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English 10 Curriculum: Exploring Science Fiction with "There Will Come Soft Rains", Study notes of English Language

“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury. Pacing. 10 days. Common Core Reading: Text complexity and the growth of comprehension.

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Columbus City Schools
English Language Arts Curriculum
Reading
Course/Grade
English 10
Genre/Text Selection
Fiction
“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury
Pacing
10 days
Common Core Reading: Text complexity and the growth of comprehension
The Reading standards place equal emphasis on the sophistication of what students read and the skill with which they read. Standard 10 defines a
grade-by-grade “staircase” of increasing text complexity that rises from beginning reading to the college and career readiness level. Whatever they
are reading, students must also show a steadily growing ability to discern more from and make fuller use of text, including making an increasing
number of connections among ideas and between texts, considering a wider range of textual evidence, and becoming more sensitive to
inconsistencies, ambiguities, and poor reasoning in texts. (CCSS, Introduction, 8)
Note on range and content of student reading
To become college and career ready, students must grapple with works of exceptional craft and thought whose range extends across genres,
cultures, and centuries. Such works offer profound insights into the human condition and serve as models for students’ own thinking and writing.
Along with high-quality contemporary works, these texts should be chosen from among seminal U.S. documents, the classics of American literature,
and the timeless dramas of Shakespeare. Through wide and deep reading of literature and literary nonfiction of steadily increasing sophistication,
students gain a reservoir of literary and cultural knowledge, references, and images; the ability to evaluate intricate arguments; and the capacity to
surmount the challenges posed by complex texts. (CCSS, College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading, 35)
An integrated model of literacy
Although the Standards are divided into Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language strands for conceptual clarity, the processes of
communication are closely connected, as reflected throughout the Common Core State Standards document. For example, Writing standard 9
requires that students be able to write about what they read. Likewise, Speaking and Listening standard 4 sets the expectation that students will
share findings from their research. (CCSS, Introduction, 4)
Research and media skills blended into the Standards as a whole
To be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a technological society, students need the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize,
and report on information and ideas, to conduct original research in order to answer questions or solve problems, and to analyze and create a high
volume and extensive range of print and non-print texts in media forms old and new. The need to conduct research and to produce and consume
media is embedded into every aspect of today’s curriculum. In like fashion, research and media skills and understanding are embedded throughout
the Standards rather than treated in a separate section. (CCSS, Introduction, 4)
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English Language Arts Curriculum

Reading

Course/Grade English 10 Genre/Text Selection Fiction “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury Pacing 10 days Common Core Reading: Text complexity and the growth of comprehension The Reading standards place equal emphasis on the sophistication of what students read and the skill with which they read. Standard 10 defines a grade-by-grade “staircase” of increasing text complexity that rises from beginning reading to the college and career readiness level. Whatever they are reading, students must also show a steadily growing ability to discern more from and make fuller use of text, including making an increasing number of connections among ideas and between texts, considering a wider range of textual evidence, and becoming more sensitive to inconsistencies, ambiguities, and poor reasoning in texts. (CCSS, Introduction, 8) Note on range and content of student reading To become college and career ready, students must grapple with works of exceptional craft and thought whose range extends across genres, cultures, and centuries. Such works offer profound insights into the human condition and serve as models for students’ own thinking and writing. Along with high-quality contemporary works, these texts should be chosen from among seminal U.S. documents, the classics of American literature, and the timeless dramas of Shakespeare. Through wide and deep reading of literature and literary nonfiction of steadily increasing sophistication, students gain a reservoir of literary and cultural knowledge, references, and images; the ability to evaluate intricate arguments; and the capacity to surmount the challenges posed by complex texts. (CCSS, College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading, 35) An integrated model of literacy Although the Standards are divided into Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language strands for conceptual clarity, the processes of communication are closely connected, as reflected throughout the Common Core State Standards document. For example, Writing standard 9 requires that students be able to write about what they read. Likewise, Speaking and Listening standard 4 sets the expectation that students will share findings from their research. (CCSS, Introduction, 4) Research and media skills blended into the Standards as a whole To be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a technological society, students need the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize, and report on information and ideas, to conduct original research in order to answer questions or solve problems, and to analyze and create a high volume and extensive range of print and non-print texts in media forms old and new. The need to conduct research and to produce and consume media is embedded into every aspect of today’s curriculum. In like fashion, research and media skills and understanding are embedded throughout the Standards rather than treated in a separate section. (CCSS, Introduction, 4)

