Theresa Dietrich
Final Project: Curricular Unit
12 May 2016
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Lesson 1: Tone and Irony in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “You’re Ugly Too” . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Artifact 1: Moore Tone Poem Handout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Lesson 2 Gender Expectations in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Artifact 2: “Sweat” Passages and Questions for Group Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Artifact 3: “Sweat” Dialectical Notebook Handout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Lesson 3: Advice-Giving and Gender Commentary in Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Artifact 4: Kincaid Prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Lesson 4: Developing Terminology Using Google Definitions and Media Examples . . . . . . . 17
Lesson 5: Defining and Analyzing Satire via The Onion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Artifact 5: Satire Group Project Assignment Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Lesson 6: Re-Imagining Endings: Atwood’s Commentary on Storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Lesson 7: Character Development and Gender in Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” . . . . . 24
Artifact 6: Character Development Handout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Artifact 7: Atwood Lecture Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Lesson 8: Re-Imagining Fairy Tales: Critique and Satire in Anne Sexton’s “Briar Rose” . . . . . 28
Artifact 8: Sexton Discussion Questions and Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Lesson 9: Women and Myth: Adrienne Rich’s “Diving into the Wreck” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Artifact 9: Rich Biography Handout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Artifact 10: Critics on “Diving” Handout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Dietrich 2
Lesson 10: Rhetorical Analysis of Unit Paper Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Artifact 11: Women Writers Unit Paper Assignment Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Artifact 12: Rubrics for Unit Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Works Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Dietrich 3
Writing as Resistance: A Curricular Unit on Women Writers for High School Seniors
Practical Framing: The lessons included in this project represent about half of the content of a
one-month curricular unit in a semester long high school course called “The Art of Fiction.” The
course at large will explore short stories and plays organized around thematic units. Each class
period is 60 minutes long and students are formally assessed through a mid-unit group project
and culminating 4-5 page unit paper. Other informal assessment measures are included at the end
of most of the lesson plans that follow.
Unit Description: This unit explores the poetry and short stories of women writers across time
periods and cultural contexts. It offers students a thematic frame, “writing as resistance” instead
of grouping texts in terms of historical or cultural contexts. Within this thematic frame, the unit
focuses specifically on the uses and effects of irony and satire. The first three lessons in this unit
introduce irony and broadly explore some concerns and themes of women’s writing through the
short stories of Charlotte Perkins Gillman, Lorie Moore, Jamaica Kincaid, and Zora Neale
Hurston. The subsequent lessons constitute a consecutive seven-lesson arc which defines satire
and related terminology, and then asks students to apply that understanding to the work of
women writers who employ these techniques to critique and re-imagine fairy tales and myths
(Margaret Atwood, Anne Sexton and Adrienne Rich). This work culminates in a unit paper on
the subject. To clarify and connect these thematic frames – writing as resistance and satire and
irony – I offer the following questions to guide the meaning-making throughout this unit:




How does the use of irony and/or satire protect the author and allow them to say things
they couldn’t otherwise say?
What does it mean for women to intervene in discourses in which they haven’t been
included? How does literature make these interventions?
What does it mean for women writers to re-imagine stories that have been told about
them, usually by men?
Are fairy tales, and myths important ways of understanding gender? Why does creatively
critiquing and re-imaging them matter?
Dietrich 4
Unit Objectives:
MA Curriculum Frameworks:
 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on
meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is
particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful” (#4, Reading Standards for Literature Grades
11-12).
 “Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly
stated in a text from what is really meant -- e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or
understatement” (#6, Reading Standards for Literature Grades 11-12).
Other Objectives:
 Students develop working definitions of the following terms: sarcasm, parody, mocking,
ridicule, lampoon, litotes, caricature, facetious, self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek,
urbane, irony, paradox, understatement, hyperbole, euphemism, double entendre
 Students are able to identify these terms in works of fiction by women writers and talk
about the significance of their use
 Students are able to move beyond definition and identification into application and
successfully critique an issue of their choosing using satire
 Students gain an appreciation for the both artistic and political dimensions of women’s
writing and connect literary strategies (irony, satire) with strategies of resistance via
critique
 Students can identify specific reasons why women writers use certain literary strategies
and can identify the sexist/classist/racist ideologies they aim to critique
Theoretical Framing: In the unit I’ve outlined above, it might seem as if students will be asked
to read and write mostly academically and critically. After all, sustained attention to the
rhetorical devices an author uses, and relatedly, the cultural criticism they might offer us, seem to
be largely academic activities, starkly separate from that escapist enterprise of reading for
pleasure. In response to this splitting off, I follow the thinking of Cristina Vischer Bruns in her
book Why Literature? Bruns’s books aims to “Diminish the conflict between academic literary
study and more personally oriented reading” (9). She argues that we must find a way to value
pleasurable and immersive reading experiences within literary education, while also articulating
the transformative benefits of such experiences. Instead of pulling them apart, Bruns establishes
a relationship between enchantment and critique. She argues that through shock, recognition and
Dietrich 5
enchantment, literature can actually change readers, shaking them from their all too familiar
worldview and offering otherwise inaccessible perspectives. It is in the very act of temporarily
escaping the empirical world that we gain the insight to critique and change it. In the unit that
follows, students read to be enchanted and also, to critique. In some ways, this seems obvious; of
course the rhetorical and critical power of Adrienne Rich’s “Diving into the Wreck” is
inextricable from its beauty, from the ways in which the language enchants and astonishes.
I’d also like to extend Bruns’s helpful thinking about bridging this divide between
academic and personal reading into the realm of writing. The kind of writing I’d like to talk
about here is not merely personal, as in journaling or freewriting, but it is also creative, what
Christian Knoller calls “imaginative response” (42). The following unit plan is aligned with
Sheridan Blau’s hope to “renovate the culture of instruction in literature to render it more
consistent with the process-oriented, collaborative, and learning-centered practices of exemplary
writing classes” (5). In the following lessons, I encourage sustained attention to process by
asking students to interpret their changing interpretations. Students write about their thinking
with a dialectical notebook and monitor the changes in their interpretations as we add layers to
texts via biographical information about the author and readings on critical reception. However, I
go a step beyond what Blau seems to have in mind with this metacognitive work. Instead of
structuring a literature class a bit more like a composition class, I ask students to situate writing
at the center of their reading process through imaginative response.
To get back to Bruns’s helpful bridge between critique and enchantment for a moment, I
believe that successful critical and analytical writing -- which we surely want to foster in the
literature classroom -- can come out of a place of writing for pleasure, of writing creatively to
enchant or to be enchanted. Multiple assignments in the unit that follow ask students to inhabit
Dietrich 6
the world of a text by participating in its very construction. Student’s write a new ending for a
Margaret Atwood story and are invited to try out a satirical retelling of a Brothers Grimm fairy
tale à la Anne Sexton’s Transformations. Students are asked to re-read texts as writers, bearing
their upcoming task in mind. By re-reading with writing in mind, students gain new insight about
how the text is working or what its saying. In making their own stylistic and thematic choices,
students contend, in new ways, with the choices made by the author. In her article, “Imaginative
Response: Teaching Literature through Creative Writing,” Knoeller explains that “after students
have explored a work imaginatively, their interpretations are often considerably more thoughtful
and complex” (44).
Satire, it seems to me, is a genre where critique and play collude in the service of
exposure, but also, of entertaining and enthralling. Satire relies on creativity as the source and
method of expression of its critique. In “The Essay as Form,” Adorno compellingly writes, “truth
abandoned by play would be nothing more than tautology (168). In many ways, the assignments
in this unit invite students to play, but also, to think seriously about the political implications of
play for women in the forms of parody, satire and re-telling. Another way to articulate this move
is a course goal I have expressed throughout these lessons: moving beyond identification into
application.
