Primary Type: Lesson Plan
Status: Published
This is a resource from CPALMS (www.cpalms.org) where all educators go for bright ideas!
Resource ID#: 69903
Government Knows Best!
Government take over is upon the United States--well, it is in the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr! In this lesson, students in
your classroom will question if we are all treated equally and if we really want equality "every which way." This close reading lesson allows students
to explore cause and effect relationships in this engaging, dystopian short story. Students are also challenged to compare the messages in
"Harrison Bergeron" with the poem "Government of Evil." Graphic organizers, text-dependent questions, answer keys, and a writing rubric for the
summative assessment are included with the lesson.
Subject(s): English Language Arts
Grade Level(s): 7
Intended Audience: Educators
Suggested Technology: Computer for Presenter,
Interactive Whiteboard, LCD Projector, Adobe Acrobat
Reader, Microsoft Office
Instructional Time: 4 Hour(s)
Resource supports reading in content area: Yes
Freely Available: Yes
Keywords: Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut, Government of Evil, poetry, theme, message, cause, effect,
dystopian, close reading
Resource Collection: CPALMS Lesson Plan Development Initiative
ATTACHMENTS
Harrison Bergeron Anticipation Visual.pdf
Harrison Bergeron vs Govt of Evil Graphic Organizer.pdf
Harrison Bergeron Cause and Effect Chart.pdf
Harrison Bergeron Cause and Effect Chart Key.pdf
Government of Evil Stanza Summaries.pdf
Rubric for Harrison Bergeron Lesson.docx
Harrison Bergeron Summative Assessment.pdf
Harrison Bergeron Summative Assessment Key.pdf
Harrison Bergeron Guided Reading Questions.pdf
Harrison Bergeron Guided Reading Questions Key.pdf
LESSON CONTENT
Lesson Plan Template: General Lesson Plan
Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
Students will be able to:
Identify cause and effect relationships in the short story "Harrison Bergeron."
Cite specific textual evidence when responding to text-dependent questions about "Harrison Bergeron" and "Government of Evil."
Analyze interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in "Harrison Bergeron" and "Government of Evil."
Identify similarities between Harrison's view of government and that of the author of "Government of Evil."
Make comparisons between the society in "Harrison Bergeron" and the society described in "Government of Evil."
Determine a theme(s) in "Harrison Bergeron" and "Government of Evil,"and analyze how these themes are developed.
page 1 of 5 Respond in writing to prompts about these texts, organizing their thoughts into a clear beginning, middle, and end with the topic and main points clearly established,
using transitions to create connections between main points and details, and editing their work for grade-level conventions and grammar.
Draw specific and relevant textual evidence from "Harrison Bergeron" and "Government of Evil" to support their written responses to the prompts.
Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
Students should have knowledge of:
how to summarize a text.
how to read and analyze poetry.
making inferences supported by evidence in a text.
identifying cause and effect relationships in a text.
comparing and contrasting characters in a text.
comparing and contrasting characters, events, and ideas across texts.
the term "point of view" and analyzing points of view of authors or characters in a text.
the term "theme" and how to determine themes in a literary text.
responding in writing to a prompt about a text in an organized essay format using evidence from text to support main points.
Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
Why is it important to cite textual evidence to support our analysis of texts?
How does analyzing interactions (cause and effect) in a story help us determine the theme?
What themes are presented in "Harrison Bergeron" and "Government of Evil?
How do the words and actions of the characters demonstrate their points of view?
How does comparing points of view across texts lead to a deeper understanding of both texts?
How are the societies presented in "Harrison Bergeron" and "Government of Evil" similar?
Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?
Hook/Anticipation Activity:
1. The teacher will display this visual using an LCD projector.
2. The teacher will give each student a post-it as they enter the room. After students have read the visual, students will write their opinion of the new amendments on
the post-it note and place the note in an opinion box (this could be an old shoebox or a box with a cover).
3. Anticipation Questions: The teacher will display the following questions on the board. The teacher could give students time to respond to these briefly in writing to
organize their thoughts and then have a class discussion.
Have you ever felt like you were treated unequally? If so, describe the situation.
What can be done to make sure everyone is treated equally?
Would you want to live in a society where everyone is equally talented? Why or why not?
Who has the power to insure equality, the government or citizens? Explain.
4. The teacher will instruct students that the class will be reading "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The short story is about a community that has "complete
equality in every which way."
Close Reading #1:
1. Students will read "Harrison Bergeron" independently and mark the text, highlighting unknown words and placing question marks in areas where they have
questions or don't understand. After they have read the text, allow students to share their text markings in small or whole group and discuss the questions that they
have about the text.
