Pre-Reading Animal Farm Prezi Project

Dear Class,

This week, you’ll be working in small groups to complete a short research project that will get us ready to read George Orwell’s Animal Farm later this quarter. You’ll be working in small groups (I’ll assign) and creating a Prezi presentation to share with the class this Thursday and Friday. As we go through the process, please be patient and flexible, as technology issues will inevitably pop up (I’m counting on your maturity and technical prowess to work out any bugs J). I’m excited to see what you can do, so let’s get started!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gregory

The Process – In order to meet this week’s goals, you will need to do the following:

1. Assign at least one person to answer each question under your topic.

2. Stay on task and use your time in WISELY to research and take notes on your question(s).

3. Share what you learned with your partners and make your Prezi together.

4. Do your research FIRST. Your Prezi will come together very quickly if everyone has their research done BEFORE you start working on the actual presentation.

Click here for RESEARCH RESOURCES

Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto

• Who was Karl Marx?

• What was the Communist Manifesto?

• What do the terms “bourgeoisie” and “proletariat” mean?

• What is “Communism”?

Russian Revolution (1917) ending with the abdication of Czar Nicholas II

• Who was Czar Nicholas II?

• What were some reasons the Russian people decided to revolt against him?

• Can you make any connections to recent revolutions taking place in the Middle East?

Lenin

• Who was Lenin?

• Who were the Bolsheviks?

• What role did Lenin play in the Russian Revolution?

Stalin

• Who was Stalin?

• How did he deal with his political rival, Leon Trotsky?

• What kind of changes did Stalin bring about in Russia?

• How did Stalin maintain and enforce his power?

• What was the “Great Purge”?

Propaganda Techniques

• Define and provide examples of name calling and glittering generalities

• Define and provide examples transfer and testimonial

• Define and provide examples plain folks, and bandwagon

• Define and provide examples bad logic

• Define and provide examples unwarranted extrapolation

George Orwell

• Provide a short biography for George Orwell

• What are his most famous novels? Do they have anything in common?

• What forms of government/economic systems did George Orwell dislike and why?

Animal Farm

• What is an allegory?

• What is “dystopian” fiction?

• Why did George Orwell have difficulty finding someone to publish Animal Farm?

Working on your Prezi - TIPS!

• Insert text by double-clicking in an open area to get a text box.

• You don’t need images, but if you want them, you have to use the “insert” button

• Edit to make some objects bigger than others to show emphasis.

• Reorder “slides” by rearranging them on the left-hand side.

• Create relationships by connecting these ideas with the Path feature.