Students begin their work on satire by collaboratively developing a definition and
searching out examples in the media they consume. Then they are asked to identify the satirical
elements of various works of literature. However, I believe that it is through application, the
“trying out” of these techniques in their own work, that students really begin to understand what
effects satire can achieve, and why it might be employed by women writers. In this way, students
transfer their reading into their writing, and then bring these new insights back to bear on the
Dietrich 7
texts. In a mid-unit group project students are asked to assume the persona of writers on the staff of a
new website called The Onion Teen that focuses on satirizing issues that would be entertaining to a
teenage audience. Students draft an article and create a “pitch” in which they present their prospective
articles to a roomful of The Onion Teen editors (the rest of the class).1
Having established the primary theoretical underpinnings of this unit – the relationship between
enchantment and critique, analytical writing and imaginative response, situating writing at the center of
the reading process – I’ll briefly address some additional theoretical influences. Some of these texts are
paired in terms of radical juxtapositions – the best example is Loorie Moore and Charlotte
Perkins Gillman. This technique of juxtaposition is designed to allow students to come an
interpretation in both an independent and guided way, an answer to Sheridan Blau’s “double
bind.” Blau explains that when teachers teach interpretations, they rob the students of the
opportunity to experience genuine learning of their own. But, on the other hand, “we want
students “to come away […] with a reasonably accurate understanding of the meaning of the text
[…] that captures […] the values, ideas, wisdom, or insights that a [text] offers to readers” (Blau
188). By offering students thoughtfully juxtaposed texts, a guiding unit question, and prompts
and exercises that ask them to consider the relationship between texts, I hope to point them in the
direction of significant features and interpretive points subtly and in a way that allows for
independent yet guided meaning-making. Alongside this unit’s emphasis on student-centered
learning and creative play, I have also provided in-depth lecture notes for many of the lessons as
well as assignments that demand good old fashioned analytical writing. I hope to strike a balance
between imparting information to students that will help them succeed, and also fostering an
environment where they read and write by choice, not through coercion. A desire to promote
1
Assignment adapted from Tara Seale’s “Analyzing Satire Unit Plan” available at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1erOEAzQZrVH7WC85kRiuCJqpO6z24YJH7Kh9POkR7gM/edit).
Dietrich 8
student’s interpretive authority as writers and readers undergirds all of the choices made herein,
but this is expressed particularly in terms of group work and an emphasis on collaborative
meaning making.
Dietrich 9
LESSON PLAN #1:
Teaching Tone and Irony through the juxtaposition of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The
Yellow Wallpaper” and Loorie Moore’s “You’re Ugly Too”
Objectives:
 Students will expand and deepen their working definition of irony and consider how it
relates to tone through discussion of “You’re Ugly Too.”
 Students will use their new understanding of the significance and relationship of irony
and tone to begin to unpack the commentaries on women and madness offered by
Gillman and Moore. This work will continue over another class (lesson plan not included
here).
Procedure:
Before Class
 Student’s will have been introduced to the topic of the unit, read and “The Yellow
Wallpaper,” and defined verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony and found
instances of each in Gillman’s story. Students will also have read “You’re Ugly Too” for
homework highlighting instances of verbal irony.
During Class
 Review definition of irony as a class (2 minutes).
 Share homework in groups (5 minutes): In groups of three, students share the instances
of verbal irony they picked out for homework and discuss as a group if they are in fact
verbal irony and why or why not. They share one example to share with the class.
 Groups share (5 minutes): Have groups share and make sure that students are
understanding verbal irony and identifying successful examples.
 Tone Poem Activity (10 minutes): Students create a tone poem using re-purposed
language from “You’re Ugly Too” (see artifact #1 below).
 Share poems (10 minutes): Have each student share their “tone poem” asking them to
listen for and record words or phrases that are repeated many times across the class. The
teacher should also complete and read a tone poem. Tell the students to go around the
room in a specific order (for example, a circle, if that’s how your desks are arranged) and
to read their tone poem directly after the person in front of them, without pausing. My
hope is that this provides a sort of “choral” experience in which students can pick out
recurring themes.
 Class discussion (10 minutes): Lead a discussion about what the most popular words
are. Write these on the board. After identifying the tone of Moore’s piece (irreverent,
sarcastic, hopeless), ask students how it relates to what the story is about. Use this as an
avenue to point to specific interpretive points and develop some of the story’s major
themes as a class. Ask students if there are passages they find confusing or problematic.
 Applying irony and making connections to Gillman (23 minutes): Ask students what
they think the relationship between irony and tone is? Review the overarching ironical
tension of Moore’s piece. How does Gillman’s tone and use of irony compare to
Moore’s? Have students consider the implications of using irony as a means of critique or
commentary. Use the questions below to lead this discussion:
Dietrich 10
o Why might the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” rely so heavily on irony?
How does she use irony to characterize the mental state of the main character and
also, criticize the ways in which she is “cared” for?
o For Gillman, writing in 1892, how does the use of irony protect the author or
allow her to say something that maybe she couldn’t otherwise say?
o How is the way that Moore uses irony, for a more humorous effect, different from
Gillman’s use? Are the stakes or reasons for using this technique different for the
two authors?
Questions for Teacher to Consider for Assessment:
What will the students have practiced or explored as a result of this lesson?
 Doing literary analysis through close reading
 Using the identification of a literary device to develop a complex interpretation of a story
How will they practice the skill you have taught in this lesson?
 By choosing keywords to characterize the story’s tone and creating a tone poem
 By identifying instances of irony with their peers
 By applying both of these concepts to uncover the meaning of a story
Dietrich 11
ARTIFACT #1: MOORE TONE POEM HANDOUT
1. Pick a passage from Loorie Moore’s “You’re Ugly Too” that you find particularly significant
to the story. It shouldn’t be more than three lines.
2. Write down three words that describe her tone in this passage:
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
3. Circle three words or phrases in the passage you picked that you think led you to characterize
Moore’s tone in the ways you did above:
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
4. Create a tone poem: Mix your first three words up with the words and phrases you picked
from the story, you can toss in some connecting words or phrases if you want, but try to keep it
as pared down as possible, it will be very short! Be prepared to share your poem with the class.
Dietrich 12
LESSON PLAN #2
Gender Expectations in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat”
*Note: This following lesson, which addresses some thematic concerns of “Sweat,” is preceded
by a lesson in which students encounter the text in-class. Through this initial encounter, they
explore strategies for appreciating the dialogue, some biographical information about Hurston,
and discuss the historical context of the story (1920s American south).
Objectives:
 Through group-work and then full class collaboration, students are able to construct a
section by section “summary” of “Sweat” which accounts for significant plot and
character development points.
 Using their constructed summaries as well as their analysis of assigned passages, students
are able to develop plausible interpretations of “Sweat,” especially in terms of gender
roles and expectations.
Materials:
 Printed copies of Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat”
 Dialectical Notebook Handout (artifact #2)
Procedure:
Before class:
 Students have read “Sweat”
 Students have discussed the story’s dialogue, historical context, and biographical
information about Hurston
During class:
 Group-work with assigned passages (15 minutes): Hurston divides “Sweat” into three
parts. Split students into three large groups and assign a passage – one from each section
of the text – with three questions for group-work. (See artifact #2 below).
 Large-group discussion (20 minutes): Groups share the information they’ve compiled
on their section and are asked: What is the significance of this section to the story
overall? Facilitate discussion by allowing students to present what they explored in
groups, but offer further questions for areas that are underexplored.