2. Then the teacher will distribute the cause and effect chart and provide instructions for completion. Students will fill in the chart independently. When students have
individually completed the chart, the teacher will display the cause and effect chart on an interactive whiteboard and have selected students come to the board and fill
in the missing components. The teacher will clarify any incorrect answers. Students will self-correct any incorrect responses they may have on their own charts. The
teacher can use this cause/effect key as a guide.
Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
Close Reading #2:
1. Students will work with a partner or in a small group. Pass out the Guided Reading Questions to students and have students take turns reading the questions aloud
to the class. Students should use these questions as their guide as they re-read the short story. They can mark in the text as they read, perhaps by noting in the
margins where they have found evidence to help them answer each of the questions.
2. When students begin working on answering the questions, the teacher can rotate to each group and provide immediate feedback or assistance. When students
have completed the questions, allow time for groups to share their answers with the class and the teacher can provide corrective feedback as needed. Alternatively,
the teacher can collect and grade the guided reading questions to determine if students are ready to progress to the third close read. Teachers can use this key as a
guide. In addition, this link to SparkNotes provides information on possible themes students might identify. This link to E-Notes provides assistance on themes in the
short story as well.
Close Reading #3:
1. The teacher will project the story "Harrison Bergeron" using a document camera and work with students to identify the evidence that reveals Hazel and Harrison's
opinion (points of view) of government control. The teacher will highlight 2 examples-- Hazel's in yellow and Harrison's in pink.
2. The teacher will have students work in pairs. While rereading the story, one student in each pair will highlight evidence to reveal Hazel's point of view of
government control and equality in yellow and one partner will highlight evidence to reveal Harrison's point of view of government control and equality in pink.
3. The teacher will draw a T-Chart and write the first two examples. Allow selected students to come up to the board and write their own findings on the T-Chart. The
teacher will provide immediate feedback and answer any questions the students may have.
"Government of Evil":
page 2 of 5 1. Project the poem using a document camera. The teacher will read the poem aloud to model fluency. The teacher will model how to summarize stanzas one and
two. Then, have students work in groups and provide each group with chart paper. Each group will be assigned one or two additional stanzas in the poem to
summarize.
2. Students will present their stanza summaries to the class. The teacher will provide immediate feedback and answer any questions students may have regarding
comprehension of the poem. The teacher can use this stanza summary handout as a guide.
3. Provide time for students to analyze the poem and determine a theme(s) in the poem. Have students think about: What is the author/speaker in the poem saying
about the society featured in the poem? About the government running the society? Provide feedback to students as needed, making sure to reinforce going back to
the poem and using evidence from the poem to support the determined themes.
Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the
lesson?
1. The teacher will model how to use the graphic organizer and provide one or two examples of similarities between Harrison's thoughts in "Harrison Bergeron" and
the thoughts/viewpoints revealed in the poem "Government of Evil." Students will use the graphic organizer to organize their thoughts prior to writing.
Teacher-provided examples: Harrison and the author of "Government of Evil" both questioned government control and the power government has over a powerless
population. Harrison exercised a radical approach to defy the government's control. The author in "Government of Evil" encourages the population to read, educate
themselves, and make informed decisions when striving for change. Harrison demanded instant change and wanted the population to defy government demands
and make changes by taking a stand in numbers.
2. Distribute the summative assessment handout to students. Go over the directions and writing prompts with students.
3. Distribute the writing rubric to students and explain how the written responses will be scored.
4. Students will work independently and write two extended responses for the provided prompts.
5. The teacher will collect and score student responses based on the rubric. Written feedback will be provided.
Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?
1. Students will revisit their answer to the anticipation question, "Would you want to live in a society where everyone is equally talented?" Ask students if they have
changed their opinion and also to explain why their opinion has or has not changed.
2. As the ticket out the door, students will write a short response to the following question from Harrison Bergeron's point of view.
Imagine if Harrison Bergeron did not die. You are a news reporter and your question for Harrison is, "Would you want to live in a society where everyone is equally
talented?"
Cite at least two examples of textual evidence to support Harrison's answer.
Summative Assessment
Students will respond in writing to the following prompts:
#1 Analyze Harrison Bergeron's perspective of government control. Identify the similarities between Harrison's thoughts regarding government control and the point of
view of the author in "Government of Evil."
#2 (Choose One) Explain how the handicaps used in "Harrison Bergeron" allow the government to create the kind of society described in "Government of Evil."
OR
Use evidence from the text to explain how the idea of the government enforcing equality in both ability and appearance on every citizen influences Harrison's thoughts
and actions.
The teacher will use the attached rubric to score each written response.
Formative Assessment
Close Reading #1: During the first read, students will fill in the cause and effect chart.
Close Reading #2: Students will work in groups to answer the Guided Reading Questions.
Close Reading #3: Students will compare/contrast the points of view of George and Hazel in regards to their opinions of government-induced equality.
