Escapades Through British Literature
Follow on Twitter! (@dr_harrold)
  • Home
  • Armory
  • CP 12
    • Senior Speeches >
      • Sr Speeches 2018-Pd 3
      • Sr Speeches 2018-Pd 5
      • Sr Speeches 2018-Pd 6
      • Sr Speeches 2018-Pd 8
      • Pd 4 Speeches 2017
      • Pd 7 Speeches 2017
      • Pd 8 Speeches 2017
      • Pd 1 Speeches 2016
      • Pd 2 Speeches 2016
      • Pd 5 Speeches 2016
      • Pd 7 Speeches 2016
      • Pd 1 Speeches 2015
      • Pd 2 Speeches 2015
      • Pd 4 Speeches 2015
      • Pd 7 Speeches 2015
      • Pd 8 Speeches 2015
      • Pd 2 Speeches 2014
      • Pd 4 Speeches 2014
      • Pd 7 Speeches 2014
      • Pd 8 Speeches 2014
    • Unit 0: Digital Citizenship
    • Unit 1: Brave New World
    • Unit 2: Gods and Monsters
    • Unit 3: Twists and Tales
    • Unit 4: The Fountain and the Sword >
      • King Arthur Videos (2018)
      • King Arthur Videos (2017)
      • King Arthur Videos (2016)
      • King Arthur Group Projects (2015)
      • King Arthur Group Projects (2014)
      • King Arthur Readings
    • Unit 5: The Witch King
    • Unit 6: Journalists and Satirists
    • Unit 7: Research
    • Unit 8: Wilde's World
    • Legacy Pages >
      • Course Details
      • College Application Essay >
        • Biography Presentation
      • Beowulf >
        • Beowulf Introduction Webquest
        • Multi-Paragraph Essay
        • Beowulf Readings
      • The Canterbury Tales
      • King Arthur >
        • King Arthur Final Project
        • Indiana Jones Activity
      • The Hobbit >
        • Hobbit Readings
      • Renaissance Poetry
      • Macbeth >
        • Macbeth Readings
        • Macbeth Videos >
          • Act 1
          • Act 2
          • Act 3
          • Act 4
          • Act 5
        • Multi-Paragraph Essay
      • Research Project 12 >
        • Book Selections 2013
      • Restoration >
        • Satire
        • Web Tools
      • Romantic Period Poetry
      • Importance of Being Earnest
      • Senior Speech
  • Core 12
    • Be True to Your School
    • Beowulf
    • King Arthur
    • Catcher in the Rye >
      • Catcher in the Rye Readings
    • Values Paper
    • Macbeth
    • Short Stories >
      • Kaffir Boy
    • Research Project
    • And Then There Were None >
      • And Then There Were None Readings
    • Vocabulary 12
  • English 11
    • QUEST 1: Raisin in the Sun
    • QUEST 2: Catcher in the Rye
    • QUEST 3: Perks of Being a Wallflower
    • QUEST 4: The Great Gatsby
    • Quest 5: To Kill a Mockingbird >
      • Words of Wisdom
      • Mob Mentality LessonPaths
    • Quest 6: The Crucible
  • English 10
    • Course Details
    • War Horse
    • Night >
      • Night Readings
      • Multi-Paragraph Essay
      • Schindler's List Activity
      • Orpah Interview
      • Farewell To Manzanar
    • Short Readings
    • Satire Speech >
      • Good and Bad Speeches
    • Copper Sun >
      • Copper Sun Book
      • Socratic Seminars
    • Lesson Before Dying >
      • Lesson Before Dying Readings
    • Short Stories >
      • Harrison Bergeron
      • How Much Land Does a Man Need?
      • On The Rainy River
    • Poetry
    • Career Research
    • Lord of the Flies >
      • Lord of the Flies Readings
      • Lord of the Flies Paper
    • Research Project 10
    • Julius Caesar >
      • Julius Caesar Videos >
        • Act 1
        • Act 2
        • Act 3
        • Act 4
        • Act 5
      • Propaganda >
        • Dueling Speeches
        • Advertising
      • Julius Caesar Paper
      • Julius Caesar Readings
    • Antigone >
      • Antigone Readings
      • In-Class Essay
    • Vocabulary 10
    • Study Island
  • Contact Me
  • EBL
  • External Links
    • 3D Game Lab
    • Google Drive
    • Textbook
    • Gamification >
      • PETEC

Day 1180: Satire or Else?

3/25/2017

0 Comments

 
With Macbeth in the books, its now time to move on the Satire unit, where we explore selections from Gulliver's Travels, as well as have students create pieces of satire of their own.  To kick off the unit today, I had the students watch a few contemporary satire clips, and we discussed what the clips were satirizing and how effective they actually were.  While some students got stuck on the surface level ("it's making fun of Beyonce" or "it's showing how silly Adele's song is") many were able to dig a little deeper to see the social commentary ("it's a clip on race relations" or "it's criticizing the criticism of millennials!")  It's a great start...but I know it's hardly the end of the struggle.

The difficult thing about satire is that, on the surface, it can look almost identical to sarcasm and insults.  In fact, many times satire actually uses sarcasm to make its points, however there's a key difference.  While sarcasm and insults are only used as a form of attack (for the subject matter) or personal gain (for the attacker), satire is less about the destruction and more about the identification of the flaws.  In fact, though it may seem cruel, satire is actually using insults and sarcasm for a greater good.  Whether it's to bring awareness of a flaw, or show others the foolishness of their language, satire can be a powerful tool in getting people to step back and look at their reality in a new way.  Sarcasm, however, is usually only good for a one-liner or two, and insults, while clever, aren't designed to build anything.

That is probably the reason we teach satire in school in the first place, and probably why, even though it's one of the most approachable genres, its also one of the most difficult for students to actually grasp...mainly because many students (and many adults) for that matter, don't think about the world deeply.  The same crowd that likes to read a book and considers it "just a story about a guy who wants to be king" is unlikely to think deeply about society either.  Perhaps that's satire's biggest advantage: regardless of your opinion, it makes you think just a little harder.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    English Teacher | Instructional Technology Specialist | 2014-15 PBS Digital Innovator | Gamification Researcher | Marathon Runner | Ph.D RMU 2015

    Picture
    Picture
    Teach.com

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All

Content and Site Design by: Dr. Daniel Harrold
 Baldwin High School English Dept.