English Language Arts Curriculum

Reading

Strands/Topics Standard Statements Reading Literature/Key Ideas and Details

  1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme. Reading Literature/Craft and Structure
  4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
  5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
  6. Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature. Reading Literature /Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
  7. Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare). Reading Literature/Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
  8. By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently. Reading Informational Texts/Key Ideas and Details
  9. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  10. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. Reading Informational Texts/Craft and Structure
  11. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper).
  12. Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter). Reading Informational Texts/Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
  13. By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

English Language Arts Curriculum

Reading

meaning of a word or phrase. b. Identify and correctly use patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or parts of speech (e.g., analyze, analysis, analytical; advocate, advocacy ). c. Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning, its part of speech, or its etymology. d. Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary).

  1. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. a. Interpret figures of speech (e.g., euphemism, oxymoron) in context and analyze their role in the text. b. Analyze nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations.
  2. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

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Instructional Strategies “Because science fiction portrays a multitude of alternate futures, it can provide students not only with a means for evaluating the forces affecting the shape the future may take, but also with extrapolations depicting various directions in which advances in science and technology may lead us. These alternate futures can also provide the perspectives needed to appreciate the possibilities open to society and the human race—a vision not always easy to achieve in our rapidly changing environment.” (p. vii) - - (Tymn, Marshall (1988). Introduction. In Marshall Tymn (ed.), Science fiction: A teacher’s guide & resource book (pp. vii-xi). Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, Inc.) Day 1 : Pass out the handout “Science Fiction” ( appendix ). Give students time to brainstorm ideas. Then, ask students to share their ideas in whole-class discussion format. Record or have a student record class answers on the overhead, Elmo, whiteboard, etc. Be sure to challenge and extend student thinking by asking follow-up questions. Hopefully, current examples of science fiction came up during class discussion. If they did not, ask students for examples or provide a PowerPoint of visual images with examples. (You may also wish to begin class with a video clip from a recent science fiction film or series. One possibility is Star Trek The Next Generation , “The Arsenal of Freedom.” You may show the exposition which runs 4: which is sufficient for students to discuss elements of science fiction. The entire program runs 45:47. Follow this link: http://www.startrek.com/watch_episode/tMAg_HCSa9MB .) When you have exhausted the previous discussion, tell students that the story they will be reading comes from the science fiction genre. Ask students what elements of plot, setting, character, and other literary devices they can expect to encounter based on class discussion. Exit Ticket: Ask students to pull one detail from the brainstorming session and use it to make a prediction about a literary element they will encounter in the story. Day 2 : Show the PowerPoint presentation “Monsanto House of the Future” located on the curriculum guide website OR show the YouTube video “House of the Future, 1957” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VowfYuhx1-o. As students watch, ask them to compile two lists: 1) What seems usual, traditional, or expected? 2) What seems unusual, modern and unexpected? Have a class discussion in which students share their reaction to the House of the Future. Put students in small groups and have them sketch and design their own house of the future. Display sketches around the room and have students participate in a gallery walk in which they observe the work of the class. Ask students to comment on each other’s designs. What seems usual, traditional, or expected? What seems unusual, modern and unexpected? Day 3 : Tell students they will be reading a story about a futuristic house. Assign students a focus area by numbering them 1, 2, 3 or use your chosen grouping method. Tell them they will have a focus for the story. Pass out the handout(s) “There Will Come Soft Rains Worksheets” ( appendix ). Review the three areas of focus—imagery, irony, and personification—as well as the models for each focus area.