 Dialectical notebook activity (15 minutes): Students create a dialectical notebook entry
analyzing the gender roles and expectations in “Sweat.” (See artifact #3 for detailed
instructions and handout).
 Share notebook reflections (10 minutes): Allow students to share they’re writing by
either reading from their notebooks or simply talking about the experience of journaling
and what came up for them.
Dietrich 13
ARTIFACT #2: “SWEAT” PASSAGES AND QUESTIONS FOR GROUP WORK
Passage 1:
Delia's habitual meekness seemed to slip from her shoulders like a blown scarf. She was on her
feet; her poor little body, her bare knuckly hands bravely defying the strapping hulk before her.
"Looka heah, Sykes, you done gone too fur. Ah been married to you fur fifteen years, and Ah
been takin' in washin' for fifteen years. Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and sweat, cry and sweat,
pray and sweat!"
Passage 2:
Clarke spoke for the first time. "Taint no law on earth dat kin make a man be decent if it aint in
'im. There's plenty men dat takes a wife lak dey do a joint uh sugar-cane. It's round, juicy an'
sweet when dey gits it. But dey squeeze an' grind, squeeze an' grind an' wring tell dey wring
every drop uh pleasure dat's in 'em out. When dey's satisfied dat dey is wrung dry, dey treats 'em
jes lak dey do a cane-chew. Dey throws em away. Dey knows whut dey is doin' while dey is at it,
an' hates theirselves fuh it but they keeps on hangin' after huh tell she's empty. Den dey hates huh
fuh bein' a cane-chew an' in de way."
Passage 3:
She saw him on his hands and knees as soon as she reached the door. He crept an inch or two
toward her--all that he was able, and she saw his horribly swollen neck and his one open eye
shining with hope. A surge of pity too strong to support bore her away from that eye that must,
could not, fail to see the tubs. He would see the lamp. Orlando with its doctors was too far. She
could scarcely reach the Chinaberry tree, where she waited in the growing heat while inside she
knew the cold river was creeping up and up to extinguish that eye which must know by now that
she knew.
Group-work: Using your assigned passage and the corresponding section of the text, make
some notes on the following three areas:



Plot: Write a very brief summary of what actually happens in your section.
Character development: List any instances where you see the main characters being
developed (Sykes and Delia).
Close-reading: Carefully analyze your passage and write a few sentences about its
significance.
Dietrich 14
ARTIFACT #3: “SWEAT” DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK HANDOUT
What expectations do characters in “Sweat” have of women? Of men?
Create a dialectical notebook entry analyzing the gender roles and expectations in Zora Neale
Hurston’s “Sweat.” First, you’ll look for examples of gender roles and expectations in the text,
paying attention to what various characters say and do which suggests that they understand or
predict certain behaviors, dispositions, abilities, etc. on the basis of gender difference. Next,
you’ll reflect on the significate of these roles and expectations in your own life.
What is a dialectical notebook?
A dialectical journal is another name for a double-entry journal or a reader-response journal. A
dialectical journal is a journal that records a dialogue, or conversation between the ideas in the
text (the words that you are reading) and the ideas of the reader (the person who is doing the
reading).2 We’ll be journaling in this way periodically throughout the semester.
Textual evidence of gender
roles/ expectations (quote &
character)
2
Pg.
#
My ideas: Do I think this gendered role or expectation
continues to be relevant or is it culturally specific to
the novel? Can I think of any examples? (These
questions are only meant to be a guide, you should
write freely here in response to the quotation).
Description of dialectical notebook taken from this handout:
https://www.ocps.net/lc/west/msr/students/Documents/Dialectical%20Journal%20Assignment%20(2).pdf
Dietrich 15
LESSON PLAN #3:
Advice-Giving and Gender Commentary in Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”
Objectives:
• Student’s identify the subtle commentaries on mother/daughter relationships and gender
at work in Kincaid’s “Girl.” This piece is also part of a larger, ongoing objective: analyze
a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a
text from what is really meant.
• Students connect their recognition of Kincaid’s commentary on gender to the “advice”
offered by contemporary advertisements directed at women.
Materials:
• Printed copies of “Girl” for in-class reading
• Magazines that target a female audience (Cosmo, Vogue, Glamour, etc.)
Procedure:
• Pre-reading prompt (5 minutes): Students complete a pre-reading prompt about a piece
of advice they’ve received from a parent (see artifact #4 below).
• Group-work (15 minutes): Students work in groups of three to identify Kincaid’s
possible commentaries on gender and mother/daughter relationships (see artifact #4
below for specific group-work prompt). Assign roles to each group member: time-keeper,
scribe, and reporter.
• Sharing and class discussion (10 minutes): Groups report back and teacher records
keywords or short summaries of the “commentaries” identified by each group.
• Independent activity (15 minutes): Begin by making a list of the phrases that signal a
command or directive offered by the mother in “Girl” on the board: “always,” “don’t,”
“you musn’t,” “this is how” etc. Students use these as a jumping off point for choosing an
advertisement where women are being given a particular piece of advice from the
magazines provided. Students write out the directive that the ad offers women and use it
as the starting point of a Kincaid-style list where they are free to creatively explore related
pieces of advice or themes. Distribute a handout to students outlining each step of this
process (see artifact #4 below).
• Sharing (10 minutes): Students share their lists on a volunteer basis.
• Reflect in you journal (5 minutes): How does your list overlap with Kincaid’s? Do they
bear any resemblances? How are they culturally specific? What do you make of the
differences?
Assessment:
• Were students able to identify the commentaries on gender in this text by distinguishing
literal from implied meanings in this text?
• Were students able to move beyond identification of a commentary into application via
their own creative piece?
Dietrich 16
ARTIFACT #4: KINCAID PROMPTS
Prewriting Prompt and a Question for Group-work
Prewriting prompt: What is a piece of advice a parent or guardian has given you in your life?
Maybe it’s something they’ve told you many times, or in one important instance. Identify the
advice and write about the significance of it being imparted. Did you listen to this advice? How
did it make you feel?
Question for Group work: This piece seems to present unfiltered dialogue, without tags (“she
said angrily”) or other means of character description or representation. Does the way the
minimalist way the dialogue is presented and shaped offer us a commentary on this mother /
daughter relationship? On gender? If you think so, write a few sentences characterizing that
commentary. If you don’t think so, then what is the purpose of this piece?
______________________________________________________________________________
Handout for Activity and Reflection Prompt:
1. Using the commands and directives we’ve listed on the board, choose an advertisement from
one of the magazines at the front of the room which you could imagine imparting a particular
piece of advice to women.
2. Write out the particular objective or piece of advice you see the advertisement offering and
use it as the starting point for a Kincaid-style list. Try to employ Kincaid’s direct style; feel free
to use the signal phrases we’ve listed on the board, or imagine you own. You are free to
creatively explore pieces of advice and themes loosely related to the advertisement in this short
piece.
3. Reflection prompt: In your journal, reflect on the following questions: How does your list
overlap with Kincaid’s? Do they bear any resemblances? How are they culturally specific? What
do you make of the differences?
Dietrich 17
LESSON PLAN #4
Developing Terminology Using Google Generated Definitions and Media Examples
The remainder of these lessons (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10) constitute a consecutive seven-lesson arc
which defines and explores satire and related terminology, and then asks students to apply that
understanding to the work of women writers who employ these techniques to critique and reimagine fairy tales and myths. This work culminates in a unit paper on the subject.
Objectives:
• Together, the teacher and students develop a class document of working definitions of
rhetorical devices which will prepare students for the introduction of satire as a genre in
the following lesson.
• Student develop working definitions of the following terms: sarcasm, parody, mocking,
ridicule, lampoon, litotes, caricature, facetious, self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek,
urbane, irony, paradox, understatement, hyperbole, euphemism, double entendre.3
• Students compile these terms in a shared document for future reference.
