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Title/Theme
UNIT PLAN
Power in History and English
Grade/Subject
10th/English IV
Length of Unit/Timeframe
6 Weeks
Unit Summary
Students will connect history and English by studying the connection between
governments and the novel Animal Farm. Students will explore the concept of
learning from the past and the impact that power has on an individual and society.
THE BIG PICTURE
Overarching Essential Questions:
*How and why does a leader obtain control of a country?
*How does power corrupt an individual/group?
*How and why does history repeat itself?
*What is my role in society?
Common Core Standards:
* RL.9-10.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as
well as inferences drawn from the text.
* RL.9-10.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course
of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective
summary of the text.
* RL.9-10.3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop
over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
* RI.9-10.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as
well as inferences drawn from the text.
* RI.9-10.2. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,
including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the
text.
W.9-10.2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and
information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
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Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections
and distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia
when useful to aiding comprehension.
Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete
details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of
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the topic
W.9-10.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a selfgenerated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple
sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
* L.9-10.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
Use various types of phrases (noun, verb, adjectival, adverbial, participial, prepositional, absolute) and clauses
(independent, dependent; noun, relative, adverbial) to convey specific meanings and add variety and interest
to writing or presentations.
Unit Goals/Overarching Understandings:
Students will understand the Russian Revolution
and connect it to present day circumstances.
Students will be able to recognize propaganda and
analyze its effectiveness.
Students will interpret complex informational and
literary texts.
Content Specific Goals:
Literary Focus:
Allegory, irony, symbolism
Skills:
Drawing Inferences
Questioning
Analyzing Sentence Structure
Recognizing Literary Devices: imagery, point of view,
irony, voice, and tone
Classifying Elements of Importance
Analyzing Character
Formative and/or Alternate Assessments:
Projects, short writing selections, group work
Summative Assessment(s):
Students will write a multi-paragraph piece in which they establish a claim and counter claims citing specific
evidence from the text discussing the impact that power has on an individual and society.
Summative Examination
Fiction Text (s)
Non-Fiction Text (s)
UNIT READINGS AND VOCABULARY
Animal Farm by George Orwell
“The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union”(excerpts)
“Stalin’s Spies and Secret Police”
“The Stalin Epigram”(excerpts)
Historical Examples of propaganda
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Essential Unit Vocabulary
Vocabulary will be established on an individual basis determined by the students’
individual lexicons.
Central Figures
Stalin, Napoleon, etc.
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Constructing
Reading
Writing
Speaking/Listening
Interpreting
Research
Produce Products
Evaluating
Accountable Talk/Socratic Forum
INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES
 Language
 Vocabulary
 Viewing
 Critical Thinking
 Peer Critique
 Illustrating
 Outline
 Graphic Organizers
 Performance
Cooperative Learning Activities:
Socratic Forum, character trait analysis, cooperative historical analysis, literary pinwheels
Instructional Resources
Texts, films, documentaries on the time period
Cross Curricular Link(s)
History and English
ESL Modifications:
N/A
Special Education Modifications:
This will be determined by the individual teacher based on his/her students needs.
Monday
Introduction
Tuesday
Lesson Pacing Calendar:
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Final Assessment
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Stalin’s Spies and Secret Police
Under Joseph Stalin and his supporters, the Soviet Union’s secret police
and intelligence agencies that were first formed during the Russian Civil War grew into vast networks,
allowing Stalin to control every aspect of life in the USSR. These organizations reinforced Stalin’s grip
on power and squashed anti-Soviet activities, both at home and in the territories the USSR occupied.
During World War II, Stalin’s operatives uncovered Axis battle plans that helped Soviet generals thwart
Adolf Hitler and stole the secrets of the United States’ atomic bomb program, one of the greatest
intelligence coups of the twentieth century. Stalin welcomed classified information from friends and
foes alike.