English Language Arts Curriculum

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three times for memory's sake. "Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills." Somewhere in the walls, relays clicked, memory tapes glided under electric eyes. Ten o'clock. The sun came out from behind the rain. The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles. relay : an electromagnetic device for remote or automatic control that is actuated by variation in conditions of an electric circuit and that operates in turn other devices (as switches) in the same or a different circuit word could also be read as “mourning” or “sad.” The house is empty and therefore in a state of grief. (Q4) Give examples of Bradbury personifying the house. What purpose does this personification serve? “Voice-clock,” the house and its machines “repeat, hiss, and eject.” It introduces the house—an inanimate object—as a character in the story and also serves to underscore the fact that no humans are present. (Q5) How does Bradbury create discomfort in the opening of his story? He contrasts things normal and familiar—a wake-up alarm, toast, eggs, bacon, etc.—with those that are not—a house that is empty first thing in the morning. (Q6) What kind of information does the house give its occupants? What does this suggest about the function of machines in the future? The house gives the date and location. It also reminds its occupants of birthdays, anniversaries and bills that are due. This information— “repeated…three times for memory’s sake”—suggests that machines are now programming the mental knowledge for humans, instead of humans programming the machines. (Q7) Is the word “somewhere” specific or vague? How does this word choice add to the reader’s sense of uneasiness? The word “somewhere”—an adverb—means in, at, from, or to a place unknown or unspecified. The functions of the house are occurring, unknown and unseen to humans. (Q8) Notice phrases like, “voice-clock,” “memory tapes,” and “electric eyes.” What function do these phrases serve? The phrases not only personify the house and its machines, but also blur the lines between functions and parts and between humans and machines. (Q9) How does Bradbury use situational irony in this paragraph? The paragraph begins with the image of the sun coming out after the rain. For readers, this normally signifies the end of bad times, the promise of good things to come. In this paragraph, however, the sun reveals that the house is the only one left, “in a city of rubble and ashes.” The reader’s sense of normalcy and outcomes is disrupted. Additionally, at night, the city gives off light—“a radioactive glow”—

English Language Arts Curriculum

Reading

Ten-fifteen. The garden sprinklers whirled up in golden founts , filling the soft morning air with scatterings of brightness. The water pelted windowpanes, running down the charred west side where the house had been burned evenly free of its white paint. The entire west face of the house was black, save for five places. Here the silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down. The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly. Twelve noon. A dog whined, shivering, on the front porch. The front door recognized the dog voice and opened. The dog, once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with founts : fountain; source charred : converted to charcoal or carbon usually by heat titanic : having great magnitude, force, or power instead of the city receiving light from a natural source such as the moon or stars. Everything about this setting disrupts the reader’s sense of normalcy and order. (Q10) How does Bradbury use setting to give hints about plot—what has happened? The author does not directly tell the reader that some atomic holocaust has occurred but instead reveals this indirectly through a description of the outside of the house and its surroundings. A “silhouette” is all that is left of each of its occupants, imprinted on the west wall of the house. Not only is the cause of death explained but also the course of it. Each of the charred images is busy—mowing the lawn, picking flowers, playing ball. This was a family at leisure, unaware that they were about to experience a “titanic instant” that would be the rest of their life. (Q11) What figure of speech occurs here? For what purpose? The house is compared to an altar—a symbol of worship and sacrifice. When the house was occupied with its family, the rituals—like those performed in church—were meaningful and full of purpose. Now, without attendants—the family—the rituals of the house seem senseless and useless. (Q12) What does the phrase “the gods had gone away” suggest? All faith is gone in this post-apocalyptic world. Like the rapture or second coming alluded to in religions, all that is left in the human world is ruined and destroyed. (Q13) What has happened to living things in this world? The dog, “once huge and fleshy,” is now starving and covered in sores.

