Hi all,

I posted a LONG time ago and got a wonderful response from one other teacher. Thank you for that! I would greatly appreciate all of the resources you mentioned, and will definitely send you my email.

Now, I teach 11th grade in a very urban school. I have lots of English Language Learners and low skilled readers. Lots of people are telling me that teaching F 451 is 'Too hard' for my students. Anyone have any advice???

Thanks!

TeachSD

Have these other people taught it? What did they find was so hard?

I would suggest that rather than leaping in with a novel, you first gauge the students' interest with a short story. The one I would recommend is "The Pedestrian", because it is short, clear, has recognisable elements, and has issues of freedom, privacy, authority, technology.

And it would make a perfect lead-in to F451. Bradbury has himself said that F451 came about when he took his Pedestrian for another walk...and round the next corner he met Clarisse.

If the students take to "The Pedestrian", take them on that second walk. If they don't take to it "The Pedestrian", think again!

Maybe this, TeachSD:
https://raybradburyboard.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/37910839...511064453#5511064453

Agreed, consider doing a few short stories to initiate the students into RB's style and use of allusions, which could be a problem with those that are not readily familiar with outside references that are constantly being brought into the book's narration.

Phil's "Pedestrian" choice is a logical start. Others to consider might be "The Flying Machine," "The Murderer," "The Great Wide World Over There," "Sound of Thunder" and "The Veldt."
Some have F451 parallels, others are high interest and will serve to catch the students' attention and interest to RB's works.

If you are working with kids with quite low skills, try getting a collection of RB Theater Episodes to complement your studies. As for reading F451, read orally and following from an audio tape may be of assistance. I would definitely keep the unit an actively involved process, not a "take it home, read on your own and then do the quizzes" method. (Though that too can be a part of your studies and their responsibility for grades.) I'd be glad to share materials if the deadlines are not too soon.

These students will benefit greatly from the reading since F451's themes are as real and worrisome today as they have ever been! Plus, if you are going to do it again in the coming months, you will have a better knowledge of what worked and how to improve upon it in the next class for which the material is offered.

Hello!
Thank you for the wonderful responses. I was planning on introducing Bradbury by using 'The Veldt". Students seem to LOVE that story! Nothing makes teenagers happier than the thought of being able to sic lions on their parents.

Anyway, fjp451 - I would love any and all resources you could supply me with. My personal email is Ealiebenberg@yahoo.com. I am planning on starting the unit next week after testing.

I will be framing it around the theme of indifference and the ways in which people do not get involved, even when they feel like they should. I'm going to introduce it with a little lecture about Kitty Genoveve - the woman who was murdered in front of 38 witnesses, all of whom did absolutely nothing. Then I'll be looking at a Wally Lamb essay about his 'hero' - a woman who stopped some school bullies from throwing coins at a mentally retarded boy.

I want to final assessment to be about crisis intervention. What other choices could these characters have made so that the situation never went as far as it did. They could look at Faber hiding, Motag's wife's suicide, and Montag's acceptance of book burning for so long, or the fire chief's hypocritical nature.

What do you think? How have you framed it before? There are so many excellent themes in this book, it's almost impossible to choose one!

Although "The Crowd" has a whole different connotation than "indifference" we find today in the world, I liked the idea of people who throng to "accidents" but not to be involved, their having been involved in their own "accident". Of course, when one reads the whole story, or watches the RB Theatre version of it, you know what is really behind the story.

Where can I find "The Crowd"? I looked through a few anthologies I have, but couldn't find it.

quote:

Originally posted by biplane1:
Although "The Crowd" has a whole different connotation than "indifference" we find today in the world, I liked the idea of people who throng to "accidents" but not to be involved, their having been involved in their own "accident". Of course, when one reads the whole story, or watches the RB Theatre version of it, you know what is really behind the story.

Saturday before last, I was talking with George Clayton Johnson and The Crowd came up. George thinks that The Crowd is a perfect allagory with today's paparazzi surrounding/smothering the young "stars" of today.

quote:

Originally posted by TeachSD:
Where can I find "The Crowd"? I looked through a few anthologies I have, but couldn't find it.

TeachSD, this is a job for my short story finder! You can find the story in these Bradbury collections:

Dark Carnival
The Small Assassin (a UK book)
The October Country (some editions)
The Stories of Ray Bradbury

The last of these is easiest to get hold of.

(Incidentally, if you are talking about Kitty Genovese, have you thought of using Harlan Ellison's short story "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs"? It was directly inspired by the Genovese incident, and is a dark fantasy take on the story.)

Hi Phil

No! I have never heard of the story you mentioned by Ellison, but it sounds amazing. I will try to find it on your website. Thank you for your help. You are all amazing and helpful!

-Emily

Emily, the Ellison story is in his book Deathbird Stories. It won a Mystery Writers of America awrd for best short story in 1974 (although it's not really a mystery story!)

I teach sophomore English in a urban hs with low readers/non-readers/special ed/ and English Second-Language students. We have a narrow curriculum to follow, due to benchmarks needing to be passed. The book that we use is from McDougal Littell and has related readings. The only one they had us use as frontloading for Fahrenheit is "The Phoenix" by Sylvia Townsend Warner. It is a witty little satire. I squeezed in a bio for Bradbury, one of my favorite authors. They have each Part divided into three sections. The students use Cornell notetaking on the benchmarks as they read and then have "discussion" questions based on the benchmarks that I try to have them use the Socratic method of question and discussion. My school also has semester terms so this is the last unit. Unfortunately, I have to cover so much in an extremely limited time, I do not have a chance than do more than scratch the surface. It also is hard on the students. For the majority, this is their first science fiction to read. It does not help that they do not ask questions about what they do not understand or come later for help. I try to talk about it as much as I can. The students do not realize I am more frustrated with the limitations and their failure to do their assignments and ask for help, than they are. This is also my first year, after nine at middle school, teaching at the high school and the novel. Hopefully, I will be able to look at what is wrong and figure out how to make it not only more successful, but also an enjoyable experience for both myself and my students.