The teacher can use the information from these assessments to determine if students can correctly identify cause/effect relationships in the story "Harrison
Bergeron," analyze interactions between characters, events, and ideas in "Harrison Bergeron," use appropriate textual evidence to support responses to questions
about a text, determine themes in the story, and analyze points of view of characters in a text.
Additional formative assessments:
Students will complete a stanza summary of "Govenment of Evil" in groups.
Students will complete the "Harrison Bergeron" vs. "Govenment of Evil" graphic organizer.
The teacher can use the information from these assessments to determine if students understand the points and themes in the poem and can compare points and
themes in this poem with those in the short story "Harrison Bergeron." With this information the teacher will be able to make the determination if students are ready
to move on to the summative assessment.
Feedback to Students
Close Reading #1: The teacher will display the cause and effect chart on an interactive whiteboard and have students fill in the missing components. The teacher
will verbally clarify any incorrect answers. Students will self-correct any incorrect responses they may have.
Close Reading #2: The teacher can allow time for students to share their answers with the class and the teacher can provide verbal feedback to students, allowing
them to make corrections to their work. Alternatively, the teacher can collect and grade the the guided reading questions. Then, the teacher can return graded
papers and discuss the questions and answers with students. Allow students to share any "ah-ha" moments.
Close Reading #3: The teacher will allow time for think-pair-share (optional). The teacher will have students come to the board to fill in the T-Chart as they
compare/contrast points of view for George and Hazel. The teacher will provide verbal feedback allowing students to self-correct their answers on their own TCharts.
Additional Formative Assessments:
page 3 of 5 The teacher can display the "Harrison Bergeron" vs "Governement of Evil" graphic organizer on an interactive whiteboard. Each pair can share their answers with
the class. Selected students can go to the board and complete the graphic organizer during this discussion. Students will self-correct and fill-in missing information
on their graphic organizer.
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Accommodations:
Students may follow-along with a recorded reading of "Harrison Bergeron" for the first read. This is especially helpful for students that are not fluent readers.
As additional practice, in close reading #3, students could also compare/contrast the points of view of Harrison and George and their opinions of governmentinduced equality. Students can then use notes from this activity to assist them with the summative assessment.
The teacher could conduct a mini-lesson on cause and effect using a children's story.
The teacher could conduct a mini-lesson on compare and contrast writing structure.
Each close read could be done with a partner or small group rather than individually.
The close read activities as well as the summative assessment could be completed with ongoing teacher feedback.
Extensions:
Students can research propaganda techniques. Students will develop an advertisement (electronic or on poster board) to entice citizens to embrace the new
Constitutional amendments 211, 212, and 213 using one of the many propaganda techniques.
Create a Facebook profile for Harrison Bergeron. Use Harrison's wall and personal statements to display his opinion on the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments.
Students could write an essay comparing and contrasting the themes in "Harrison Bergeron" with "Government of Evil" while analyzing how the themes in both texts
are developed over the course of each text.
Teachers can find additional original lessons created by Florida teachers using the text "Harrison Bergeron" by going to the Resources tab on the CPALMS
homepage and putting "Harrison Bergeron" in the keyword search box. For the original lessons on this short story that are not using 7th grade standards, teachers
can adapt the activities and assessments in these original lessons as needed to support 7th grade standards.
Suggested Technology: Computer for Presenter, Interactive Whiteboard, LCD Projector, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Office
Special Materials Needed:
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
"Government of Evil" by AlreadyFaded
Student journals or writing paper
Chart paper and markers
Copies of attachments
Further Recommendations:
The teacher may conduct a compare/contrast writing mini-lesson. Suggested Source: D.J. Henry Writing for Life. Download Paragraph to Essay Chapter 9: The
Comparison and Contrast Paragraph.
Additional Information/Instructions
By Author/Submitter
The short story "Harrison Bergeron" has a Lexile level of 1050L.
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
Contributed by: Crystal Love
Name of Author/Source: Crystal Love
District/Organization of Contributor(s): Leon
Is this Resource freely Available? Yes
Access Privileges: Public
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
LAFS.7.RL.1.1:
LAFS.7.RL.1.2:
LAFS.7.RL.1.3:
LAFS.7.RL.2.6:
Description
Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn
from the text.
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an
objective summary of the text.
Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the
selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
a. Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information, using strategies
such as definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect; include formatting (e.g., headings),
page 4 of 5 LAFS.7.W.1.2:
LAFS.7.W.3.9:
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
Use appropriate transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.
Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
Establish and maintain a formal style.
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
a. Apply grade 7 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or
character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or
alter history”).
b. Apply grade 7 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g. “Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims
in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the
claims”).
page 5 of 5