Dystopia Text Set

Dystopian Text Set Introduction After reading The Giver and The Hunger Games, we were set out on the task to find a common theme. In an ideal situation, teachers would be able to embellish on these young adult books by supporting them with supplemental sources. Through the use of newspaper articles, magazines, picture books, videos, trailers and clips, and electronics our tenth grade English class will explore and discover the theme; dystopia paired with defiance. Dystopia literally means “ bad uptopia”. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, dystopia is defined as “an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives”. Unlike utopia, where a society is perceived to be a perfect place to reside, dystopia differs in that what is “perfect” often causes an undesirable place to live. Having students be able to understand these complex themes in addition to the “on the surface” themes that exist within this young adult literature would ensure a deeper meaning/understanding of the text for them. In addition, being able to present the idea to students in a multitude of facets helps to differentiate learning for students. Also, students are able to gain a better understanding of what dystopia really means when they see it being used in multiple different contexts. This particular English 10 class is a co-taught class of twenty-five including six students with disabilities. There are two students with autism, three with multiple disorders and one student with hearing impairment. By using varying kinds of texts, teachers can provide different modalities of learning for all students, especially those with disabilities. Regardless of if a student is classified with a disability, all students learn differently. Being able to meet students’ needs by providing tactile learners a way to touch, visual learners a way to see and auditory learners a way to hear is key/hugely important. Our students will be using the

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