah Tavlin"

What concepts can we see in contemporary society? How are these occurrences dystopian, Orwellian, and/or authoritarian? Or are they something different altogether?

Activity 2: Technology of the past

(after chapter 5)

Imagine, the year is 2320 and you have been resurrected for your expertise in “vintage” technology.  The Vintage Museum of Technology needs your help!  Your job is to explain one of the antique technologies of the past. Get all the details here!

Activity 3: Dystopia

(chapters 10-11)

Many of us have heard the term before: dystopia.  But just what exactly does it mean? What about utopia? So that we are all on the same page, let's take a look at a common definition and characteristics of dystopia. What aspects of dystopia can you identify from novels, movies, stories, etc? Can you identify any characteristics in real life, past or present?

Let's take a look at this TedEd video "How to recognize a dystopia." What new aspects and perspectives does the video offer when discussing dystopia?

Discuss which dystopian characteristics are seen in Little Brother? Using StoryboardThat, create a six-panel storyboard that identifies and depicts six elements of the dystopian society found in Little Brother:  Use the example given on StoryboardThat to guide you.

• Identify the element in the panel title.

• Write a description of the element from the story, and explain how the element is dystopian.

• Include an appropriate and creative illustration for each panel.

Activity 4: Never trust anyone over...

(after chapter 12)

This chapter has a great discussion about the hippies and the yippies including the following explanation from Ms. Galvez of their famous slogan:  “'Never trust anyone over 30.' They meant that people who were born before a certain time, when America had been fighting enemies like the Nazis, could never understand what it meant to love your country enough to refuse to fight the Vietnamese. They thought that by the time you hit 30, your attitudes would be frozen and you couldn't ever understand why the kids of the day were taking to the streets, dropping out, freaking out” (63).

Part 1 - Explain what is Ms. Galvez saying. What parallels does she draw? How accurate are her comparisons?

Part 2 - What is it that your parents' generation has trouble understanding about your generation and why?  In your response, make reference to the conditions and experiences of both generations.

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Part 3 - Although the novel is fictional, Ms. Galvez makes reference to real historical events.  Imagine you are truly living in the world of Little Brother - what would some of the newspaper headlines and articles sound like? Pick an event from the novel to report on, and write a newspaper article on it. Use this presentation for tips on reporting events.

Sponge Activity 1: Technology - an invasion of privacy?

Watch the TED Talk by Catherine Crump "The small and surprisingly dangerous detail the police track about you."

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Crump talks about "innocuous" technologies used to gather data, and goes even deeper than what she mentioned.  Watch the (in)famous Edward Snowden's TED Talk about data, technology, and privacy: "Here's how we take back the Internet."

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What do you think about how these technologies are being used? Are these an invasion of privacy, a way to keep tabs on people without infringing on people's rights, or something else altogether? Support your ideas with information from the TED Talks, along with your own personal knowledge and experience.

Sponge Activity 2: Extra Classe

Read the Extra Classe article "A pos-verdade chega as salas de aula" in class.  What ideas are new? Which are familiar? Why are these issues important to be discussed in schools?