1. Utopia A Thematic Unit of Study for
Advanced Middle School Language Arts
Mrs. Terry

2. Assessments: Utopia Research Writing “My Utopia” project
Literary Response Essay

3. What is a utopia? What is a dystopia?
Free-write in your composition book to answer the questions above.
Include examples of each from literature (think back to last spring), movies and television.
Are these examples of utopias or dystopias? Explain.

4. “Imagine” by John Lennon
John Lennon was the lead singer of the popular 60’s band, The Beatles.
He was a proponent of world peace and tolerance.
He was assassinated on December 8, 1980.
His legacy lives on.

5. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. LeGuin
Describe the Omelas’ culture and society using specific lines from text to support your answer.
Would you describe this as a utopian or dystopian society? Explain.

6. Opening Activity
Please respond to the following quote in your composition book (heading: Jefferson Response Writing)
Quote by Thomas Jefferson:
"Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%.“
What did Jefferson mean by this?
How does this quote relate to the story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula LeGuin?

7. Literary Terms
Define and explain the following terms and explain how they relate to the story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”:
Narrative voice (POV)
Symbolism
Allegory
Paradox
Scapegoat
You may need to search the internet for help 
Reading Reminder, Due Next Monday:
Chapters 4-6 in Animal Farm
Chapters 6-10 in The Giver

8. “Utopia: The Search for a Perfect Society” by Jeffery Stroebel
In your composition book, create a tree map using the title of the article above as your heading.
Read the article from page 5 of the Utopia textbook.
As you read, or after you read, think of which “branches” you would like to include in your map. Remember that the branches are subheadings.
Complete your map with details from each of your headings.
You should have at least 5 branches with 3 details/branch.