Lesson Plan: Reading Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" through the Medieval

Title

Lesson Plan: Reading Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" through the Medieval

Creator

Sarah Allard, Graduate Student, Fitchburg State University

Structure

Breaking up into four groups, students examine four stations in the four corners of the room. They spend 20 to 30 minutes with every article. Students are reminded that the questions are guiding, but that they may come up with other responses. The class shares their ideas at the end of the lesson prior to the writing assignment.

Essential Questions

  1. Why is art important to culture/cultures? How did different cultures work together?
  2. What harmful effects happen when we “other” individuals?
  3. Should we use modern terms when referencing history?
  4. How do images influence our thoughts concerning history?
  5. How does our interpretation of the past affect our present?
  6. Why is accuracy of history important?
  7. How do individuals manipulate history?

Bibliography

Boehm, Barbara Drake, and Melanie Holcomb. “Jews and the Arts in Medieval Europe.” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008 (last revised August 2010), http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jewm/hd_jewm.htm.

Chalmers, Matthew. "'Anti-Semitism' Before 'Semites': The Risks and Rewards of Anachronism." ​The Public Medievalist​, 13 July 2017, www.publicmedievalist.com/anti-semitism-before-semites/. 

Chazan (Haaretz), Robert. "Why Medieval Art Is So Unflattering To Jews." ​Forward Association, 9 Apr. 2015, forward.com/schmooze/218198/why-medieval-art-is-so-unflattering-to-jews/.

Heng, Geraldine. "Inventions/Reinventions." ​The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages,​ Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp. 15-55.

Schuessler, Jennifer. "Medieval Scholars Joust With White Nationalists. And One Another." ​The New York Times​, 5 May 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/05/05/arts/the-battle-for-medieval-studies-white-supremacy.html. 

Vonnegut, Kurt O. "Harrison Bergeron." ​Welcome to the Monkey House​, Dell Publishing Company, 1970, pp. 7-14.

Files

Citation

Sarah Allard, Graduate Student, Fitchburg State University, “Lesson Plan: Reading Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" through the Medieval,” Teaching the Middle Ages in Higher Ed, accessed May 5, 2024, https://medievalhighered.omeka.net/items/show/56.