THE YELLOW WALLPAPER

TARGET GRADE/SUBJECT:

I will be teaching an eleventh grade honors English class a short story from the turn of the nineteenth century under the subject of feminism. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman deals with gender issues that these juniors in high school already deal with and will continually be exposed to in greater detail in college and the workplace. These juniors should be already motivated because of their presence in an honors class, however this story is stimulating and will definitely hold their attention because many will be able to relate to or sympathize with the plight of the main character. These students are around 16 and are ready to face the mature gender issues that are dealt with in this story. If they are not motivated, however, the extrinsic motivation from grades will make up for their lack of intrinsic motivation. I will focus on showing the students the reasons why they are studying this story and writing the paper while integrating technology. This explanation should further motivate them.

LESSON OBJECTIVES TO SHARE WITH THE STUDENTS:

Given Inspiration students will develop a brainstorming chart to use in the creation of a three page paper. The chart will contain a central theme, three supporting arguments and one opposing argument, and three details for each argument. These arguments and details need to be legitimate and the connection between the circles need to be clear

MATERIALS:

The students must bring their copy of The Yellow Wallpaper to the computer lab along with their main theme that they had come up with for homework. From there, the only thing needed is the computer and their floppy disk, which will be in the computer lab. On the computer they will have Inspiration 4.1 open along with Mac-Word.

LESSON DESCRIPTION:

Tell the students to file into the computer lab, turn on a computer and wait there. 1 min

Instruct them on how to open Mac-Word and Inspiration. 2 min

Tell the students to type one letter in each program and you will direct them in the process of saving their work. From then on they will be able to save it themselves. 5 min

Open the attached projected Inspiration program and tell them the above purpose and objectives on how to create a brainstorming chart. Then quickly work through a thought process using an obscure theme and only one main argument and detail. Put the example of the skeleton structure of a brainstorm with a portion of it filled on the projection explaining how to use the program to do this (see Sample). 5 min

Tell the students that they will then be responsible for completing a brainstorm within the remaining time and check the theme with the teacher. If they finish early they should go into deeper detail with each of their examples because they will have to when the get to do an outline the next day. Tell them to finish today because they must get it done before computer time is limited. Hand out a copy of the instructions and evaluation procedures. 45 min

EVALUATION PROCEDURE:

The students will turn in their work at the end of class. Computer time is limited so this is the only day that they will have to work on this program, barring absences or extreme circumstances. Below are the grading categories:

The student has completed all of the assigned work and done it on time with attention to detail. Their theme is interesting and comprehensive; the arguments support the theme and the details or examples support the arguments. (By “support” I mean that these arguments and details more fully explain and deal with their stem.) There is enough depth in the brainstorm to write a three-page paper.

The student has completed all the assigned work on time. However, the theme lacks a bit of creativity, ingenuity or comprehensiveness, the arguments do not clearly support the main theme and the details do not clearly support the argument (The connections are not fully clear or valid.)

The student has filled in all of the brainstorming circles. However, the theme is irrelevant, the arguments are haphazardly thrown together with examples that do not support. There is not enough detail or clarity to write a paper

The Student attempted the assignment, however did not fulfill any of the objectives.

The student did not attempt the assignment.

(If the student receives a D or F they need to come see me to do the brainstorming over on their own time for the highest grade of a B+.)

These are the suggested requirements, however, students may use a more creative approach by consulting with the teacher. A student may have more arguments or examples, however the arguments should not exceed four and the examples should not be more than five because the paper will become immense. Use page numbers on the quotes used for details.