STATION ELEVEN ANTICIPATION GUIDE

 

For those of you who have not read Station Eleven, it is about a post-apocalyptic society trying to get by without the luxuries they once had. The lesson I propose is an anticipation guide to introduce the students to the complexity of what society coming to a standstill would really mean.

 

THE LESSON

I would begin the class by having the students do a bellringer. I would ask them in what ways they think the world would change if a disease wiped out a majority of the human race. This would be in the form of a journal entry, and would give the students the opportunity to think about ways in which their life would change and what they take for granite. It is my belief students will underestimate the ways their lives would change. For instance, I think few would realize they would loose social media, lights, etc.

 

For the next component of class I would create two stations. The stations would be set up as follows:

 Station one would be a decision making station. The students would be presented with a scenario and a list of items they have. They would then work as a group to decide the order of importance on the items. They have to work together to determine this. Upon finishing, I would provide them with the answers to see how they would make out in the wilderness. They would then answer the following questions:

1. What was the most difficult part about making the decisions?

2. Do you think you and your group would have lived based upon the decisions you made?

3. Do you think survival would have been easier for you if you did not have to work as a group and could have worked as an individual or as a pair? In what ways? Would you choose to work on your own or with others if you ended up in this situation?

Here is the link to this worksheet and scenario! http://scoutingweb.com/scoutingweb/SubPages/SurvivalGame.htm

 

Station two would ask students to think of items they would put in a museum to show future generations what our generation was about. This future society does not have any knowledge of our society, except for what they find in this museum. Each of the groups would have to pick a minimum of 5 items in each of the following categories: children, teen, adult. By this I mean, what are five items you would include in the museum to show what children today wear, play with, etc. Groups are invited to create lists of as many items they can think of after the five. For the first five items in each groups students should come up with a brief reasoning on why they chose what they did.

 

At the end of the class, I would pull everyone together for a discussion on what they came up with! I would end class with the following clip

 

 

 

This short clip gives a quick introduction to the theme of the movie, building on topics we would have just discussed!