English Language Arts Curriculum

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Delicately sensing decay at last, the regiments of mice hummed out as softly as blown gray leaves in an electrical wind. Two-fifteen. The dog was gone. In the cellar, the incinerator glowed suddenly and a whirl of sparks leaped up the chimney. Two thirty-five. Bridge tables sprouted from patio walls. Playing cards fluttered onto pads in a shower of pips. Glasses manifested on an oaken bench with egg-salad sandwiches. Music played. Nine-five. A voice spoke from the study ceiling: "Mrs. McClellan, which poem would you like this evening?" The house was silent. The voice said at last, "Since you express no preference, I shall regiments : troops; squads manifested : readily perceived by the senses and especially by the sense of sight humans to live a life of convenience turned on them. (Q18) Look at the diction in this passage: “sprouted,” “fluttered,” “shower.” What is ironic about the imagery suggested here? The effect of the diction forms an image of nature, the natural world. However, just earlier, the house—and we can assume its former occupants—did much to keep the natural world out. The fact that man-made items in the house are mimicking nature, then, is ironic. (Q19) Bradbury keeps inserting the voice of the house, which repeats the time. What effect does this have? The repetition of the clock suggests that we are leading up to something—it builds anticipation.

English Language Arts Curriculum

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select a poem at random." Quiet music rose to back the voice. "Sara Teasdale. As I recall, your favorite… There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white; Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done, Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly ; And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn Would scarcely know that we were gone.” At ten o'clock the house began to die. The wind blew. A falling tree bough crashed through the kitchen window. Cleaning solvent , bottled, shattered over the stove. The room was ablaze in an instant! "Fire!" screamed a voice. The house lights flashed, water pumps tremulous : timid; shy whims : impulses; urges utterly : completely; absolutely scarcely : barely, hardly bough : branch; limb solvent : solution that dissolves (Q20) Compare and contrast the Teasdale poem to the story. Just as the story does, the poem begins with rain. There are noises in both texts, but the sounds in the poem come from the natural world— birds and frogs—while the sounds in the story—the voice clock—come from the machine world. The image of white given by a wild plum tree pairs with the white paint on the side of the house. The poem speaks of a war, which is the event that has led to the destruction of this California town, or even the world. The poem declares that “not one will know of the war, not one/Will care at last when it is done.” So in the story, too, is there no one to tell of what happens. Mankind has “perished,” as the poem suggests he/she could. The poem and the story differ, though, as seen in the lines, “And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn/Would scarcely know that we were gone.” The poem personifies and empowers nature. Nature outlasts mankind. In the story, Bradbury personifies machines. Machines have outlasted mankind. But as spring would barely notice if mankind ceased to exist, the house continues to talk, make breakfast, perform cleaning duties, as if it has no idea that the family is gone. (Q21) The climax of the story begins here. What interaction creates the climax? The tree limb—an object from the natural world—breaks through the barrier of the house. When it collides with a chemical, man-made

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drapes! And then, reinforcements. From attic trapdoors, blind robot faces peered down with faucet mouths gushing green chemical. The fire backed off, as even an elephant must at the sight of a dead snake. Now there were twenty snakes whipping over the floor, killing the fire with a clear cold venom of green froth. But the fire was clever. It had sent flames outside the house, up through the attic to the pumps there. An explosion! The attic brain which directed the pumps was shattered into bronze shrapnel on the beams. The fire rushed back into every closet and felt of the clothes hung there. The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, its nerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver in the scalded air. Help, help! Fire! Run, run! Heat snapped mirrors like the first brittle winter ice. And the voices wailed Fire, fire, run, run, like developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting, sculpture, printmaking and ceramics. shrapnel : bomb, mine, or shell fragments cringing : wincing; recoiling; shrinking capillaries : any of the tiny blood vessels connecting the small arteries and veins brittle : hard (Q25) What do the verb choices in this sentence suggest? The fire lays, stands, and changes. The fire now becomes personified as it utterly destroys the house. (Q26) What is the effect of the reinforcements? They temporarily stop the fire, but ultimately are unsuccessful as the fire finds another route to destroy the house. (Q27) The house uses “faucet mouths gushing green chemical” to fight the fire. What does this imagery conjure? Many students will think of vomit, being sick, etc. (Q28) Explain the figure of speech used here to describe the fire and the house. Bradbury uses simile to compare the reaction of the fire to the faucet to that of an elephant to a snake. The comparison reinforces the power and size of the fire in relation to the resources of the house. (Q29) Paraphrase the sequence of events in this paragraph. The fire is smart and sends its flames outside of the house, where they go up to the attic where the pumps are. There is an explosion as the main controls of the house that live in the attic react to the fire. The bronze that composed the “brains” of the house shatters into pieces. (Q30) As the fire takes over, the destruction of the house intensifies. How does Bradbury create intensity here? His personification of the house continues, but becomes more extreme and grotesque—the flesh of the house has burned away as its infrastructure—“oak bones” and “skeleton” begin to crumble. Additionally, he uses a simile comparing the fire to a surgeon “tearing” off the skin, which creates a violent association. The house’s “red veins and capillaries quiver” as it becomes completely vulnerable and

