The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood AP English Language and Composition Lindsay Hartman 3/18/14 - 4/11/14 Overview: My AP English

class just read Brave New World, and we will be continuing our examination of dystopian literature in The Handmaids Tale. In Brave New World, we asked some important framing questions: How do systems of power gain and perpetuate their power? How is knowledge mediated and manipulated in dystopian societies? How do dystopian novels interact with and respond to current social issues? What is the role of the individual within oppressive systems of power? We will continue to examine these questions in our reading of The Handmaids Tale. We will also address the question, How are issues of gender and power connected?. Assessments: Fixes Assignment Modeled on New York Times Column: Identify a problem in Philadelphia that really bothers you. Either write about your idea for a solution, or write an article about how someone is currently trying to solve that problem. Modified Harkness on the question, Would you call Offred the heroine of the novel? If so, why? If not, what other word could you use to describe her? Group assignment: Produce two visual representations of Offredone as the society of Gilead would represent her, and one as she would represent herself in her prior life. Dystopian short story: We have read Huxley and Atwoods interpretations of what is wrong with the world. Now its your turn. Write a dystopian short story (a minimum of five pages in length) in which you address some of the problems in todays world that you think are most pressing. Skill Objectives: SWBAT synthesize ideas and questions across texts IOT prepare for the synthesis elements of the AP exam. We will accomplish this through class discussion and writing assignments.

Class Schedule: Week One:

Tuesday Objective: SWBAT understand the background and context of The Handmaids Tale IOT anticipate major themes of the novel. Pre Class / Introduction to New Material / Review: o Read quotes inscribed in beginning of novel. Discuss the way that these quotes provide a framing device for the novel. o Review student homework. Discuss A Modest Proposal. Why might this be quoted in the epigraph to The Handmaids Tale? Guided Practice / Independent & Group Practice: o Distribute copies of the biblical story from which the concept of the handmaid originates, which the inscribed quote comes from. Read aloud as a class. (Include disclaimer that we are reading this passage for academic reasons, not religious ones, and that it is important for understanding The Handmaids Tale.) Discuss as a class: Who are the major players in this story, and how is power distributed? o Discuss Sufi proverb included in epigraph. What do we think it means? Closing/Homework: Closing: How do the quotes at the beginning of this novel help us to anticipate the novels themes? Homework: Read Chapters 1 and 2 of The Handmaids Tale. Wednesday Objective: SWBAT understand how Atwood is interpreting the concept of dystopia in The Handmaids Tale in order to make comparisons between this novel and Brave New World. Pre Class / Introduction to New Material / Review: o Distribute Margaret Atwood interview. Read as a class. Guided Practice / Independent & Group Practice: o Class discussion: How does Atwood interpret dystopia? How do we see this in The Handmaids Tale so far? How does this compare to what weve seen in Brave New World so far? Closing/Homework: Closing discussion: Which attitudes can we see in todays society that are reflected in the Gilead of The Handmaids Tale? Homework: Read Chapters 3 and 4 for tomorrow. By Monday, bring in an article that reflects something about our societys assumptions about gender, along with a write-up of the articles main points and which assumptions it illuminates.

Thursday Objective: SWBAT understand the different roles for women in The Handmaids Tale IOT analyze how power is distributed in Gilead. Pre Class / Introduction to New Material / Review: o On Smartboard, map out the different classes of women and their duties. Ask students to point to specific moments in the text that give us clues as to the roles of these women. Guided Practice / Independent & Group Practice: o Direct students to passage on p. 17 about the wives weaving. What does this passage say about womens power and agency in this society? o Tell story of Penelopes weaving in The Odyssey. o Distribute poem Penelope by Dorothy Parker. How does Parker reinterpret Penelopes weaving? Closing/Homework: Closing discussion: How is power distributed in Gilead? Why is it this way? How can we use the societys depiction of domestic work to interpret the distribution of power? HW: Read Chapter 5 for tomorrow. Friday Objective: SWBAT analyze how Gilead reinterprets Western values like freedom and happiness. Pre Class / Introduction to New Material / Review: o Journal: How did the World State interpret happiness and freedom? How do you define these values? Guided Practice / Independent & Group Practice: o Ask students to begin discussion with passages that interested them in Chapter 5. As a class, connect these passages with larger themes that are developing in the novel. o Direct students to passages on p. 33 (about freedom to vs. freedom from) and p. 39 (question of happiness). Closing/Homework: Closing discussion: Why does this society need to treat freedom and happiness in this way? HW: Read Chapter 6 of The Handmaids Tale. News article due Monday.

Week Two: Monday Objective:

SWBAT understand the way Offred describes her reliability as a narrator IOT draw parallels to the poem The Untrustworthy Speaker by Louise Gluck.