Stalin’s Brand of Leadership: Paranoia and Violence
Throughout his long career as supreme leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin believed that he had enemies
around every corner. Tending to be paranoid and to have what historian Robert Service has called a
“sociopathic personality disorder,” Stalin suspected that plots and conspiracies were perpetually brewing
all around him. He assumed that all of his problems stemmed from some group that was trying to harm
him, and he was resentful, vengeful, and carried grievances for years. A lifelong admirer of Ivan the
Terrible, Stalin adopted Ivan’s policy of punishing not only those people he perceived to be his enemies,
but also his enemies’ extended families.
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F. E. Dzerzhinsky (center), director of security
agency Cheka, with board members, circa 1919
As a young man, Stalin was greatly influenced by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik party, which had
long classified certain people as “anti-Soviet” or “enemies of the people.” This created an atmosphere
where it was acceptable–even expected–for whole groups of people to be persecuted or annihilated. To
the Bolsheviks, violence, terror, and the elimination of enemies were seen as appropriate methods to
maintain political control. Yet even among the Bolsheviks, Stalin was an extremist. He was a
revolutionary with a legendary propensity for violence who never cared how many lives were lost as he
pursued his goals. He would, without hesitation, have entire villages burned to create fear among Soviet
citizens.
One key to the success of Stalin’s brutality was having an efficient, pervasive intelligence organization
to carry out his orders. Stalin had one: the NKVD.
Go to Top
Stalin and the NKVD Unleash the Great Terror
Between 1917 and 1954, the USSR’s state security and intelligence agencies were reorganized and
renamed a number of times. The first security agency, Vecheka (or Cheka) was formed in December
1917 to investigate counterrevolution and sabotage, but it soon became responsible for imprisoning and
executing anyone considered an enemy of the state. In 1922, Cheka was replaced by the GPU. A year
later, as the OGPU, the agency helped implement Stalin’s plans to forcibly collectivize agriculture and
deport wealthy peasants. The OGPU eventually controlled all security functions within the USSR until it
was absorbed into the NKVD (People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs) in 1934. Picking up the
OGPU’s responsibilities, the NKVD oversaw all aspects of internal and state security. It controlled the
police, criminal investigation departments, fire brigades, internal troops, and prison guards.
Throughout the 1930s, public anger had been building in the USSR against Stalin and his policies. In
1936, believing his power and position in jeopardy, Stalin took the first steps to purge the country from
“anti-Soviet elements,” targeting mostly people in his own party and the military. In this period, known
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as the Great Terror, the NKVD, led by Nikolai Yezhov, arrested anyone believed to oppose Stalin:
certain ethnic groups, religious leaders, and members of other political parties, as well as people who
held offices in the government, army, politics, and other such institutions. The Terror reached its peak in
1937–1938 as the NKVD’s arrests of approximately 1.5 million people resulted in show trials,
executions, and sentences in the Gulag, the NKVD’s network of forced labor camps. But fewer than half
of the detainees were sent to the Gulag ; the majority were arrested, tortured, quickly tried, and shot.
Yezhov’s operation carried out these orders with zeal.
Soviet Labor and Prisoner-of-War Camps
In 1938, Stalin appointed Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria as director of the NKVD. Beria would retain this
position until after Stalin’s death in 1953.
The NKVD during World War II
By World War II, the NKVD’s responsibility had grown even greater. It now oversaw convoy troops,
soldiers guarding industry and state facilities, railroad and engineering corps, operational forces, and
penal colonies. Its agents also apprehended army deserters, enforced discipline in the military, and
“recruited” new troops. NKVD agents were posted to army units with orders to identify antiCommunists and counterrevolutionaries; army officers who made mistakes knew they could be charged
with sabotage or political dissent. A special group of NKVD soldiers were stationed at the front, behind
the Soviet battle lines, and tasked to shoot any Red Army troops who tried to retreat. By March 1944,
the NKVD had 540,000 men protecting vital state objectives.
“We forced them [Red Army troops] to fight to the death. If they resisted or ran away we eliminated
them. We shot them. That’s all. They weren’t fighters anymore. It was hard. It was bad. I understand.
But what can you do?”
- Vladimir Ogryzko, 1st NKVD Division
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As the functional equivalent of Nazi Germany’s Gestapo and SS, the NKVD also had a vast intelligence
network abroad that carried out purges in Poland and the Baltic states, mass deportations to Siberia, and
executions of suspected spies, draft dodgers, and deserters.
