Science Fiction Genre Lesson for Middle and High School

This Science Fiction Genre Library Lesson is for middle school library and high school library classes.

Part 1 introduces the science fiction genre, with emphasis on characteristics of sci-fi and sci-fi genres. Part 2 is a scrolling slideshow with trivia questions, sci-fi genre literature quotes, would you rathers, and more!

This lesson has 58 total slides & pages, and it includes:

• 55-slide Lesson Presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint + Google Slides
  • All body text is editable; you choose which slides you want to use.
  • 25 slides are whole class lesson slides.
  • 29 slides are “scrolling presentation” slides that are great for extending lessons or scrolling in the library during checkout and downtimes.
• List of 53 recommended books to accompany this lesson (2 pages, PowerPoint and PDF)
  • The list is editable and great to hand out to parents, teachers, and students looking for related books.
• Google Classroom Basics (4 pages, PDF)
• Instructions on how to set up PowerPoint slide timings for scrolling slides (2 pages, PDF)

25 Lesson Slides:

Part 1 is a guided whole-class discussion. The slides walk you through the entire class discussion, from start to finish.

• Review of genre (what is genre)
• Students’ preliminary thoughts on the science fiction genre
• Characteristics of the sci-fi genre
• Why we should read science fiction
• Fantasy often mixes with other genres – e.g., adventure, romance, thriller
• Types of science fiction worlds
• Technology
• Themes of humanity
• Science fiction protagonists and antagonists
• List of science fiction subgenres
• Subgenre focus – dystopia – characteristics and examples
• Subgenre focus – space opera – characteristics and examples
• Subgenre focus – post-apocalypse – characteristics and examples
• 2 slides for checkout procedures and reminders

29 Scrolling Slides:

Part 2 is the scrolling slides. Set them on a timer to scroll on a screen during library checkout. If you time the slides at 45 seconds each, the historical fiction genre slideshow will be 19 minutes in length. 

• Words of the Week: “in medias res”
• 5 tips for writing science fiction
• 4 would you rather’s and 3 trivia questions + answers and 5 science fiction genre book quotations
• Daily and weekly schedule
• Announcements
• Reminders
• This week’s birthdays

Science Fiction Books Mentioned:

• “The War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells
• “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury
• “1984” by George Orwell
• “The Knife of Never-Letting Go” by Patrick Ness
• “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams
• “Rot & Ruin” by Jonathan Maberry
• Multiple YA and middle school titles mentioned with the 3 fantasy fiction subgenre focuses (magical realism, epic fantasy, fairytale fantasy)

Recommended Reads Booklists:

• One bookmark is Grades 6-8, and the other is Grades 9-12.
• All titles are recommended for Grades 6-8 and 9-12.
• All titles received positive reviews from professional library journals. Many received starred reviews.

Standards Addressed:

AASL National School Library Standards – See the AASL Standards Framework for Learners to view full text. 

• Inquire – A.2. – C.1. – D.3.
• Include – B.1. – C.2.
• Collaborate – A.2. – B.2.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards –
© Copyright 2010 National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.9. – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.10.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.3. – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.10.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.3. – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.10.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.4. – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.10.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.4. – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.10.

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