Pre Class / Introduction to New Material / Review: o Read passage on p. 52. How is Offred characterizing the reliability of her story? o Distribute The Untrustworthy Speaker. Read as a class. Why is this speaker unreliable? Guided Practice / Independent & Group Practice: o Students write: How can you compare the reliability of these two narrators? Which do you trust more? Closing/Homework: Collect writing. Students read Ch. 7-9 of The Handmaids Tale for homework. Tuesday Objective: SWBAT analyze the way that the government of Gilead uses language and space to assert power over women. Pre Class / Introduction to New Material / Review: o Ask students to begin discussion with questions or moments of interest in the novel. o Direct students to passages on pp. 65-66 in which Offred debates whether to call the room hers. Why is the way she refers to the room important to her? Guided Practice / Independent & Group Practice: o Distribute excerpt from Virginia Woolfs A Room of Ones Own. Read aloud as a class. o Discuss: Why does Woolf see a room of ones own as so essential for women to be able to write? Do you agree with her? Closing/Homework: Write for homework: Why is space important for female independence in each of these works? Students read Ch. 10-13 for homework. Wednesday Objective: SWBAT understand the structure of the novel IOT analyze how Offreds past influences her interpretation of the present. Pre Class / Introduction to New Material / Review: o Give students two minutes to identify a flashback that occurs in Chapters 10-12. o Share out. How do these flashbacks relate to Offreds present experiences? Which contexts lead into these flashbacks? Guided Practice / Independent & Group Practice:

Class discussion: What role does Moira play in the novel? Look at p. 73: Shes like a cat that crawls onto the page when youre trying to read. Closing/Homework: Examine passage on p. 86 about the act of composition. How does Offreds past influence the way she composes herself and her narrative? Students read Ch. 14-16 for homework. o Thursday Objective: SWBAT analyze how the oppression of Gilead leads women to assert power on one another in the ways that they can IOT analyze victim blaming in contemporary culture. Pre Class / Introduction to New Material / Review: o Bully board: Use big paper. Have students write a post-it about a time they were a victim, bystander, or perpetrator and place it on one of the three sheets of paper. Then have students do a gallery walk of the posters, making xs near stories they can relate to in some way. Then have students pick one story to respond to verbally. o Discuss as a class: how did this activity make you think differently about your role in harmful acts? Guided Practice / Independent & Group Practice: o Point students to moment in Chapter 13, when women shame Janine for her gang rape. Offred says she feels guilty because she meant her harsh words when she said them. Why do the women shame Janine? Can we relate this to anything we saw in the bully board? o Watch Zimbardo Ted Talk on the nature of evil. How does Zimbardo explain evil events? How can this help us to understand Offreds experience? Closing/Homework: Closure: Discuss contemporary victim-blaming. How does this phenomenon relate to the issues of power we have been discussing? Students read Ch. 17-19 for homework.

Friday Introduce dystopian short story assignment. Show TedEd talk on creating fictional worlds. Work on brainstorming for drafts. Read Chapters 20-23 for homework. Week Three: Monday

-Students work in groups of four to find and analyze the use of neologisms, biblical language, and Offreds language musings in their assigned chapter. There should be a note-taker, a summarizer, and two presenters. As the group is working, they should think about how these uses of language are related to knowledge and power. -Read Ch. 24-25 for homework.

Tuesday -Groups present their findings in chronological order. -Other groups take notes in graphic organizer. -As a class, discuss: How are neologisms and biblical language used in Gilead? What purpose do they serve? Why does Atwood include Offreds musings on language? How do Offreds musings respond to the way language is being used in Gilead? How are language and power connected? -Read Ch. 26-27 for homework. Wednesday -Gallery walk of images of paintings of women throughout the ages. What can we tell about that eras generally accepted attitude toward women by how the women are portrayed in the paintings? -Begin group assignment in which students should produce two visual representations of Offred: one of how she would be portrayed by the dominant values of Gilead, and one of how she would portray herself in her life before the government changeover. -Read Ch. 28-29 for homework. Thursday -Work day for project from yesterday. -Students present project at the end of class. -Read Ch. 30-31 for homework. Friday -Work day in computer lab for dystopian short story project. -Read Ch. 32-35 for homework. Week Four: Monday -Introduce Chaucers Canterbury Tales and point out the similarities between the titles of his stories and the title of The Handmaids Tale. -Read the prologue to Chaucers The Wife of Baths Tale as a class. -Discuss: What similar themes or ideas do you see between The Wife of Baths Tale and The Handmaids Tale? -Write (begin in class, finish as homework): Why might Margaret Atwood have chosen to mirror the structure of The Canterbury Tales titles in the title of her novel? -Read Chapters 36-37 for homework. Tuesday

-Examine moment on p. 279, in which we hear about Janines unviable pregnancy and her response to it. How can we connect or compare this to Janines confession of her rape? What purpose is Janine serving in the novel? -At the end of this passage, Offred says, But people will do anything rather than admit that their lives have no meaning. No use, that is. No plot. What does this say about the way that language and knowledge are used and constructed in Gilead? -Read Ch. 38-40 for homework. Wednesday -Work day for dystopian short story project. -Read Ch. 41-45 for homework. Thursday -Work day for dystopian short story project- due tomorrow - Finish novel for homework. Friday -Discussion: Why does Atwood choose to end the novel the way she does? What does this suggest about the nature of knowledge? Does Offred win against the system? -What is the effect of the Historical Notes on our reading of the novel? Why are they included? - Modified Harkness on the question, Would you call Offred the heroine of the novel? If so, why? If not, what other word could you use to describe her?