Prisoners bath at the NKVD's
Vorkuto-Pecherskii forced labor camp, 1945
Under Beria’s direction, the NKVD took the lead in securing captured territories so they could be
integrated into the Soviet Union. It manipulated elections to give the appearance of popular support for
Communist rule, and agents arrested, interrogated, tortured, deported, or murdered local citizens who
opposed a Soviet-style system. An estimated 1.5 million Poles, along with four percent of Estonians and
two percent of Latvians and Lithuanians, were transported to the NKVD Gulag.
Go to Top
Soviet Military Intelligence: the GRU
The Soviet Union also maintained a military intelligence unit, the GRU or Chief Intelligence
Directorate, which worked with the NKVD to gather intelligence abroad. During World War II, the
GRU recruited and trained spies and conducted covert operations. GRU operative Richard Sorge was
perhaps the Soviet Union’s greatest spy of the World War II era. He worked in China and Japan from
the early 1930s until he was arrested by the Japanese in October 1941. Sorge warned Stalin about
Operation Barbarossa , the German invasion of the USSR (June 1941), and later that year, informed him
that the Japanese were not planning to attack the Soviet Union during the Battle of Moscow (October–
December 1941), which allowed Stalin to shift troops westward to fight the Germans. The Switzerlandbased Die Rote Drei (The Red Three) spy ring, led by Hungarian Alexander Radolfi, provided Stalin
with detailed information about Hitler’s battle plans, including German preparations for the Battle of
Kursk (July 1943). This intelligence allowed Soviet generals to concentrate massive forces, assign their
best units, and create a maze of trenches, minefields, and underground bunkers in the area.
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NKVD head Lavrenti Beria holds
Stalin's daughter, Svetlana, 1930
Even before World War II ended, spies like Klaus Fuchs had passed tens of thousands of documents to
the Soviets with information about the U.S. atomic bomb program and other closely guarded secrets of
the Western Allies . In 1946, when the NKVD was supplanted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs
(MVD) and the Ministry of State Security (MGB), Beria continued to oversee both agencies while also
heading the USSR effort to develop an atomic bomb.
Go to Top
Intelligence Agencies in the USSR after World War II
As World War II wound down, the NKVD quickly moved into territory captured by the Red Army and
set up operations. They appropriated the former Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald, just outside
the ancient German city of Weimar. The camp had been liberated by the U.S. Army in April 1945. The
NKVD renamed it Soviet Special Camp Number Two and began using it to imprison former Nazi
functionaries and others the Soviets wanted to get out of the way. An estimated 7,000 people died under
the Soviet administration of the camp before it was finally closed in 1950.
“Everything around you was injustice, not only in the camp but around the camp. Everywhere where
there were Russians, there was injustice, so it was just a matter of trying to survive to get this thing over
with. And then as I came out immediately with the American authorities I said I’ve got a lot to report.”
- John Noble, American imprisoned by the NKVD in Soviet Special Camp Number Two. Never charged with a
crime, he was released in 1955 after serving nine years in Soviet detention.
As the Cold War began, secret police agents helped the Soviet Union strengthen its grip on Eastern
Europe by working with local Communists to align each nation with Soviet ideals. The nations forged
close economic ties with the USSR and underwent social upheaval in an attempt to emulate the Soviet
Union. Communist parties in the countries quickly worked to indoctrinate their populations and, with the
help of Soviet security forces, used show trials, arrests, and torture to quell adversity. Soviet military and
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security forces managed to subdue the nations’ populaces, although anger and hostility toward the new
political regimes remained rampant. By 1955, when countries in Eastern Europe signed the Warsaw Pact
(a military alliance), the Communist bloc comprised Albania, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, and East Germany.
In 1954, a year after Stalin’s death, the KGB was formed as Beria and his subordinates were purged
from the intelligence agencies. Over the next 35 years, the KGB grew to be the largest secret police and
intelligence service in the world. The agency was responsible for foreign intelligence, domestic
counterintelligence, technical intelligence, security, and surveillance on suspected dissidents. With the
Communist Party and the military, the KGB ruled the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991.