• Students apply these definitions to media examples.
Materials:
• Some method of projecting YouTube videos on a screen
• Videos utilized as examples:
o Litotes: Colbert Report
o Hyperbole: Dos Equis Commercial: The Most Interesting Man in the World
o Double Entendre: Burger King Ad
o Euphemism: Charmin Toilet Paper Commercial
• Laptop cart (computers for all students to work on)
Procedure:
• Accessing class google doc (5 minutes): Students are each given a laptop and provided a
link to a google doc with a list of words created by the teacher in advance. The doc
contains a list of the following 18 terms: sarcasm, parody, mocking, ridicule, lampoon,
litotes, caricature, facetious, self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek, urbane, irony, paradox,
understatement, hyperbole, euphemism, double entendre. The doc is set up with the word,
a space for a definition, and a space for an example with link.
• Explain activity (5 minutes): Explain to students that they’ll be working in pairs to
define the terms in the document and find relevant media examples in the form of
advertisements, commercials, music videos, song lyrics etc.
• Teacher models activity (10 minutes): First, the teacher models the activity, with the
help of the students. Beginning with one of the four terms above (litotes, hyperbole,
double-entendre, euphemism) the teacher asks students to google a definition and calls on
someone to read theirs aloud. Next, the teacher asks the students to take a moment and
translate this definition into their own words. After taking a few minutes to have some
students volunteer their definitions, the teacher types a collaboratively produced
3
List of terms via Tara Seale’s “Analyzing Satire Unit Plan” available at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1erOEAzQZrVH7WC85kRiuCJqpO6z24YJH7Kh9POkR7gM/edit).
Dietrich 18
definition into the google document, which is being projected on a screen. Finally, the
teacher plays the paired media example provided above, in the materials section. The
teacher can choose to do one example or more based on the class’s response and their
readiness to complete the activity in pairs.
• Work in pairs to define terms and find examples (30 minutes): Students pair off and
are assigned one of the terms above (that has not been done as an example by the
teacher). Students are instructed to do the following:
o Google your term and find a few different definitions
o Put the definitions you find into your own words and type it into the google
document. If you find other good resources with you definition (i.e. examples of
the term in use or additional information, include links)
o Next, try to think of a media example with your partner. This might mean doing
some more googling, looking around on YouTube, and brainstorming together.
The media example could be in the form of an advertisement, commercial, music
video, song lyrics or really anything else you can think of. If they have trouble
finding an example, students should raise their hands and the teacher should walk
around and help.
o Finally, write a few sentences about how your example illustrates your assigned
term.
Next Class:
• Share examples as a class: Give each pair a few minutes to present their term and share
their example and the rationale for its relevance. Discuss as a class whether each example
is relevant. Ask students if they have questions or need clarifications of the definitions.
Assessment:
The assessment here is the success of the student examples. They need to express their adequate
comprehension of their assigned term by identifying a relevant example and explaining its
relevance. The teacher can correct or challenge certain examples as students share their research
in the large group.
Dietrich 19
LESSON PLAN #5
Defining and Analyzing Satire via The Onion
Objectives:
• Develop a working definition of satire using related terminology that the students already
possess
• Apply this definition to an example by analyzing an article from The Onion via
annotations and group-work
Materials:
• Handout of definitional document which lists the terms and definitions the students have
developed in the preceding classes (see note above for terms).
• Printouts of the The Onion article, “Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist
Movement,” http://www.theonion.com/article/man-finally-put-in-charge-of-strugglingfeminist-m-2338
Procedure:
Before Class
• Students have developed a definitional document as a class with relevant vocabulary
During Class
• Using prior knowledge of satire (5 minutes): Ask students what they know about
“satire” as a genre or literary technique. If they can’t offer any definitions, ask for
synonyms or related terms that come to mind and write these on the board.
• Establishing a specific definition of satire (2 minutes): Using the students insights,
elaborate on successful examples or words they chose to characterize satire. Then write a
very straightforward definition on the board: “The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or
ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of
contemporary politics and other topical issues” (Google definition).
• Reading and annotating an article (10 minutes): Students apply the definition of satire
and identify examples by reading the article “Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling
Feminist Movement” from The Onion. Students will mark up the article practicing their
annotation skills to identify the methods the author uses to create the satirical piece.
• Group-work (10 minutes): In groups of three, students share their annotations and
consider the following questions:
o What does the author assume about the attitudes of the audience in the piece?
o What aspect of society is the author satirizing?
o What is the goal or purpose of the satire?
o What methods/techniques does the author employ to create the satire?
o How effective are the author’s methods?
• Share what the groups have generated through class discussion (10 minutes):
Because of the subject of the article, some discussion about feminism will emerge here
which will be productive in terms of the larger course themes and objectives.
• Close read a passage as a group (5 minutes): This is to ensure that struggling students
who may have relied on their group members are getting adequate examples of satire.
Use this particularly heavy-handed and humorous passage from the article:
Dietrich 20
•
“McGowan claimed that one of the main reasons the movement enjoyed so little
success in the past was that the previous management was often too timid and
passive and should have been much more results-focused. ‘You can't waste time
pussyfooting around with protests and getting all emotional about a bunch of
irrelevant details,’ McGowan said. ‘If you want to enjoy equal rights, you have to
have a real man-to-man chat with the people in charge until you can hammer out
some more equitable custody laws.’” (The Onion, available at
http://www.theonion.com/article/man-finally-put-in-charge-of-strugglingfeminist-m-2338).
Assign Group-Project and allow time for brainstorming (18 minutes): See
instructions and artifact #5 below.
Assessment:
In order to assess their understanding of satire, students are asked to move beyond identification
of satire into application through group project. Students have one week from the administration
of this lesson to complete this project. This is not the culminating project of the unit, but a
smaller supporting one. Students will be given a rubric (not included here) and graded on this
assignment.
Group-Project:
The teacher will place students into small groups and ask them to assume the persona of writers
on the staff of a new website called The Onion Teen that will focus on satirizing issues that
would be entertaining to a teenage audience. Students will create a draft article in Google docs
(collaboratively shared between all members in the small group and the teacher) on a satirical
subject for the new website. Although it will be in draft form, students will target a specific issue
and provide examples of satirical elements from the previous lesson as a model. Student groups
will have one week to prepare and given one full class period to work as a group. The project
will culminate in group presentations in which students “pitch” their articles to a roomful of The
Onion Teen editors (the rest of the class).4
4
Assignment adapted from Tara Seale’s “Analyzing Satire Unit Plan” available at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1erOEAzQZrVH7WC85kRiuCJqpO6z24YJH7Kh9POkR7gM/edit).
Dietrich 21
ARTIFACT #5: SATIRE GROUP PROJECT ASSIGNMENT SHEET
Creating Your Own Satirical Article
For this assignment, you and your group members will assume the persona of writers on the staff
of a new website call The Onion Teen that will focus on satirizing issues that would be
entertaining to a teenage audience. You will create a draft of an article using Google Docs to be
shared among your group members and me. Although this assignment will be in the form of a
draft, you are expected to target a specific issues and provide specific examples of satirical
elements using today’s lesson on satire as a model. You will have one full class period to work
as a group on this project.
Presentation: This project will culminate in a 10 minutes presentation of your draft to the class.
During this presentation you’ll “pitch” your article to a roomful of imagined The Onion Teen
editors (myself and the class). You need to include one visual aid in your presentation. Some
options are: a story board, a poster or a PowerPoint presentation.
Some questions to get you started in your brainstorming as a group:
• Is there a cultural trend you’d like to poke fun at?
