Approximately 2.5 Hour Class Plan

“I would like to believe that this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance.

If it’s a story I am telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.

It isn’t a story I’m telling.

It’s also a story I’m telling, in my head, as I go along. “

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (Week One of Three)

Housekeeping: Upcoming Assignments (Suggested: 5 minutes)

• I think a good way to begin our work together on this book would be to have an initial conversation on our understanding of History.

Opening Journal Entry: (Suggested: 10 minutes)

• What is History? What are its uses? What does it mean to be a historian?  Where does our History come from? How accurate is it? Who gets to write it? More importantly, who gets to _live_ it? Do you get to live it? Are you a “historical figure”? Who keeps your history? What do you think about that?

Group Activity: (Suggested: 5-7 minutes)

• Share findings, and then come up with a statement that answers the following questions:

• What are the differences between personal, local, regional, and national History? Are there any differences? If so, what are they and  why do they exist?

Group Presentations: (Suggested: 5 minutes)

Class Discussion: (Suggested: 5-10 minutes)

• Okay, the second major idea we need to take up tonight is Gender. Funnily enough, we can ask a lot of the same questions about gender that we can ask about history (curious, right?)

• What is Gender? What are its uses? What does it mean to have a gender? Where do our concepts of gender come from? How accurate are they? Who gets to determine these things? What does it mean to _live_ as a Gender? How do you identify with your Gender – do you have a choice? Who reminds you of your Gender?

Group Activity: (Suggested: 5-7 minutes)

Share findings, and then come up with a statement that answers the following questions:

What are the differences between personal, local, regional, and national conceptions of Gender? Are there any differences? If so, what are they are why do they exist?

Group Presentations: (Suggested: 5 minutes)

Class Discussion: (Suggested: 5-10 minutes)

Break

Now that we have had our opening conversation on a few relevant topics, we can turn to the novel directly:

Experience:

Journal Entry: (Suggested: 10 minutes)

What is your reaction to the first 110 pages of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaids’ Tale?  What aspects of this story are catching your attention? Why do you think they are catching your attention? Also describe what the process of reading this novel has been like for you. Perhaps describe where and when you read it.

Small Group Discussion: (Suggested: 10 minutes)

Share your writing with one another, and then come up with a group statement in response to the following question:

• Are there any aspects of American culture: local, regional, state-wise, or national that resonate with life as it is lived in The Republic of Gilead?

Group Presentations: (Suggested: 5-10 minutes)

General Class Discussion: (Suggested: 10 minutes)

Part Two: Analysis

Breaking up the story: (Suggested: 10-15 minutes)

Let’s break the assigned reading down into major character, events, and settings, themes, and motifs. Find good descriptive details to associate with each of these subjects. We will do this in two groups.

Time-line of events.

Group Presentations: (5-10 minutes)

What did you find? What was important? What kinds of conclusions can make about this reading with these details?

Part Three: Evaluation

So, in this class the basic standards we have for evaluation so far are the following:

• Frye’s Garrison Mentality Theory

• Anderson’s Nationalism Theory

• Atwood’s Survival Theory

But we also have the other stories we have read this semester as well, and we can begin to compare and contrast these works with each other.

In your journals: (Suggested: 10 minutes)

Consider the following passage from the The Handmaid’s Tale against one theory and two short stories we have considered so far, come up with a group statement you can send one person from your group to present to the rest of the class. We will go around and give our answers to the class.

Group Discussion: (Suggested: 5-7 Minutes)

Share responses, then focus on coming up with an answer to the following question: What are the major social issues you see as being important to, or which are represented in, this story so far?

Class Discussion: (Suggested: 5-7 minutes)

Synthesis

Read to the end of Chapter 30 (page 224)

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