Before getting into the actual reading, I always started with some background information and context. I would review this presentation and have students take notes. My thought process was that students would be able to better understand the allegorical meaning of the text if they were able to recognize the historical counterparts and events. 

I recently read, however, of a teacher who didn’t do any of the historical background until after the class has read the novel. This allows the students to focus on the literary analysis side without getting tripped up on trying to keep the allegorical characters straight. Next time I teach Animal Farm, I may try this method. Either way, historical background/context is vital. 

 I also like to start every novel unit with a little author biography to provide additional context. You can check out the Britannica biography of George Orwell here. 

Another activity for teaching Animal Farm that my students really enjoyed was this Make Your Class Animal Farm lesson plan from Teachers.net. The last time I taught the novel I had a small class (special education resource), so this activity didn’t really work. My first time though? It was a huge success. The things high school students will do for some candy. It can be brutal. 

The basic premise of the activity is this: the class is divided into groups – human, dog, raven, horse, or pig. Each group “runs” to become the leading party. Once the party is chosen, their privileges increase while their responsibilities decrease (similar to the novel). After students finish reading the novel, they do research on their historical counterparts: 

• • Pigs = Bolsheviks 
  • Dogs = White Russians 
  • Horses = Proletariats 
  • Humans = Tsars 
  • Ravens = Russian Church