• Is there a public figure (celebrity, politician, etc.) that you’d like to comment on or
criticize?
• Is there an issue you are unhappy about or would like to see changed? Could you find a
way to criticize this state of affairs using satire?
Length of draft: At least two double-spaced pages
Length of presentation: 10 minutes
Due Date: One week from today, May 17th, 2016
Dietrich 22
LESSON PLAN #6:
Re-imagining Endings: Atwood’s Commentary on Storytelling
Objectives:
 Students will write creatively, emulating the piece they’ve read; this imaginative response
will beget complex analysis as students read as writers and write as readers who are
forced to contend with stylistic and thematic choices made by the author
 Students will think metacognitively about their reading and writing processes by tracking
and explaining how and why their interpretations changed over the course of the activity
 Students will work collaboratively to construct an interpretation of the text in order to
reveal meaning-making as a dynamic and social process
Procedure:
 Flash Interpretation (2 minutes): Without re-reading, students take only two minutes
and write one sentence in response to the following question: “What is this story about?”
 Re-Read as a Writer (10 minutes): Students will have already read the text for
homework. You’ll ask them to read it again bearing the following writing assignment in
mind.
o Teacher script: We’ll all read “Happy Endings” again silently. I’d like you to
bear the in-class writing that will follow in mind. Here’s the assignment: after
reading, I will ask you to re-write part “F” of the text, to replace Atwood’s
ending with your own. This is meant to be a creative and imaginative response,
but I’d like you to try to be faithful to Atwood’s story to a certain degree. This
means you might try to emulate some of the moves she makes stylistically/
structurally or to explore ideas and themes similar to the ones she develops
throughout. That said, there is a lot of flexibility here and you should have fun
with it! So, we’ll start off by re-reading the story as writers, with an eye towards
the things we might explore in our new ending.
 Write as a Reader (10 minutes): Students write their new version of part F.
 Share (5 minutes): Invite students to read their new endings aloud, if no one volunteers,
you can offer to read what you’ve written first. It will be beneficial to get at least a few
students to share because hearing multiple alternate endings might begin to indicate other
students interpretations and stir new thinking about the story.
 Flash Interpretation Part II (2 minutes): Ask students to take only two minutes and
write one sentence in response to the question answered at the beginning of class “What
is this story about?” Students are invited to expand on their first interpretation or change
it entirely.
 Group-Work (10 minutes): Students get into pairs and share their latest interpretive
sentence with a partner. Next, they discuss the following questions together: Did you
interpretation change after writing an alternate ending to the story? If it did, why do you
think so? If not, why do you think it didn’t? Let student know that if partners disagree
about their interpretations of the story, try to resolve them by taking turns to elaborate on
their understanding.
o Interrupt groups after 8 minutes: Wherever you are in your discussion, take the
last two minutes to write down any unresolved issues with the text. Anything you
Dietrich 23


find troubling or difficult to understand? What questions remain after your
discussion?
Report Back & Class Discussion: (15 minutes): Use the groups’ unresolved issues to
lead a class discussion in which the groups’ interpretations are revealed. Allow students
to share generally what they think this story is about.
o Define “metafiction”: What makes this story fall under the genre we’ve
defined as metafiction?
 Self-Reflexive
 It’s a story about writing a story – maybe more about how not to write a
story
 Draws attention to itself as a constructed story that the author is in full
control of. We aren’t able to get lost in the fictional elements or the
characters because of the explicit structure and lack of “hows” and
“whys.” The characters are one-dimensional and the plot lines are trite and
mechanized. As readers, we’re forced to maintain a level of detachment so
instead of being inside of the story, engrossed, we’re on the outside,
seeing how it works.
o What do you make of Atwood’s use of the second-person?
 Draws the reader into the act of interpreting the story – “you can see”
 Another metafictional element – Atwood gives us so little information
about the characters but she highlights these little moments by saying to
the reader, here’s what I mean to imply
o What does “Part F” tell us about Atwood’s views on storytelling?
Final Reflective Prompt: Students are primed for the discussion of gender in “Happy
Endings” that will take place in the flowing class through a reflective prompt which
frontloads this discussion.
o PROMPT: In light of your writing and Atwood’s piece, what does it mean to “rewrite” an ending? What does it mean for women writers to re-write fairy tale
tropes like happy endings that often rely on stereotypes and oversimplify
complications?
Note: This class discussion will likely focus on Atwood’s commentary on storytelling and the
nature of “good writing.” I will take another class period to turn student’s attention to the more
gendered critiques and elements of satire in the following lesson.
Assessment:
The instructor should evaluate the value of this lesson informally based on the depth the class
discussion, students’ enthusiasm throughout, and especially, attention to what students report
about their changing interpretations. If student interpretations didn’t seem to change at all, then
perhaps this exercise isn’t very useful. Students won’t be graded on any of the writing done
during this lesson. Their participation, as always, will factor into a participation grade.
Dietrich 24
LESSON PLAN #7
Character Development and Gender in Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings”
Objectives:
 Students will continue to explore Atwood’s commentary on storytelling through a more
specific exploration of character development.
 Moving from character development, students will consider how gender plays into
character development in this piece and extend their articulation of Atwood’s
commentary to this realm.
 Students will apply their working definition of satire to the story by identifying specific
instances of satire and articulating how these allow Atwood to critique gender roles and
fairy tale tropes.
Materials:
 Printouts of “Happy Endings”
 “Round of Flat?” handout (artifact #6)
 Atwood lecture notes and discussion questions (artifact #7)
Procedure:
 “Round or Flat?” activity (15 minutes): Distribute handout (artifact #6) and ask
students to quickly re-read/skim “Happy Endings” identifying the elements of character
development according to the directions on the worksheet.
 Class Discussion (15 minutes): Ask students about their experience filling out this
worksheet. What are some of the keywords they associated with each character? Do they
think Atwood uses mostly round or flat characters? To what effect? Next, ask students to
think about characters in terms of their gender. What are some gendered “types” that
Atwood develops? Can they think of other cultural examples of these types? (See artifact
#7 for more notes).
o A balding man experiencing a midlife crisis
o An unappreciative man using a woman for her body
o A spurned and desperate suicidal woman
o A young woman bored with an older man
o A pious and devoted woman who cares for her ailing husband
 Work in pairs to identify satirical elements (15 minutes): With a partner, students use
the definition of satire they’ve cultivated over the last few classes to identify specific
instances of satire and consider how it relates to a critique of gender roles and fairy tale
endings.
 Class discussion (15 minutes): See Atwood Lecture Notes (Artifact #7).
Dietrich 25
ARTIFACT #6: CHARACTER DEVELOMENT HANDOUT
or Flat?5
“The test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way. If it
never surprises, it is flat... It has an incalculability of life about it - life within the pages of a
book."
-- E.M. Forster
Novelist E.M. Forester coined these terms – here are some characteristics to consider:




Well-developed
Has many traits, both good and bad
Not easily defined because we know many details about the character
Realistic and life-like
Flat Character:




Not well-developed
Does not have many traits
Easily defined in a single sentence
Sometimes stereotyped
Re-read “Happy Endings” and pay attention to the way the characters and developed and
described. Make some notes using keywords and then determine each character is “round”
or “flat.” Finally, reflect on how Atwood plays with the idea of character development in
“Happy Endings.” How does she use characters to develop some of the commentary we
talked about in the last class?
John:
Mary:
Madge:
James:
Fred:
5
Worksheet adapted from
http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/readingliterature/literary_elements_devices/round_flat.pdf
Dietrich 26
ARTIFACT #7: ATWOOD LECTURE NOTES6
Satirical commentary on gender and class:
“Atwood’s satire, through shifting diction, the use of flat characters, and the representation
of stereotypical gender roles, critiques middle-class economic materialism while challenging
the pursuit of ordinary contentment” (Molly Kiesig).