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HIGH SCHOOL FOR
HJ HEALTH CAREERS AND SCIENCES
George Washington Educational Campus
549 Audubon Avenue
New York, NY 10040
Tel: (212 927-1841
Fax: (212) 781-9519
Javier Trejo, Principal
Animal Farm Unit Test
Student Name:_____________________
Date:__________
Teacher Name:_____________________
Class:_________
Multiple Choice: Choose the best answer to the following questions.
1. The arrangement of the animals at Major’s speech (26-27) suggests that
A. There already exists a degree of inequality among the animals.
B. They will soon overthrow Mr. Jones and take over the farm.
C. Major will share his dream with them.
D. Snowball and Napoleon will compete for power.
E. All of the above.
2. In the period of time IMMEDIATELY following Major’s speech, why don’t the pigs like Moses’ stories about
Sugarcandy Mountain?
A. During Major’s speech, all the animals voted to label Moses, as well as the rats, enemies of the farm.
B. Moses’ stories of hell scare the less intelligent animals.
C. The other animals might see Moses not working and expect that they, too, can not work.
D. If the animals believe that paradise awaits them after they die, then they’ll be less likely to rebel
against the lives they currently live.
E. None of the above.
3. The incident that unexpectedly triggers the start of the rebellion is
A. Mr. Jones sends Boxer to the knacker.
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B. Mr. Jones, because of his drinking problem, forgets to feed the animals for several days.
C. Snowball develops a strategy to fight the humans.
D. Major’s death.
E. All of the above.
4. All of these are examples of the pigs believing they are “more equal than others” EXCEPT
A. Snowball trying to teach the other animals to read.
B. Napoleon drinking the cows’ milk.
C. No one but the pigs putting forth any resolutions at the meetings.
D. The pigs directing and supervising the work on the farm.
E. None of the above.
5. Squealer convinces the animals to accept whatever Napoleon decides by
A. Using outright lies.
B. Using “scientific proof” and “facts.”
C. Appealing to the animals’ sympathy.
D. Threatening the return of Mr. Jones.
E. All of the above.
6. Why don’t the other animals protest against Napoleon and his decisions after his dogs chase Snowball off the
farm?
A. Few of them are really smart enough to bring up any arguments.
B. The sheep begin their bleating.
C. The fierce dogs scare them into silence.
D. Squealer’s arguments are so persuasive.
E. All of the above.
7. When the animals gather to receive their orders after Napoleon takes control of the farm, how do they
arrange themselves?
A. Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer sit on a raised platform, nine dogs sit in a semi-circle around
the three, the other pigs sit behind them, and the rest of the animals stand facing the pigs.
B. Napoleon, Squealer, and Minimus sit on a raised platform, nine dogs sit in a semi-circle around
the three, the other pigs sit behind them, and the rest of the animals stand facing the pigs.
C. Napoleon and Snowball sit on a raised platform, nine dogs sit in a semi-circle around the three,
the other pigs sit behind them, and the rest of the animals stand facing the pigs.
D. Napoleon, Squealer, and Moses sit on a raised platform, nine dogs sit in a semi-circle around the
three, the other pigs sit behind them, and the rest of the animals stand facing the pigs.
E. None of the above.
8. The real reason Napoleon orders the animals to stop singing “Beasts of England” is
A. Minimus’s new song better captures the idealism of the rebellion.
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B. He believes the rebellion is over; the animals are in full control of the farm.
C. He fears it will inspire a rebellion against his own rule.
D. Snowball wrote the song, and Napoleon wants to rid the farm of any memories of Snowball.
E. None of the above.
9. “If she could have spoken her thoughts, it would have been to say…Such were her thoughts, though she
lacked the words to express them” (95-96). Which of the following themes does this passage best suggest?
A. Perfect societies can be achieved if individuals collaborate.
B. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
C. The abuse of language is instrumental to the abuse of power.
D. Education provides the tools to recognize and speak out against oppression.
E. All of the above.
10. “For the time being, certainly, it had been found necessary to make a readjustment of rations (Squealer
always spoke of it as a ‘readjustment,’ never as a ‘reduction’), but in comparison with the days of Jones, the
improvement was enormous” (115). Which of the following themes does this passage best suggest?
