Seeking Social Justice Through Satire: Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

In this lesson, students complete multiple readings of Jonathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal” which satirizes social problems.Â They will doÂ a guided reading with the teacher, a collaborative reading with a peer, and an independent reading. The online Notetaker tool helps students restate key ideas from Swift’s essay as they read and elaborate upon these ideas postreading. After independent reading, pairs of students develop a mock television newscast or editorial script, like those found on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update,” The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, or The Colbert Report, including appropriate visual images in PowerPoint. This lesson plan not only covers Jonathan Swift's major work, "A Modest Proposal", it also covers the techniques used in a satire and leads students through creating their own multimedia presentation to demonstrate their understanding. An excellent lesson that provides guided reading of the text, analysis of current television satires, and an assessment tool for scoring students' presentations.

Weblink address (URL):

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives:

Students will:
Enhance their comprehension of an edited and footnoted text of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” through multiple readings: guided, collaborative, and independent
Identify Swift’s use of specific literary techniques in “A Modest Proposal” through collaboration
Collaboratively identify a contemporary social problem, analyze it, and develop an outrageous satiric solution to resolve it
Write the script for a fake newscast—supported by a PowerPoint presentation as a substitute for the blue screen graphics seen in broadcasts—as a means of presenting a satiric solution for a social problem to an audience

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level:

Applying

Extension suggestions:

As a means of publication, digitally record and post several of the presentations to the website for either your class or your school. Be certain to secure written consent from your students’ parents first.

Helpful Hints

Materials and Technology:

Computer with Internet access and projector
Computers with word processing (such as Word) and presentation (such as PowerPoint) software

References

Contributors:

Tonya Malone

Originator:

Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation