Literary Quote of the Day: “The Year was 2081…”

Kurt Vonnegut is my favorite author. And today’s quote comes from his most famous short stories: “Harrison Bergeron.” Intro Music I don’t need to set the scene for this one. Vonnegut does it himself in the story’s opening:  “THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the […]

Teaching Science Fiction Short Stories

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss science fiction short stories for middle school and high school: “The Fun They Had,” “All Summer in a Day, “Examination Day,” “They’re Made out of Meat,” “Harrison Bergeron,” “There Will Come Soft Rains,” “The Machine that Won the War,” “The Machine Stops,” and whatever else […]

Dystopian Literature: The Giver Lesson Plans for Middle School (or High School)

It was almost December, and Mr. Jonas was beginning to be frightened. “No. Wrong word,” Mr Jonas thought. Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen. Frightened was the way he had felt a year ago when an unidentified administrator had popped in to his classroom twice. If only he had really good Giver […]