Specific examples of satire:
6

The overuse of “stimulating” and “challenging”
o “These words are used to describe John and Mary’s jobs, their sex life, and their
hobbies. This repetition in diction emphasizes the ordinary and mundane of each
characteristic. Due to the lack of imagery and the repetition of empty adjectives in
diction, Atwood creates stock characters with vacant characteristics representing
the collective psyche of the middle class, who believe they have attained all great
levels of the “what, what, what”, or the house, the job, the hobbies (Molly
Kiesig).

Storyline B:
o Sarcasm of middle class ideals achieved through irony and stereotypical gender
roles
o Tonal shift from A via vulgarity, but maintains gender roles:
 “Compared to storyline A, where John and Mary have a challenging sex
life, Storyline B produces a more descriptive sex life, one in which ‘he
fucks her and after that he falls asleep’ (Atwood 291). The vulgar diction
continues with John using ‘her body for selfish pleasure and ego
gratification of a tepid kind’ and Mary’s friends suggesting that ‘… John
is a rat, a pig, a dog, he isn’t good enough for her, but she can’t believe it’
(Atwood 291). John and Mary are now fuller characters than in storyline
A; however, they still represent the gender-specific roles of the middleclass” (Molly Kiesig).

Repetition and Fungible Characters:
o “Atwood references storyline A through repeating these phrases, substituting
Madge for Mary. The satire continues to aid in the recognition that each character
could represent any middle-class male or female” (Molly Kiesig).

Storyline D:
o Uses sarcasm to describe cookie-cutter idealized life and the material status of
middle class success and happiness
 Repeated phase “Charming house”
Quoted sections of these notes are taken from an elucidating blog post by Molly Kiesig which provides a critical
analysis of “Happy Endings”: https://whoscribbledallnight.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/middle-class-id/
Dietrich 27

Storyline F:
o Atwood speaks directly to the reader
o “If you think this is all too bourgeois, make John a revolutionary and Mary a
counterespionage agent and see how far that gets you”
 This line “implies the pursuits are the same, the characters are
unimportant. Each character of the middle-class, suburban life dreams for
the ideals of marriage, good job, a charming house, and ultimately, all will
end in death. Atwood is making a satirical statement as to the often
idealized, but misguided pursuits of the bourgeois middle class, in which
there is predominate focus on the ‘what, what, what’ (293), without regard
to the how or why, and the delineation of stereotypical gender roles often
assumed within the middle-class” (Molly Kiesig).
Dietrich 28
LESSON PLAN #8
Re-imagining Fairy Tales: Critique and Satire in Anne Sexton’s “Briar Rose”
Objectives:
 Students connect the knowledge they made while analyzing “Happy Endings” to
Sexton’s critique of fairy tale in “Briar Rose”
 By analyzing the Brothers Grimm version alongside Sexton, students recognize the way
that Sexton subverts problematic fairy tale values through dark irony and satire and
identify specific stylistic choices.
Materials:
 “Little Brier-Rose” Brothers Grimm Version: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm050.html.
 “Briar Rose” by Anne Sexton: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/briar-rose-sleepingbeauty/
 Chalkboard and Chalk
 Reading journals
Procedure:
Before Class:
 Student’s read Sexton’s “Briar Rose” for homework
During Class:
 Read and annotate Brothers Grimm (10 minutes): Students begin by reading the
Brothers Grimm version of “Little Brier-Rose” Mark all of the words and phrases that
describe women in the tale.
 Write (10 minutes): In their journals, students respond to a prompt which establishes a
connection to Atwood’s “Happy Endings,” (read in the previous class).
o Prompt: Does “Little Brier-Rose” fit the “happy endings” pattern or criterion that
Atwood describes? Is the ending a happy one? According to who? Who is it
happy for?
 Re-read and annotate Sexton (10 minutes): Students re-read Sexton’s poetic retelling
of “Briar Rose” following similar annotation protocol: mark all of the words and phrases
that describe women as well as the images that are associated with women – these are
particularly important to Sexton.
 Making a list as a group (5 minutes): Divide the board down the middle delineating
one side as “Brother’s Grimm” and the other as “Sexton.” Invite students to come to the
board a few at a time and write down a word they marked in their annotations on the
appropriate side of the board. (See hypothetical list below).
Brothers Grimm
beautiful
dear
happily
joy
wise
Sexton
limp as old carrots
inward
rank as honeysuckle
uterus an empty teacup
insomnia
Dietrich 29
virtue
well-behaved
sleepy

still / trance
snooky
little
Large-Group Discussion (25 minutes): Begin the discussion with the word lists
students have generated on the board. Structure the discussion around the questions and
important interpretive points outlined in Artifact #8.
Dietrich 30
ARTIFACT #8: SEXTON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND NOTES
So, these lists we’ve made on the board are obviously very different. What do you make of
those differences?
 Almost polar opposites
 What are the implications of a princess as empty, inward and limp? It subverts our typical
understanding of that character trope.
How is Sexton’s poetic retelling of “Briar Rose” an example of satire?
 Examine especially sarcastic language (Kaput! Presto! Daddy, Daddy!)
 The irony of making sleeping beauty an insomniac! “Briar Rose / was an insomniac... /
She could not nap / or lie in sleep / without the court chemist / mixing her some knockout drops / and never in the prince's presence” (Sexton).
 Sexual abuse element also seems to darkly satirize elements of the Brothers Grimm
version: “the queen gave birth to a girl who was so beautiful that the king could not
contain himself for joy” (Brothers Grimm). See Sexton last stanza where abuse theme
becomes apparent.
What does Sexton hope to achieve by using these much darker images / by satirizing the
optimism of a happy endings and masculine rescue?
 Alicia Ostriker calls “Briar Rose” a “brilliant interpretation and a valid continuation of
the folktale tradition – and a piece of poetic subversion, whereby the ‘healthy’ meanings
we expect to enjoy are held up to icy scrutiny” (14).
What do you make of the poem’s repeated and paradoxical line: “rank as honeysuckle”?
 Horror that underlies sweetness
 Rancid nature of infiltrating innocence (talk about poem’s discussion of sexual abuse).
Why would someone want to re-write a fairly-tale?
 Fairy tales become a universal forum for Sexton’s deeply personal revelations
 Alicia Ostriker: “Formally, the plot lines give her what she never had before: something
nominally outside of her personal history to write about. What she does with this material
is crack it open and make it personal” (14).
What kind of power can an author get by re-telling a story (especially one as well
established and enduring as a fairy tale or a myth)?
Dietrich 31
LESSON PLAN #9
Women and Myth: Adrienne Rich’s “Diving into the Wreck”7
Objectives:
 Students will develop a plausible interpretation of “Diving into the Wreck” working
collaboratively as a class – they’ll use textual evidence and competing interpretations to
support their meaning-making
 Students will re-consider their interpretations in light of biographical information about
the author and critical commentary on the poem without letting it eclipse their own
insights – this aim is supported by the reflective exercise that follows their reception of
this supplemental information
 Students will consider how supplementary information impacts the validity of their initial
interpretations and explore the question: who decides what a piece of literature is about?
Materials:
 “Diving into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich
 Rich Biography Handout (Artifact #9)
 Critics on “Diving” Handout (Artifact #10)
Procedure:
 Read and write (15 minutes): Ask students to read the poem by Adrienne Rich a few
times and to make sure that they have read it fairly well and then to do two things with it.
Identify lines they are still having trouble understanding and write out your question or
questions about them, and then pick the line they regard as the most important line of the
poem. Ask students to copy out this line in their reading journals and write a paragraph
on why they think it’s the most important line.
 Group-work (15 minutes): In groups of four, students begin by sharing any problems
they had with specific words or lines and then clearing them up as quickly as possible.
Next, each group members should share the line they picked as most important along
with what they wrote about why it is the most important line. Students should discuss the
differences and similarities in their reading.
 Class discussion (15 minutes): Ask students the following questions to begin the
dialogue, which will emerge directly out of the group’s differing interpretations:
o Are there any groups that found themselves in complete agreement in their
interpretations of this poem?
o Can someone from one of the groups where they was disagreement characterize,
very briefly, the nature of that disagreement?
o Teacher should continue to establish and clarify the competing interpretations
being offered up as this exercise moves along
 Considering other evidence: biographical information and critical reception (15
minutes): Let students know that you will now take a look at other kinds of evidence to
see what you might find to help adjudicate between competing readings of Rich’s poem.
7
The procedure section of this lesson is heavily borrowed from Sheridan Blau’s ideas and language in Ch. 5 of The
Literature Workshop, “Where do Interpretations Come from?” Pages 97 – 122.
Dietrich 32
Ask students to try to suspend their impulse to allow the next pieces of information
they’ll be given to have the “final say” on the meaning of the poem. Rather, ask them to
be attentive to how the interpretation they’ve cultivated with their classmates changes in
light of biographical information and critical interpretations of the poem. Let them know
they’ll be asked to reflect on their changing interpretations in light of new evidence for
homework.
o Distribute the “Rich Biographical Information” (artifact #9) to students and have
them read it and discuss how it effects what they think about the poem in Paris
o Next, distribute the “Critics on ‘Diving’” handout (artifact #10) and have students
read it and then discuss how it effects what they think about the poem in pairs
Homework: Who decides what a piece of literature is about? The writer? The reader? The
literary critic? Some combination? How did reading biographical information about Rich as well
as what literary critics had to say about the poem make you feel about the validity of your own
interpretation?
Dietrich 33
ARTIFACT #9: RICH BIOGRAPHY HANDOUT
Adrienne Rich8
1929-2012, Baltimore, MD
On May 16, 1929, Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She
attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1951, and was selected by W.H.
Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize for A Change of World (Yale
University Press, 1951) that same year.
In 1953, she married Harvard University economist Alfred H. Conrad. Two
years later, she published her second volume of poetry, The Diamond
Cutters (Harper & Brothers, 1955), of which Randall Jarrell wrote: “The poet
[behind these poems] cannot help seeming to us a sort of princess in a fairy
tale.”
But the image of the fairytale princess would not be long-lived. After having three sons before the age of
thirty, Rich gradually changed both her life and her poetry. Throughout the 1960s she wrote several
collections, including Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law (Harper & Row, 1963) and Leaflets (W. W. Norton,
1969). The content of her work became increasingly confrontational—exploring such themes as women’s role
in society, racism, and the Vietnam War. The style of these poems also revealed a shift from careful metric
patterns to free verse. In 1970, Rich left her husband, who committed suicide later that year.
It was in 1973, in the midst of the feminist and civil rights movements, the Vietnam War, and her own
personal distress, that Rich wrote Diving into the Wreck (W. W. Norton), a collection of exploratory and often
angry poems, which garnered her the National Book Award in 1974. Rich accepted the award on behalf of all
women and shared it with her fellow nominees, Alice Walker and Audre Lorde.
Rich went on to publish numerous poetry collections, including Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems 20072010 (W.W. Norton & Co., 2010); The School Among the Ruins: Poems 2000-2004 (W. W. Norton, 2004),
which won the Book Critics Circle Award; Collected Early Poems: 1950-1970 (W. W. Norton, 1993); An
Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991 (W. W. Norton, 1991), a finalist for the National Book Award;
and The Dream of a Common Language (W. W. Norton, 1978).
In addition to her poetry, Rich wrote several books of nonfiction prose, including Arts of the Possible: Essays
and Conversations (W. W. Norton, 2001) and What is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics (W. W.
Norton, 1993).
Rich received the Bollingen Prize, the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award, the Academy of American Poets
Fellowship, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, the National Book Award, and a
MacArthur Fellowship; she was also a former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
In 1997, she refused the National Medal of Arts, stating that “I could not accept such an award from President
Clinton or this White House because the very meaning of art, as I understand it, is incompatible with the
cynical politics of this administration.” She went on to say: "[Art] means nothing if it simply decorates the
dinner table of the power which holds it hostage.”
The same year, Rich was awarded the Academy’s Wallace Stevens Award for outstanding and proven mastery
in the art of poetry. She died on March 27, 2012, at the age of eighty-two.
8
Biography adapted from: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/adrienne-rich
Dietrich 34
ARTIFACT #10: CRITCS ON “DIVING” HANDOUT
On "Diving into the Wreck"9
Rachel Blau DuPlessis
In this poem of journey and transformation Rich is tapping the energies and plots of myth, while reenvisioning the content. While there is a hero, a quest, and a buried treasure, the hero is a woman; the quest is
a critique of old myths; the treasure is knowledge: the whole buried knowledge of the personal and cultural
foundering of the relations between the sexes, and a self-knowledge that can be won only through the act of
criticism.
From “The Difference Made Me Bold” (1979)
Cheryl Walker
In the title poem, "Diving into the Wreck," surely one of the most beautiful poems to come out of the women's
movement, the explorer--simultaneously male and female--achieves something close to a mythic density. The
figure is passionate but with an isolation and passion transparent to the universal. The poem is utterly personal
but there is nothing in it which draws away into private life.
From The Nation (1973)
Deborah Pope
The wreck represents the battered hulk of the sexual definitions of the past, which Rich, as an underwater
explorer, must search for evidence of what can be salvaged. Only those who have managed to survive the
wreck--women isolated from any meaningful participation or voice in forces that led to the disaster--are in a
position to write its epitaph and their own names in new books.
From A Separate Vision: Isolation in Contemporary Women’s Poetry. Copyright © 1984 by Louisiana State
University Press.
Margaret Atwood
The wreck she is diving into, in the very strong title poem, is the wreck of obsolete myths, particularly myths
about men and women. She is journeying to something that is already in the past, in order to discover for
herself the reality behind the myth, "the wreck and not the story of the wreck / the thing itself and not the
myth." This quest--the quest for something beyond myths, for the truths about men and women, about the "I"
and the "You," the He and the She, or more generally about the powerless and the powerful--is presented
throughout the book through a sharp, clear style and through metaphors which become their own myths.
From The New York Times Book Review (1973).
Nancy Milford
Darkness and water. In Diving into the Wreck she enters more deeply than ever before into female fantasy; and
these are primal waters, life-giving and secretive in the special sense of not being wholly revealed. The female
element. A diver may dive to plunder or to explore.
Copyright © 1975 by Nancy Milford, from Barbara Charlesworth Gelpi and Albert Gelpi, eds. Adrienne Rich’s
Poetry (W.W. Norton and Company, 1975).
9
Handout adapted from http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rich/wreck.htm
Dietrich 35
LESSON PLAN #10
Rhetorical Analysis of the Unit Paper Assignment10
Objectives:
 Students are introduced to the unit assignment and have a clear understanding of what it
asks of them. Students leave feeling confidently about completing the paper.
 Students brainstorm materials they might use for this assignment and have a generative
discussion about their ideas.
Materials:
 Assignment sheet (see artifact #11)
Procedure:
 Free-writing in journals (15 minutes): The following prompt will prime students to
think about the paper they are about to be assigned and to connect the knowledge they’ve
been making over the last few classes.
o PROMPT: In light of our discussion over the last few classes regarding happy
endings, fairy tales, and myth -- what does it mean for women writers to
intervene in discourses where they have not been included or to re-imagine ones
where they have been included? Is literature a powerful and effective means of
intervention? How so? Are fairy tales and myths important ways of understanding
gender? Why does creatively critiquing and re-imaging them matter? What tools
do women writers use to achieve these ends? You don’t have to answer all these
questions – just write freely about whatever comes to mind!
 Rhetorical analysis of the unit paper assignment sheet (10 minutes): Ask students to
read over the assignment sheet with pen in hand and to thoroughly mark it up. They
should circle any words they don’t know or phrases that are unclear, make marginal notes
if any ideas pop into their heads, underline passages that they find clarifying, and write
down any questions as they come up. After their reading and annotation, they should
answer the following question:
o What is the genre you are being asked to write in? What kind of writing is
valued in this genre? Who is the audience for this paper?
 Discuss, clarify, brainstorm (25 minutes): Now is the time to field student questions,
this exercise usually generates a lot. Ask students about their annotations. What words
and phrases did they find confusing? Helpful? How did they answer the questions of
genre, values, and audience? To help students brainstorm as a group, you might ask the
following questions:
o What are some materials you could draw on for this paper?
 Your journal entries
 The “Critics on ‘Diving’” handout
 Notes from our class discussions
 Our class “Definitional Document”
10
Carole Center gave me this idea and it’s worked well in our Composition classes.
Dietrich 36
o Who is planning on doing the creative prompt? How about the analytical
one? What made you make that choice?
o Does anyone want to volunteer an idea they have about the assignment or
something they think would be helpful to the class?
Homework: Unit Paper (see artifact #11).
Assessment: The success of this exercise can be gauged by student feedback. In my experience,
if students find a prompt confusing, intimidating, constricting etc. they will usually tell you, or
you can tell from their questions and reactions. The goal of this exercise is to give students
clarity and confidence from the very beginning of their writing process. If students leave the
room feeling overwhelmed or confused, it probably suggests that the prompt needs to be
simplified or re-worked for future teaching. I like to use this exercise as a way to find out what
kind of prompts students like and specific things that they find helpful.
For assessment of the paper, a rubric is included (artifact #12).
Dietrich 37
ARTIFACT #11:
Women Writers Unit Paper (4 – 5 double-spaced pages)
Due: May 19th 2016
“Fairy tale ideology has been challenged on the grounds that it is classist, racist, and, most
blatantly, sexist. Hence, such tales have found new storytellers and have been adapted in such a
way as to subvert the problematic ideals of tradition and, in most cases, replace them with what is
seen as a fresher, more inclusive set of values.”
-- Jeremy DeVito11
To finish this unit on women writers, we’ll focus on the last few lessons in which we’ve explored
the interventions women writers have made using the materials of fairy tales and myth. We’ve
talked about how their commentary on these materials often relies on satire or a revisionist
adaptation. For this paper, choose between one of the following projects:
1. Re-write a Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a satiric way. (All tales available here:
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/) You don’t need to match the dark voice of Sexton;
your re-telling can be funny or lighthearted. However, it should work towards exposing and
parodying the shortcomings of the original tale. Write a one to two page reflection which
explains your choices and the elements of satire you employ in your re-telling.
2. Write an analytical paper extending our exploration of Sexton’s and Rich’s revisionist
projects. Using the quote from DeVito above as a starting place, write a 4 – 5 page analytical
paper in which you explore the sexist, classist, and/or racist values of fairy tale or myth using a
specific example as well as a specific poetic intervention via Sexton or Rich.
For the material of this project, you’ll need to review additional poems by Sexton and Rich.
Anne Sexton’s 1971 book Transformations contains retellings of seventeen Brothers Grimm
fairy tales, including “Snow White,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “Rapunzel,” “The Twelve Dancing
Princesses,” “The Frog Prince,” and “Red Riding Hood” (these are all available via a quick
google search). Adrienne Rich’s 1976 collection Twenty-One Love Poems (all available here:
http://gal-unique.blogspot.com/2007/05/adrienne-rich-twenty-one-love-poems.html) explore
the power of love between women and the need to change the cultural values that do not
recognize this as a powerful kind of love. Many of the poems contain commentary on myth and
the problematic values of a patriarchal rhetorical tradition (particularly V, VI, VIII, XIII, and
XVII). Examine one of the myths she alludes to alongside the poem where you find the allusion.
Some questions you might consider in your analysis:
 How does the poet intervene in the values you uncover in the myth of fairly-tale?
Reference specific lines or stylistic choices.
 Is poetry a powerful and effective means of intervention? How so?
 Are fairy tales, and myths important ways of understanding gender? Why does creatively
critiquing and re-imaging them matter?
11
I find this epigraph to be a helpful general statement. It’s from a blog on Sexton’s Transformations:
http://www.iloveliterature.com/anne_sexton_essay.html
Dietrich 38
ARTIFACT #12: UNIT PAPER RUBRICS
Unit Paper Rubrics:
1. Re-write a Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a satiric way.
(needs much work) 1




2
3
4
5 (outstanding)
Provides an engaging re-telling of a fairy tale which is both recognizable and creatively
transformed
Re-telling contains obvious examples of satire in terms of the content of the tale as well
as stylistic changes to the language or form
Reflection contains a working definition of satire and applies that definition to specific
choices made in the creative piece of the assignment
Refection explains the purpose of the critique; what criticism have you offered of the
values of the original tale?
2. Write an analytical paper extending our exploration of Sexton’s and Rich’s revisionist
projects.
(needs much work) 1




2
3
4
5 (outstanding)
Chooses one specific myth or fairy tale and one specific piece of poetry from Sexton or
Rich that we have not already read (which directly addresses the aforementioned myth or
fairy tale)
Clearly explains the sexist, racist and/or classics values that underlie the tale and gives
specific examples of how they are expressed in terms of plot, characters, style, etc.
Clearly connects the poetic intervention made by Rich or Sexton to the issues identified
above and expresses how they critique these values, referencing specific lines and
stylistic choices
Addresses the larger “so what?” question: Are fairy tales, and myths important ways of
understanding gender? Why does creatively critiquing and re-imaging them matter?
Dietrich 39
Works Cited:
"Adrienne Rich Biography." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Web. 12 May 2016.
Adorno, T. W. "The Essay as Form." New German Critique No. 32 (1984): 151-71. JSTOR.
Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Blau, Sheridan D. The Literature Workshop: Teaching Texts and Their Readers. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann, 2003. Print.
Bruns, Cristina Vischer. Why Literature?: The Value of Literary Reading and What It Means for
Teaching. New York: Continuum, 2011. Print.
DeVito, Jeremy. "The Transformations of Anne Sexton, Poststructuralist Witch." Anne Sexton's
Transformations. I Love Literature, 2011. Web. 12 May 2016.
"English 11: Unit 3, Searching for 'Everybody's Zora'" American College Testing. QualityCore,
2008. Web. 12 May 2016.
Kiesig, Molly. "Margaret Atwood: “Happy Endings”." Man Who Scribbled All Night. 31 May
2012. Web. 12 May 2016.
Knoeller, Christian. "Imaginative Response: Teaching Literature through Creative Writing." The
English Journal 92.5 (2003): 42-48. JSTOR. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.
"Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist Movement." The Onion. 03 Dec. 2007. Web.
12 May 2016.
“On 'Diving into the Wreck'" Modern American Poetry. Ed. Carey Nelson. University of
Illinois.. Web. 12 May 2016.