Animal Farm Post-Reading Creative Writing Assignment: What…

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After reading Animal Farm, challenge your middle or high school students to imagine they are Old Major who returns to see the horrific aftermath of his rousing speech. Old Major Reacts: Animal Farm Creative Writing Assignment asks students to pretend Old Major has come back to life and gets to see the result of his vision for Animal Farm. Students have a choice of 5 creative writing products to compose, including a letter, journal entry, song/anthem, podcast, or poem from Old Major's perspective. A detailed rubric is included to assess if students properly grasp Old Major's original vision and the ultimate corruption of that vision under Napoleon. This creative writing activity, supplied as an editable Word document and a three-page PDF, helps students reflect more deeply on the plot and themes. It can be easily assigned for distance learning or in the classroom. The resource develops critical thinking, creativity, and writing skills.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Compose an original piece of creative writing — a letter, journal entry, song, podcast script, or poem — consistently in a character's first-person voice.
Select and analyze quotations or scenes to support the response; the rubric’s top band calls for at least three.
Compare the outcome described at the end of the novel to the vision set out earlier in the text, and explain the resulting contrast.

Teaching tips

Reread Old Major’s opening speech before comparing it with the ending.
Discuss the rubric before drafting; its top band calls for at least three quotations or pieces of text evidence analyzed in his voice.

Skills covered

Character-voice writing — students sustain Old Major's first-person perspective, tone, and word choice across their chosen creative format.
Thematic comparison — students contrast the vision Old Major set out in chapter 1 with the outcome he would witness in chapter 10.
Format flexibility — students translate the same content and voice requirements into one of five different creative formats.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

What creative options can students choose from for this assignment?

Students may choose a letter to the animals, a reflective journal entry, an original song/anthem, a recorded podcast message, or a poem, all written in Old Major's voice.

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Curriculum

Standards, concepts & topics

Standards

CCSS.W.8.3 — Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences. a. Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically. b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. c. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence, signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and show the relationships among experiences and events. d. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events. e. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.

Core concepts

Character perspective
Textual evidence
Creative writing
Theme (idealism vs. outcome)

Topics

Creative writing Character analysis Animal

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Categories this resource belongs to

ELA Assessments Writing Assessment High School Assessments Middle School Assessments Teacher Tools Assessments

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Animal Farm Post-Reading Creative Writing Assignment: What Would Old Major…

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