1. Lesson Plan information This lesson was redesigned from a combination of a lesson plan found on The Salty Chip (attached) as well as from one of my own lesson plans previously created for The Yellow Wallpaper (attached). Subject/course: English, ENG 4U Name: Katie Mayer Grade Level: 12 Topic: Exploring gender: The Yellow Wallpaper and advertisements Length of Period: 75 mins 2. Expectations: Expectation(s) (Directly from The Ontario Curriculum): - communicate orally in group discussions, applying such skills as the following: leading and contributing to productive discussions; suggesting possibilities and selecting directions within the group; generating ideas; contributing information; connecting ideas and arguments to other knowledge; making inferences; assessing the process used to reach conclusions; and ful-filling roles and completing tasks as required to produce presentations and products of high academic quality - explain how representation, form, style, and techniques in media works convey messages with social, ideological, and political implication analyse and assess ideas, themes, concepts, and arguments in print 3. Content - How is gender constructed in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and what do these constructions say about gender - How is gender constructed in advertisements and what do these constructions say about gender, how are they used to sell products 4. Assessment / Evaluation - Group work checklist (attached) - This can be used to give feedback to students so that they know how to improve on the cooperative learning strategies - Assessment would be formative, however, summative assessment could take place through students applying their knowledge in an extension activity of designing their own advertisement. This advertisement could display gender as seen within the yellow wallpaper, using strategies of effective advertising they observed in analyzing various magazine ads. You could further ask them to reflect on the choices they had made. 5. Possible Accommodations/Modifications this list is not exhaustive - Enlarging font on handouts - Providing additional notes for students - Making a quiet area/room for group work - Allowing students to hand in answers rather than reading them aloud to the class - Allowing groups to have a note taker, thereby not requiring all students to write - Allowing groups to have a designated speaker, thereby not requiring all students to present - Re-reading directions - Providing written directions to oral directions - Allowing the use of laptops/computers - Strategic seating 6. Resources/Materials - The Yellow Wallpaper cut up into sections
o Sections as follows: Becoming Acquainted p.5-pg.9 (end of 1 st paragraph); The Room pg.9 (second paragraph pg.13 (end of 1 st full paragraph); Hallucinations increase pg.13 (2 nd full paragraph) pg.20 (end of 4 th full paragraph); Into insanity pg.20 (5 th paragraph) pg.24 (end of 7 th full paragraph); Escaping the wallpaper pg. 24 (8 th paragraph) end of story o You may want to put the section into an envelope marked with the section title - Photocopies of The Yellow Wallpaper (attached) - Magazine advertisements, selection displaying women, men, and both - Guiding questions for reading The Yellow Wallpaper for gender (attached) - Guiding questions for analysing advertisements (attached) - Group work checklist (attached) - Chart paper/markers - Set up a class twitter account if you have not already done so (ideal, but not 100% necessary if technology is unavailable) 7. Lesson The day before this class, hand out copies of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Ask students to read it as homework. Ask them to think about the different roles of men and women while they are reading. Also ask them to bring in any advertisements from magazines that they found interesting. Let them know that they will be examining gender construction in both The Yellow Wallpaper and modern advertising. Have the learning goal written on the blackboard before class begins. Learning goal: Today you will explore how gender is constructed in the short story The Yellow Wallpaper as well as in modern advertising. Previous knowledge: - A prior reading of The Yellow Wallpaper - An understanding of what gender roles are Hook (5 mins): - Draw a T-chart on the blackboard - On one side write Women are on the other Men are - Ask students for suggestions to complete these two statements - Have a brief class discussion about how they have reached these conclusions This short hook will get students start thinking about gender and how it is constructed. It will also give them confidence in discussing gender as they already have a good grasp on what it is, and how it is socially constructed.
Middle (65 mins): (20 mins) - Divide students into 5 groups - Give each group one section of the story - Provide them with guiding questions, make sure to reinforce that the questions are only jumping off points and should not box in their thinking about gender in the story. - Give students the directions that their group is to complete two tasks o 1. They will have to summarize their section of the story in one tweet o 2. They will have to collaborate and decide what their section is saying about gender/gender roles - Hand out guiding questions for reading which correspond to their section of the story (attached) **note, students may use their cellphones/laptops to tweet in their section summary these can then be brought up on screen for class viewing. If there is limited access to technology within the classroom you can ask students to write out their tweets using the same 140 characters limit that tweets allow. (15 mins) - If possible, bring up the tweeted section summaries on a screen for all students to see and ask for groups to share their findings. - After all the groups have shared, make sure there are a few minutes for questions. - Post the chart paper at the front of the class so that everyone can see the class create constructions of gender that have arose from reading The Yellow Wallpaper (15 mins) - If there were any concerns with the groupings in the first part of the lesson, you may want to take a moment to rearrange some groups. - Ask students to take out their advertisements that they brought in. If some students forgot, simply distribute some. - Tell students that just as gender was constructed in The Yellow Wallpaper, it is also constructed in the real world. One of the ways this can be seen is through advertising. - Give students 2 minutes to look over their groups advertisements to begin thinking about how gender is constructed in the ads. - Hand out the guiding questions for analysing advertisements to help guide students thinking about the ads. Tell them to agree on one ad to analyze in more detail. - Ask them to attach the ad to the centre of a piece of chart paper, and to write their analysis around the ad. Encourage the use of arrows and other indicators which refer back to the ads. (15 mins) - Ask students to post their ad analyses at the front of the class alongside the short story analysis. Ask the groups to share their findings about their ads.
