5) A Doll's House
"There's really no such thing as the 'voiceless'. There are only the deliberately silenced or the preferably unheard."
. -Arundhati Roy, author (b. 24 Nov 1961)
LESSON ONE: VICTORIAN ERA INTRODUCTION PROJECT
Objectives: By the end of class, you will be able to... apply theoretical lenses to contemporary popular culture texts.
PART I.
Let's Get Started! Review your Online Persona Advertisement Analysis. We'll be conducting a round-robin sharing session to deepen our understanding and application of theoretical lenses to texts. Online Personas Critique Template
PART II.
Note: This is a 3-day lesson.
For the objectives, agenda, and homework for this first lesson of our new unit, please click through to this document: Victorian Era Introduction to Cultural Transmission.
Here's the link to the Language of Interpretation to help you develop the most nuanced discussion possible.
And here's the Rubric to assist you as you design and finalize your research.
Day One Objectives: By the end of class, you will be able to.... conduct research on Victorian era constructs in the FHS library
Day Two: By the end of class, you will be able to....design a webpage that reflects your individual contributions and which meets all expectations of a rubric.
Day Three: By the end of class, you will be able to.... present your multimodal, multiple intelligences-based composition to the class in conjunction with your small group
Homework (after all presentations have been completed): Please click through and make a copy of the following document: True or False: Morality and Cultural Expectations. You'll answer True or False for each item; you'll also write a sentence as to why you chose the position you did. This will provide the foundation for writing, thinking, and academic discourse.
Enrichment:
LESSON TWO: MORALITY AND CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS--- ANTICIPATING THEMES
By the end of class, you will be able to... identify and support your position on a controversial topic through writing.
Let's Get Started! Please take out your version of the homework assignment: True or False: Morality and Cultural Expectations.
In addition, click through to this document: A Discussion Web. You'll spend a few moments sharing ideas with a peer in order to refresh your memory after three days away from class....
It's time to do some writing! Please click through and make a copy of the Student Assignment Writing Guide. (Most of the information you'll need for the remainder of today's lesson is, honestly, on this doc.)
Homework: Read Act One of A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen
Note: If you forget your book, here's a digital version of A Doll's House . Also, here's an audio book version as an alternative.
LESSON THREE: INTRODUCTION TO THE PLAY
Objectives: By the end of class, you will be able to.... speak with expertise about a particular social construct in Act One in A Doll's House.
Let's Get Started! Share the best of the Argument writing from yesterday's class.
Please click through and contribute to this document: Act One: Online "Discussion Board" Responses: F Period OR Act One "Discussion Board" Responses: G Period.
Next, let's view the A Doll's House Trailer to set the tone for today's lesson.
Please open up this document: Act One Discussion Questions and Jigsaw. During class today, you'll be assigned one particular question in order to become an expert. Then you'll report out to the class.
Homework: Choose any excerpt from Act One and do a close reading of it. Here are a list of Close Reading ideas that might assist you. (G Period)
LESSON FOUR: A CLOSE READING OF ACT ONE
By the end of class, you will be able to... analyze key passages of literature for a series of deep meanings and significances.
Let's Get Started! Let's share our jigsaw expertise with Act I themes to start class.
Then, please take out your homework, which was to choose any excerpt from Act One and do a close reading of it. Sharing session.
Summarize Act I with Special Questions: Full Class Discussion
1. From the beginning of Act I, Torvald calls Nora several pet names. What do these names suggest about Torvald’s perception of his wife and his marriage?
2. Compare Nora’s and Kristine’s lives since marriage. Who is better off? Explain.
3. What might be the link between Nora’s “contraband” macaroons and her “huge desire to say – to hell and be damned?”
4. What crime has Nora committed?
5. Do Nora’s motives for committing the crime excuse her in some way?
6. What does Nora’s tree decorating and chattering at the end of Act I reveal about her character?
Preview of Act Two:
Watch out for public versus private personas. How do individuals present their identities in the public sphere? How are those same individuals different in the private sphere? Predict why these identity distinctions occur.
With any time remaining, let's watch a film version.
Homework: Read Act II for homework.
LESSON FIVE: ACT TWO ACTING COMPANIES
By the end of class, you will be able to... dramatize a key scene with voice control and offer visual supporting details about the scene's significances.
Day 1. Preparation
Open up Act II Acting Company lines. We'll cast roles; students plan, dramatize, and symbolize, using all the tools we've learned together this semester...
Day 1 Homework: Complete any preparation for your Acting Company work. We'll perform at the beginning of the next class.
Day 2. Performance and Post-Performance Discussions
We'll spend the day today performing and interacting afterward with the audience.
Homework over December break: None (but we will be reading Act III during the first week upon our return.)
LESSON SIX: WELCOME BACK FROM DECEMBER VACATION!
By the end of class, you will be able to... reflect on your acting and teaching in a way that deepens your knowledge of oral presentations and audience persuasion.
Let's Get Started! The final Acting Companies will perform and teach their sections from A Doll's House, Act II.
With time remaining to today's class, each student should do the following:
- Please create a page on your personal Google website under your Victorian Era Introduction project
- Complete the Post-Performances Reflection using the Rubric
- Post your reflection on your personal Google website.
Homework: 1) Finish the Post-Performance Reflection, if you did not do so today in class. 2) Read Act III of A Doll's House (if you did not do so over December vacation).
LESSON SEVEN: INSIDE/ OUTSIDE CIRCLE DISCUSSIONS
Let's Get Started! Surprise!
By the end of class, you will be able to... analyze and interpret a key passage from the end of play through social and cultural lens and theoretical applications.
Part 1.
Next, please click through the following document and review it: Act Three Inside Outside Circle Discussions. Also, consult the Rubric for assessment considerations.
Please spend today's class working through the Preparation Process for the Act Three Inside Outside Circle Discussions.
Part 2.
Your Inside/ Outside Circle discussions will take at the beginning of our next class.
Homework: Prepare your part of the Act Three Inside Outside Circle Discussions elements.
Part 3.
Students will assist in the assessment during the Inside Outside Circle Discussions.
Homework: Create a new page on your personal Google website titled, "Inside/ Outside Circle Discussions ADH." Paste in your Argument paragraph and your accompanying visual.
POST-PLAY: SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATIONS AS FINAL THOUGHTS
By the end of class, you will be able to... captures the central ideas in Ibsen's A Doll's House through symbolic representation.
"The tarantelle is the symbol of Nora. Its wild, unresting movement is the tragedy of her nature -- light and frivolous on the surface, but concealing underneath a dread secret -- a wound that carries death in its train. It is the gruesome climax of Nora's doll life, and it is placed where the chief symbol of Ibsen's play is always placed, at the climax of the play. It is the culmination of the plot. The action approaches it and ebbs from it. It is a torch set at the apex, flaring both ways."
--- by Jeanette Lee
Let's Get Started! Please click open to these song lyrics from Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion." We'll listen and analyze, both as a contemporary version of society as well as a historical referent.
Mother and Child PowerPoint interpretation, using the Elements of Art as deconstruction approach.
We're done!