Mini-unit On the Minority Report by Philip K Dick

goal of unit stated below

	Activities	Justification
Monday, Day 1	1) short lecture on life & work of Philip K Dick 2) write thoughts about predicting future for 10min 3) collect papers and discuss thoughts --Homework	1) contextualizes work--no work should be analyzed without looking at its source--including author and culture 2) helps develop writing fluency 3) gives students opportunity to voice their opionions and to reflect on what they wrote after exposure to classmates' thoughts.
Tuesday, Day 2	1) plot summary 2) discussion on major themes of book-law enforcement, prediction of the future, etc. --Homework	1) comprehension monitoring 2) increses verbal debate/discussion skills--gives students insight into analysis of a work of literature
Wednesday, Day 3	1) discuss quote response 2) discuss fiction to film conversion theory 3) begin watching Minority Report --Homework	1) see #3 on Monday 2) *see explanation of unit below 3) exploration of other genres
Thursday, Day 4	1) continue Minority Report	1) see #3, Wednesday
Friday, Day 5	1) finish Minority Report --Homework	1) see #3, Wednesday
Monday, Day 6	1) review of film and rhetoric of it--what was taken out, what was left in, how does that affect the argument of the original piece? Also, look at multiple reviews and analyze their perspective --Homework	1) *see explanation of unit below

This story would be part of a larger unit on converting books, short stories, and *possibly* even folklore/oral traditions into films. The basic goal of this unit is twofold. First, students will gain experience in analysis of books for their plots devices, themes, and other conversational/visual/narrative aspects. This will also cover issues in rhetoric--why are certain plot elements included? How does that affect the "argument" of the story? Hopefully, that will help students to understand the construction that goes into a book--which will in turn give them more insight into the creation of the "artistic" form of literature.

Secondly, students will gain insight into film conversions of novels. This will come from a study of the film industry--how they choose books, why they choose the ones they do, how the author contributes, etc. Along with each film, the rhetoric of the film will be analyzed--exploring how exclusions and inclusions of aspects of the book in the film either strengthen, weaken, or otherwise alter the argument presented. Also, reviews of the film, both from the perspective of fans of the movie and fans of the book, will be analyzed to study the reception of the film--did the change in argument give the text more/less acceptance? The students will construct their own reviews for the texts studied, as well as create a project where they choose a book-to-film conversion to analyze on their own as a closure to the larger unit this will be a part of.