A. Perfect societies can be achieved if individuals collaborate.
B. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
C. The abuse of language is instrumental to the abuse of power.
D. Education provides the tools to recognize and speak out against oppression.
E. All of the above.
11. “Four days later, in the late afternoon, Napoleon ordered all the animals to assemble in the yard...he uttered
a high-pitched whimper…immediately the dogs bounded forward, seized four of the pigs by the ear and dragged
them, squealing, with pain and terror, to Napoleon’s feet” (91-92). Which of the following themes does this
passage best suggest?
A. Perfect societies can be achieved if individuals collaborate.
B. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
C. The abuse of language is instrumental to the abuse of power.
D. Education provides the tools to recognize and speak out against oppression.
E. All of the above.
12. Which incident best foreshadows the eventual betrayal of Boxer being sold to the knacker?
A. The dogs chasing Snowball, a threat to Napoleon, off of the farm.
B. The dogs going “mad” and attacking Boxer during the confession scene.
C. Napoleon “attending to” the buckets of milk.
D. Napoleon taking charge of the puppies’ education.
E. None of the above.
13. Which of these is NOT a historical parallel presented in Animal Farm?
A. Mr. Pilkington and his farm as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the United States.
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B. Mr. Frederick and his farm as Hitler and Nazi Germany.
C. Animal Farm as Communist Russia.
D. Mr. Pilkington and his farm as Churchill and Great Britain.
E. All of the above are historical parallels.
14. Which of these is NOT a historical parallel presented in Animal Farm?
A. Napoleon as Josef Stalin
B. Animalism as Capitalism
C. Squealer as the propaganda organ of the government
D. Benjamin as skeptical, educated individuals who didn’t protest against abuses of power
E. All of the above are historical parallels.
15. Which of these is NOT a historical parallel presented in Animal Farm?
A. Boxer as hard-working intellectuals in Russia
B. Manor Farm as Communist Russia
C. The selling of timber to Mr. Pilkington as the Nazi-Soviet signing of a non-aggression agreement
D. The Battle of the Cowshed as the Nazi betrayal and invasion of Russia
E. NONE of the above is a historical parallel.
16. Which of these is NOT a historical parallel presented in Animal Farm?
A. The dogs as the secret police/KGB
B. Snowball as Leon Trotsky
C. Major as Karl Marx
D. Moses as the Russian Orthodox Church
E. All of the above are historical parallels.
17. Why does Napoleon allow the return of Moses to the farm?
A. The additional work that Moses would perform on the farm is greatly desired.
B. Moses will be a spy for Napoleon and report information on the neighboring farms.
C. Moses doesn’t eat or drink much, so his presence on the farm would go unnoticed.
D. The animals will focus less on their current miserable condition if heaven awaits them when they die.
E. None of the above.
18. Which of the following is an indirect result of Benjamin’s failure to speak out against the pigs’ tyranny?
A. Major delivers his speech, inspiring the animals to rebel.
B. Boxer is taken to the knacker to be killed.
C. The humans invade Animal Farm.
D. The windmill is destroyed by a violent storm.
E. None of the above.
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19. Which commandment was the last to be rewritten on the side of the barn, but the first to be broken on the
farm?
A. No animal shall kill any other animal.
B. All animals are equal.
C. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
D. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
E. All of the above.
20. At the end of the story, the pig and human faces appear indistinguishable from one another (139). This
illustrates the idea that
A. The pigs and humans were working together since the rebellion.
B. The animals finally realize that they would prefer the return of Mr. Jones.
C. The animals finally understand that they have simply traded their human oppressors for pig
oppressors.
D. Benjamin needs to lead a new rebellion, this one against the pigs.
E. None of the above.
Short Essay: On a separate sheet of paper, write a well-developed response to the
following question.
The endings of the book and movie versions of Animal Farm differ greatly. Explain
how each, in different ways, illustrates Orwell’s main theme of the corrupting
influence of power.
Hint: What message would Orwell want his readers to take from viewing the movie’s
ending?