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a tragic nursery rhyme, a dozen voices, high, low, like children dying in a forest, alone, alone. And the voices fading as the wires popped their sheathings like hot chestnuts. One, two, three, four, five voices died. In the nursery the jungle burned. Blue lions roared, purple giraffes bounded off. The panthers ran in circles, changing color, and ten million animals, running before the fire, vanished off toward a distant steaming river.... Ten more voices died. In the last instant under the fire avalanche, other choruses, oblivious , could be heard announcing the time, playing music, cutting the lawn by remote-control mower, or setting an umbrella frantically out and in the slamming and opening front door, a thousand things happening, like a clock shop when each clock strikes the hour insanely before or after the other, a scene of maniac confusion, yet unity; singing, screaming, a few last cleaning mice darting bravely out to carry the horrid ashes away! And one voice, with sublime disregard for the situation, read poetry aloud in the fiery study, until all the film spools burned, until all the wires sheathings: casings; coverings oblivious : unaware sublime : amazing helpless as a patient on the operating table. (Q31) Bradbury returns to the nursery rhyme sounds he used to open the story. Here, he explicitly says the voices sound like a “tragic nursery rhyme.” How do nursery rhymes function? How are they functioning at this point in the story? Nursery rhymes are songs or poems that are easy for children to memorize. They are often allegorical, containing messages about cultural values and expected behavior. Here, the nursery rhyme takes on a particularly ominous feel, as human desire for power and dominance over the environment results in ultimate chaos and destruction. The contrast of innocence—a children’s song—to the violent and destructive reality is unsettling, to say the least. (Q32) Contrast the actions of the house to the actions surrounding it. How does this authorial pairing parallel the insanity and chaos that are occurring at this point in the plot? The house is announcing and performing routine and ordinary tasks— playing music, cutting the lawn, etc.—while around it, complete destruction occurs. The house, for all its technological advances, is completely oblivious to the reality of the world around it. The actions of the house become seen as insane and senseless in the context of the fire. (Q33) Throughout the story, Bradbury has personified the house. To what kind of person is the house compared? The house is efficient, helpful, cheerful, and task-oriented. However, the house cannot respond to any circumstances that exist outside of its programmed tasks. It relies upon machinery, rejecting any elements from the outside world. It fails to effectively combat the chaos and

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are destined to occur again. (Q39) Return to the Teasdale poem. How does the poem end? What cycles continue? The poem ends with Spring awakening—a sign of hope and new beginnings. The seasons and cycles of nature continue regardless of man’s presence. Compare this ending to the Bradbury story. How does the story end? What cycles continue? The story ends with a new dawn. However, instead of the image of spring, we hear the voice of a machine under the rubble. (40) Bradbury’s story parallels the Teasdale poem in that both works end with the idea of cycles. However, while Teasdale’s poem ends with the cycles of nature, the last image in the story is that of a machine. What does this suggest about Bradbury’s view of the future? Answers will vary. Day 6 : Place students in small groups, ensuring that each group contains a student from each focus area (“There Will Come Soft Rains Worksheets”). Give students time to share their findings in small groups. After 15-20 minutes, ask groups to share their findings with the whole class, emphasizing that students should focus on the last column, “Effect.” As students share, be sure to encourage them to articulate how their literary device—imagery, irony, or personification—contributes to the overall theme of the story. Record student responses on the overhead, Elmo, SmartBoard, etc. Day 7 : As a warm-up, pass out the “KWL Chart” ( appendix ) and allow students to fill out the first two columns (“what I know and what I want to know”). Depending on your comfort level with the topics, you may need to do a little research on your own. For the sake of taking class notes, please review the following website for a brief synopsis on the topics: http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war. Have a class discussion in which students share their knowledge. Be sure to include accurate student knowledge in the class copy of the chart on the overhead, Elmo, SmartBoard, etc. Exit Ticket: Ask students to connect the day’s discussion to the story. More specifically, ask them how people’s fears during the Atomic Age/Cold War can be seen in the story. (For example: The fact that the setting of the story is an apocalyptic world set just after nuclear destruction illustrates Americans’ fears of the “arms race” that began when Russia tested their own atom bomb in 1949.) Homework: Give students the article “Why We Love Sci-Fi” ( appendix ), and ask them to read and annotate for homework.

