Exploring satire with The Simpsons
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=811
A lesson plan for grade 11 English Language Arts
By incorporating themes of popular culture into the classroom, teachers can connect with students in this lesson that introduces the role satire plays in ridiculing subjects in literature. Students evaluate a character and an episode from the television show The Simpsons and analyze how the content and dialogue represent satirical elements that make social commentary. Lesson provides opportunity for class discussion offers several suggestions for alternative material to be used for activities.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 11
- Goal 4: The learner will critically analyze text to gain meaning, develop thematic connections, and synthesize ideas.
- Objective 4.01: Interpret meaning for an audience by:
- examining the functions and the effects of narrative strategies such as plot, conflict, suspense, point of view, characterization, and dialogue.
- interpreting the effect of figures of speech (e.g., personification, oxymoron) and the effect of devices of sound (e.g., alliteration, onomatopoeia).
- analyzing stylistic features such as word choice and links between sense and sound.
- identifying ambiguity, contradiction, irony, parody, and satire.
- demonstrating how literary works reflect the culture that shaped them.
- Objective 4.01: Interpret meaning for an audience by:
