April 8 2010

Approximately 2.5 Hour Class Plan

The Handmaid’s Tale, Chapters 17 through 30

1) We have some major housekeeping items we need to consider tonight: (Suggested: 10 minutes)

1. Let’s get our groups organized for our presentations, which will take place three weeks from tonight

2. I will give you ten minutes to begin discussing a possible topic(s) and to organize a meeting schedule:

• These presentations will be 20 minutes long. In groups of 3 or 4, you will be presenting to the class on important historical and cultural information that you believe contextualizes a specific book or books that we will be reading this semester. 10% of your final grade

• Final paper, due four weeks from tonight:

• This paper will build on your short research paper. It will propose a mature literary argument capable of sustaining the intense critical scrutiny of your peers. The length will be 7-8 pages, and you will need to use 8-10 peer-reviewed secondary sources.

• For next week, I am going to want a one-page summation from you on the argument you are interested in making, and an explanation of how it will speak to your understanding of the text.

2)      Let’s begin with a reflective journal entry on the following topic:  (Suggested: 10 minutes)

a.      What was your experience of reading these chapters? When and where did you do this? What are you taking away from the reading? What are some significant details you are noticing? What are some potential symbols, themes, motifs or other textual concerns that you are noticing?  Cite pages numbers and examples when you can.

3)      Group Discussion: (Suggested: 10 Minutes)

a.      Share your findings and observations, and then come up with a statement that relates to the following question:

i.      So, we now know the translation to the mysterious Latin phrase Offred finds in “her” room: Don’t let the bastards grind you down. Okay, here are some tough questions: Who are the bastards? And just, how, exactly, does one stop “them” from grinding your down? Is there anything particularly “Canadian” about Offred’s situation? What might I mean by that?

4)      Group Presentations:  (Suggested: 5-10 Minutes)

5)      Class Discussion (Suggested: 5-10 Minutes)

Break

Now that we’ve had our general discussion about the reading, we can move into more specific forms of inquiry. Let’s begin with our analysis of the content

Analysis:

Group Work: (Suggested: 10-15 Minutes)

• Break the reading down into its major characters and events. Next construct a time line for this information. Put it up on the board when you are ready.

Class Discussion: (Suggested: 10 minutes)

Evaluation: New Concept! (Suggested: 5-10 minutes)

1. Tonight, I want to present a new concept for evaluation. I want to introduce you to a theorist named Walter Benjamin, who is a fascinating character in his own right.

• One of the things Benjamin argues is that history is only ever an attempt to make a political connection between the present and the past. The “truth” of what actually happened is not as important, for many people. We see this in our own culture, sometimes in ridiculous ways.

• One of the things this book tries to do, I think, is to get us to think about elements of our current social system that could, perhaps, be laying the groundwork for the appearance of something like the Republic of Gilead. That is to say, things the republic could look back on and say, “This justifies us!”

Journal: (Suggested: 10 minutes)

• What might some of these elements be? How do we encounter them on a day-to-day basis in our local, regional, and national (as well as on-line) lives?

• Should we be critical of these things? Why? Why not?

Group: (Suggested 10 minutes)

• Discuss finding and come up with a group statement on this subject

Class Discussion: (Suggested: 5-10 minutes)

Synthesis:

Video: (Suggested: 10 Minutes)

• We will spend the remainder of our time this evening working with her arguments as they pertain to our reading for this evening.

Homework: Finish the novel (including the Historical Notes, which are part of the story). Also, e-mail me the one-page summary of the argument you would like to make in your long paper.