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Day 8 : Entrance Ticket: Why We Love Sci-Fi ( appendix ). Allow students time to complete the entrance ticket while you walk around the room and check last night’s annotations. Use the entrance ticket as a spring board for class discussion. Write the term allegory on the board. Ask students to guess what it is. (Allegory is the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence.) Ask students to speculate how “There Will Come Soft Rains” is allegorical. (The story is allegorical largely because it warns readers that the very technologies we depend on for comfort and ease may also be used against us to the end of our destruction.) Explain to students that another critical feature to science fiction is setting. Ask students why setting is so important in science fiction. ( Answers will vary, but students might say things like: Science fiction stories have an imaginary setting. The readers want to leave the cares and concerns of everyday reality behind and be transported to a completely different world. OR, an imaginary setting is not only essential to the definition of most science fiction, it generally plays a far more important role in it and a qualitatively different one than it does in mainstream fiction. In science fiction, setting is less a backdrop for action and characterization and more a key element that is intimately related to plot, character, and the story as a whole. In fact, one might argue that story elements such as plot and character are far less relevant to the success of a science fiction story than its setting.) Tell students that in the story, the setting—the house—is also the main character. Bradbury has done this largely through personification. Exit Ticket: Literary Devices in “There Will Come Soft Rains” ( appendix ) Day 9: Make a T-chart list (Science Fiction Work/Setting) on the board, overhead, Elmo, etc. Ask students to brainstorm a list of science fiction movies or stories. Ask them to list the setting(s) of those works. Compile a list as a class. Tell students that although the primary setting of science fiction has no boundaries and is often extraordinary, in order for readers to connect to the ideas, themes, etc. of the story, writers and filmmakers must include details from the known and familiar world of readers and viewers. Remind the students of the definition of the term imagery ( language that appeals to the senses ). Ask them to take several minutes to review the story, finding examples of imagery that create familiarity. ( Answers might include the food served at breakfast, the sprinklers coming on, etc.) Tell students that realistic and familiar imagery is important in any story, but especially in science fiction. Tell students to take out a piece of paper and brainstorm a list of imagery for the classroom. Give them several minutes to do so. Then, ask students to work with a partner to create an introductory paragraph for a science fiction story that takes place in a classroom. Have students share their stories and talk about how imagery helps orient the reader in a new and unknown world. Additionally, talk about how the familiar imagery might contrast with the setting to create a sense of uneasiness or unfamiliarity in the reader. Day 10 : Introduce final project. (See handouts “Final Project” and “Final Project Rubric” that are located in the appendix.) You may assign a due date and ask students to work on the project entirely outside of class, or you may designate additional days in this lesson plan with which students will be allotted time to work on this assignment in class.

English Language Arts Curriculum

Reading

Professional Articles http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CC/0221-sep2012/Chron0221PolicyBrief.pdf “Reading Instruction for All Students” http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CC/0201-sep2010/CC0201PolicyBrief.pdf “Fostering High Quality Formative Assessment” http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1132/EJ0964Have.pdf "I'll Have Mine Annotated, Please: Helping Students Make Connections with Text" English Language Arts Connections Writing Incorporate Writing Standards as students read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts. http://www.corestandards.org Language Incorporate Language standards as students construct writing in terms of writing conventions, knowledge of language, and acquisition and use of vocabulary. http://www.corestandards.org Speaking and Listening Incorporate Speaking and Listening standards as students integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats. http://www.corestandards.org

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