This Launchpad, adapted from http://www.WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org, provides background materials and discussion questions to enhance your reading and understanding of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s 1961 short story “Harrison Bergeron.” After reading the story, you can click on the videos to hear editors Amy A. Kass, Leon R. Kass, and Diana Schaub converse with guest host James W. Ceaser (University of Virginia) about the story.
It is perhaps no surprise that Fyodor Dostoevsky is known as one of the greatest psychological writers of all time, given his own dramatic history of suffering.
Download each section of the lecture by clicking on the part subtitle so that you can mark it up as you read. We recommend that you read the lecture twice.
Perhaps the best-known pilgrim in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is Alisoun, the Wife of Bath. The Wife's fame derives from Chaucer's deft characterization of her as a brassy, bawdy woman—the very antithesis of virtuous womanhood—who challenges the prevailing gender inequality of the times.
Begin the lesson by assigning students to either read or view Twelve Angry Men. Distribute the following questions beforehand. These same questions may serve as the basis for either group or class discussion of the play/film.
Early English Ideas about the Natives of North America. Look at the 16th-century images below and describe what you see in detail i.e. clothing, jewelry or body decoration, what they are doing. Make some inferences about these people based on the image. Compare the watercolors to the engravings.
What was life like for women during the Victorian age? You will explore several websites that describe life in the Victorian era, a term used to describe the culture and society during the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. Keep in mind that like all broad claims about a society, the following are examples of life during this time, and only begin to reveal the complexity of Victorian-era livelihood.
Exploring Arthurian Legend. Work in groups to annotate these timelines by adding non-Arthurian events with which you may be already familiar (e.g., the reign of Charlemagne, the Norman Conquest, the signing of the Magna Carta, the Crusades).