GOALS

(A) What is the goal(s) of the broader unit, lesson, or activity that you will be pushing into?

This is the first lesson in a unit on Hamlet and feminism. Students will learn about feminist
criticism and read Hamlet through a feminist lens.
 
(B) What is the goal(s) of the particular lesson or activity that you are planning for this
exercise?  What do you want your students to understand, know, and/or be able to do?  What
are the enduring understandings that you’d like them to leave with?

Since this is the first lesson in the unit, I hope to introduce students to the idea of feminist
literary criticism and get students to start thinking about the big ideas we’ll be covering in the
unit. By the end of the lesson, I want students to be able to approach a text (advertisements
and commercials for today) and ask some of the central questions we’ll be using in the unit
(how are women portrayed? How does the text define masculinity and femininity? What
possibilities are there in the text for sisterhood or for resistance to patriarchal norms?)

(C) What state standards/school-based standards align with these goals?

CC.1.3.11-12.D: Evaluate how an author’s point of view or purpose shapes the content and
style of a text

(D) What types of essential questions could guide this learning?

How does gender or gender identity influence the choices people make and the ways in which
people are perceived?

How do texts undermine or support dominant gender ideologies?

EVIDENCE

How will you know if your students have achieved the goal(s) that you listed in (B)?

After the first introductory activity, we will have a full-class discussion in which I will get some
sense of what the class as a whole is thinking. Later, we will divide into small groups for
group work and I will circulate to listen to what groups are talking about. Finally, I will have
groups share out their analysis of the advertisement or commercial they chose, so I will see
how they are engaging with the material.

LEARNING PLAN

Time Teacher Actions Student Actions Resources

10 Greet students as the come in, Students come in, get List of words
minutes distribute a list of words and orient settled, pick up a list of
students to the directions on the board. words, and individually
work to sort the words
into “masculine,”
“feminine,” “both,” or
“neither” categories

5 After all students have finished sorting Students share out how
minutes the words, the teacher facilitates a they sorted each word
silent share out of votes for each word
in order to make a class-wide sorting of
the words

10 Teacher facilitates discussion about Students raise their

minutes what students notice from the word hands to share
sorting observations

10 After word-sorting discussion, teacher

minutes introduces gender lens for reading a
text. Presents anchor chart for
questions that feminist literary critics
ask.

7 Teacher presents a recent commercial Students watch the Recent, well-

minutes to the class (this should be a commercial and take known
commercial that is in some way notes, guided by the commercial
gendered – maybe a commercial for anchor chart questions
home goods, cleaning supplies, Anchor chart
perfume, cologne, etc.). Teacher plays with guiding
it twice through – the first time just to questions
watch and the second time for the class
to take notes guided by the questions
on the anchor chart

10 Teacher leads discussion about the Students participate,

minutes commercial – models analyzing it adding their own ideas
through a feminist lens (guided by
anchor chart questions) and asks for
student participation to add to the
analysis
25 Teacher directs students to get in Students get in groups Selection of
minutes groups, then assigns each group a and analyze their recent, well-
commercial or advertisement to assigned commercial or known
analyze, using the question from the advertisement commercials
anchor chart and the model from the
full-class demonstration. While groups Anchor chart
are working, teacher circulates around with guiding
to answer questions and help questions

15 Teacher brings groups back together Groups share out. If

minutes then facilitates share out time, groups describe
their commercial and
share their interpretation.
If not, groups just share
one thing they noticed.

5 Teacher wraps up class and collects Students gather their

minutes group work as the day’s exit ticket. things and prepare to
leave.