Conclusion: (5 mins or remaining time) - Ask students to complete an exit card that contains one new thing that they learnt during the lesson, and one question that they have. - Also let them know that tomorrow they will be designing their own advertisement that display the gender roles as constructed in The Yellow Wallpaper through the design principles they learnt in analyzing various ads. 8. My Reflections on the Lesson - This area is to be completed after the lesson has been taught to identify any weaknesses or strengths in the lesson design
Guiding Questions: Becoming Acquainted 1. Summarize your section of the story with a tweet, feel free to use text messaging acronyms in order to keep your summary very condense and concise. 2. Think about what your section of the story is saying about gender/gender roles. Write these down on the chart paper. 3. The following are some things to consider getting you to start thinking about gender within the story. Remember that these are just suggestions; feel free to explore the story differently. Just remember to use evidence from the section to back up your thought processes. a. How does the narrator and John s interpretation of her illness differ? Think about words and phrases used in the story. b. Think about the different roles the characters take on, Ex: physician, husband, patient, child, etc c. Think about the description of the room.
Guiding Questions: The Room 1. Summarize your section of the story with a tweet, feel free to use text messaging acronyms in order to keep your summary very condense and concise. 2. Think about what your section of the story is saying about gender/gender roles. Write these down on the chart paper. 3. The following are some things to consider getting you to start thinking about gender within the story. Remember that these are just suggestions; feel free to explore the story differently. Just remember to use evidence from the section to back up your thought processes. a. How does the John respond to the narrators suggestion of a room change? b. Think about how John s sister is described, compare this to the narrator. c. Does the description of the wallpaper say anything about gender?
Guiding Questions: Hallucinations 1. Summarize your section of the story with a tweet, feel free to use text messaging acronyms in order to keep your summary very condense and concise. 2. Think about what your section of the story is saying about gender/gender roles. Write these down on the chart paper. 3. The following are some things to consider getting you to start thinking about gender within the story. Remember that these are just suggestions; feel free to explore the story differently. Just remember to use evidence from the section to back up your thought processes. a. Think about who has the power in the relationships (doctor/patient, husband/wife, etc) in the story. b. Think about the language the characters use when addressing each other as well as themselves.
Guiding Questions: Into Insanity 1. Summarize your section of the story with a tweet, feel free to use text messaging acronyms in order to keep your summary very condense and concise. 2. Think about what your section of the story is saying about gender/gender roles. Write these down on the chart paper. 3. The following are some things to consider getting you to start thinking about gender within the story. Remember that these are just suggestions; feel free to explore the story differently. Just remember to use evidence from the section to back up your thought processes. a. What is significant about the women in the wallpaper? b. Think about why the women are creeping. c. Do John and the wallpaper have anything in common?
Guiding Questions: Escaping the Wallpaper 1. Summarize your section of the story with a tweet, feel free to use text messaging acronyms in order to keep your summary very condense and concise. 2. Think about what your section of the story is saying about gender/gender roles. Write these down on the chart paper. 3. The following are some things to consider getting you to start thinking about gender within the story. Remember that these are just suggestions; feel free to explore the story differently. Just remember to use evidence from the section to back up your thought processes. a. Think about what the woman in the wallpaper is freed from. b. Think about what the wallpaper represents in the story.
Group Work Checklist o Stay on task o Take turns o Use time effectively to complete the task o Remember important information o Listen to and respect others o Agree to disagree o No put downs o If the group has a problem, they actively take part in the problem solving process Additional comments:
Guiding Questions: Analyzing a Magazine Advertisement 1. How does the advertisement try to get your attention? Would it draw men or women s attention more? Why? 2. What is the advertisement for? 3. Who is the advertisement aimed at? 4. How are men and/or women used in this advertisement? 5. What does the use of men and/or women say about gender? 6. Which body parts are shown or focused on? What is the effect of this? 7. Which colours are used? What is the effect of this? 8. Are there any interesting camera angles used? What are the effects of these? 9. Does your eye stop at any point on the advertisement? What techniques are used for this? 10. Are there any words on the advertisement? Are they aimed at one gender in particular? These are just a few questions that can be addressed, the sky is the limit! Use your imagination; there are no right or wrong answers.