Individuals (What rights do people have? What are the limits on personal freedom? How are differences or disputes settled?).Government (Who is in control? How are decisions made? What are the responsibilities of the government? What are the limits of governmental power?).Economy (How do people get what they need? How is wealth determined?).What is it like for the people of this society?.Goals and values (On what is the society based? What ideals are most important?).Through: Collaborate in creating a blueprint for a more perfect society. What are the biggest problems that you see with our society today? Create an “Ills of Society” chart as a class. The members of the society live together based on values, rules, expectations, and practices. Into: Human beings tend to live in societies. This thought experiment puts students in the right frame of mind to consider Equality’s world. Have them think about our underlying assumptions on how society works.

Guide students through an exploration of society and the historical context of Anthem. Without appropriate pre-reading, students may be disoriented by the dystopic setting and unusual point of view. There are some books that you can drop in the laps of the students without any introduction, but Anthem is not one of them. In order to make sure that students read with fidelity, there are reading quizzes for each section. As the table shows, there are pre-reading activities, Anthem lesson plans based on reading assignments, and a variety of culminating tasks. If you have no other ongoing assignments, this could be shortened. In this Anthem unit plan, your class will explore the novella over three to five weeks. Will you design your own unit plan scratch, use an existing resource, or something in between? Whatever you decide, I hope that this Anthem unit plan aids you in teaching Anthem. Even if your personal views run counter to Rand’s, the literary elements and themes of Anthem deserve exploration.

If you plan on teaching Anthem by Ayn rand, I applaud you.

Anthem ayn