Transcript Document

“The Yellow Wall Paper”
by:
Socratic Seminar Discussion on
Literature and Analysis
DAY 1 BR: Anticipation Guide
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Respond in your agreement line to the following:
Women sometimes experience severe depression
after having a baby.
Someone who is suffering a mental breakdown is
still a reliable source.
Yellow wallpaper would be pretty in a baby’s room.
In the 1800’s, women were dependent on their
husbands for everything.
A “rest-cure” is a good medical treatment.
Men are best to determine a woman’s ailments and
the necessary treatment
Intelligent women pose a threat to the male society
Day 1: Who is Gilman?
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow
Wall-Paper,” a short story set in the late
nineteenth century, fictionalizes the
struggles of a young married woman
enduring Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell's “rest
cure.” In the late 1880s before writing the
short story, the author contacted Dr.
Mitchell and he treated her 'nervous
disease' with a rest cure.
Day 1: Who is Dr. Mitchell?
• Charlotte's doctor, nerve specialist
Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, had built an
eminent medical career working with
soldiers injured during the Civil War.
He then focused on the treatment of
women with nervous exhaustion,
devising a “rest cure” in which the
patient was not allowed to read, write,
feed herself, or talk to others.
Day 1: Exhaustion a disease?
• The “disease”, per Mitchell, reflected late
nineteenth-century ideas about female
weakness, and was used to justify women’s
exclusion from schooling, intellectual
pursuits, and public life. In one of his classic
texts, Mitchell explained how young women
could be permanently damaged by overeducation. He advocated a cure of complete
bed rest and isolation.
Day 1: Charlotte’s Response
• Charlotte rejected Mitchell’s prescription
to give up all her intellectual pursuits, and
instead picked up her pen and wrote. First
published in 1892, her story, about a
young woman driven mad by the rest
cure, has been reprinted many times and
is now considered a classic of feminist
literature.
“Live as domestic a life as possible… And never touch
pen, brush, or pencil as long as you live.”
- Gilman describes Dr. Mitchell’s advice 1913
DAY 1: HOMEWORK
• Read entire text of “The Yellow Wall
Paper”
• Annotate ideas you find intriguing and
any mention of the yellow wall paper
• Use the guiding questions to make notes
in the margins
• Be prepared to discuss, in inner and outer
groups, the content and your reaction to it
Use Discussion Rubric to Plan!
Day 2 BR: You Tube Preview
• This is the trailer to “The Yellow Wall
Paper” movie
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7YL
pnsymxA&safe=active
• REACTIONS?
DAY 2: Socratic Discussion
• The class will split in two groups – inner and outer circle
(as per your entry cards)
• One student will volunteer as the discussion leader
• As the leader asks questions, each member in the inner
circle should be prepared to respond
• Group members may insert a question or idea when so
desired
• No one will be called on unless the conversation goes stale
or there is a lack of participation – ALL members MUST
contribute
• There is a hot seat for outer members to contribute, should
they feel compelled
• Outside members must be marking their reaction sheet to
evaluate their inner partner
DAY 2: HOMEWORK
• The members on the inside should reflect on the
conversation and have ample notes to develop
an analytical response down the road
• The outer members will move to the inside circle
tomorrow to discuss the story – take time to
prepare your discussion notes and any questions
you would like to pose to the group
• New outer members – you can have the hot seat
so don’t refrain from discovering new ideas in
your review of the content!
DAY 3 BR: Images
• Preview these images:
• http://lucydillamore.com/projects/nuayear-2/imagery-for-the-yellow-wallpaper/
• Thoughts? Which one did you like “best”?
Which was the creepiest? Do the images
align with your interpretation of the story?
DAY 3: Socratic Discussion
• Many of yesterday’s “rules” apply today:
• Outer group becomes inner, inner the outer
• Leader volunteer needed
• All members MUST contribute responses to reading
questions and may insert their own questions/ideas
• There is a hot seat for outer members to contribute,
should they feel compelled
• Outside members must be marking their reaction sheet
to evaluate their inner partner
– SOCRATIC SEMINAR EVAL PACKETS DUE
TOMORROW FOR EVERYONE!!!
DAY 3 : Homework
• Evaluation packets due tomorrow –
remember to be honest about your own
participation, your inner partner's, and the
overall impact of the class discussion
• Read the non-fiction texts about the
writing of “The Yellow Wall Paper”
(Why I Wrote… and Wear and Tear…)
• Annotate the text for information you find
interesting, confusing, worth discussing
Day 4 BR: Read and Respond
• Read “Perilous”, written as an editorial
response to the publication of “The Yellow
Wall Paper”
• Jot down your immediate reaction to the
words you have read
• What do you suppose life was like in terms of
gender differences during this time period?
• Do you think the general diagnosis for
women to “do nothing” holds any validity?
Day 4: Shoulder Partner Response Writing
• How does Gilman describe Dr. Mitchell and her
experience of his rest cure?
• Which characters in the short story embody her
perspectives/experiences with a medical
professional in real life?
• Mitchell makes the point that, generally, exercise
benefits most patients. Why might it lead to
“increase of trouble, to extreme sense of fatigue,
to nausea” (p. 38) in women?
• What gender assumption does this perpetuate?
Day 4: Reflections on Real Thoughts
• After reading the perspective of the author
and of the doctor about their approaches
and understanding of ”the rest cure”, how
do you respond to the concept?
• Use your shoulder partner responses to
guide class discussion – what are your
thoughts/reactions to their stance on the
matter, male and female respectively?
DAY 4: HOMEWORK
• Choose a prompt from the writing project sheet.
• Remember – you will make references to both the
text and the non-fiction analytical responses we
have reviewed (plus whatever resources you
seek outside of here!)
• THAT MEANS IN-TEXT CITATION!!! (see next
slide for review)
• Plan your ideas for homework and prepare bits
of the text you will likely use to respond.
• In class tomorrow, we will write our summative
essay for your final grade on this unit.
Use Grading Rubric to Plan
Using and Citing Resources
• When writing a paper with resources other than
yourself, you MUST use in-text citation and
create a works cited page.
• IN-TEXT CITATION: a reference to the text
directly or a piece of text used word for word to
support your writing
– The narrator’s husband seems to think the rest cure is a plausible
solution to his wife’s condition. He told his wife they went to
the farmhouse “solely on my account, that I was to have perfect
rest and all the air I could get” (Gilman 648).
• WORKS CITED PAGE: a list of all the works you
references, cited, used in writing your paper.
– Gilman [Stetson], Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wall Paper”.
Short Story collection, pages 647-656.
GRADING FOR THIS UNIT
• Formatives –
– Annotated texts (story and other materials)
– Value of Discussion/Participation
– Evaluation of self and peer
• Summative –
– Essay Response (grade will be assessed based
on content, relevance to text and prompt,
conventions, successful use of resources)
DAY 5: SUMMATIVE DAY
• Essay Writing
– Use prompt and plan you prepared last night
– Remember to reference and CITE the texts
(you should do this MORE THAN ONCE!!!)
– Reference both the story and the criticism
read in class and outside of
– List all works (texts) used on a separate works
cited page
– Place in bin on your way out with rubric
stapled to the front and NAME on it!