“The Yellow Wall Paper”by:

Socratic Seminar Discussion on Literature and Analysis

DAY 1 BR: Anticipation GuideRespond in your agreement line to the

following:• Women sometimes experience severe

depression after having a baby.• Someone who is suffering a mental

breakdown is still a reliable source.• Yellow wallpaper would be pretty in a baby’s

room.• In the 1800’s, women were dependent on

their husbands for everything.• A “rest-cure” is a good medical treatment.• Men are best to determine a woman’s

ailments and the necessary treatment• Intelligent women pose a threat to the male

society

Day 1: Who is Gilman?

• Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” a short story set in the late nineteenth century, fictionalizes the struggles of a young married woman enduring Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell's “rest cure.” In the late 1880s before writing the short story, the author contacted Dr. Mitchell and he treated her 'nervous disease' with a rest cure.

Day 1: Who is Dr. Mitchell?

• Charlotte's doctor, nerve specialist Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, had built an eminent medical career working with soldiers injured during the Civil War. He then focused on the treatment of women with nervous exhaustion, devising a “rest cure” in which the patient was not allowed to read, write,feed herself, or talk to others.

Day 1: Exhaustion a disease?

• The “disease”, per Mitchell, reflected late nineteenth-century ideas about female weakness, and was used to justify women’s exclusion from schooling, intellectual pursuits, and public life. In one of his classic texts, Mitchell explained how young women could be permanently damaged by over-education. He advocated a cure of complete bed rest and isolation.

Day 1: Charlotte’s Response• Charlotte rejected Mitchell’s

prescription to give up all her intellectual pursuits, and instead picked up her pen and wrote. First published in 1892, her story, about a young woman driven mad by the rest cure, has been reprinted many times and is now considered a classic of feminist literature. “Live as domestic a life as possible… And

never touch pen, brush, or pencil as long as you live.”

- Gilman describes Dr. Mitchell’s advice 1913

DAY 1: HOMEWORK

• Read entire text of “The Yellow Wall Paper”

• Annotate ideas you find intriguing and any mention of the yellow wall paper

• Use the guiding questions to make notes in the margins

• Be prepared to discuss, in inner and outer groups, the content and your reaction to it

Use Discussion Rubric to Plan!

Day 2 BR: You Tube Preview

• This is the trailer to “The Yellow Wall Paper” movie

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7YLpnsymxA&safe=active

• REACTIONS?

DAY 2: Socratic Discussion• The class will split in two groups – inner and outer

circle (as per your entry cards)• One student will volunteer as the discussion leader• As the leader asks questions, each member in the

inner circle should be prepared to respond• Group members may insert a question or idea when

so desired• No one will be called on unless the conversation

goes stale or there is a lack of participation – ALL members MUST contribute

• There is a hot seat for outer members to contribute, should they feel compelled

• Outside members must be marking their reaction sheet to evaluate their inner partner

DAY 2: HOMEWORK

• The members on the inside should reflect on the conversation and have ample notes to develop an analytical response down the road

• The outer members will move to the inside circle tomorrow to discuss the story – take time to prepare your discussion notes and any questions you would like to pose to the group

• New outer members – you can have the hot seat so don’t refrain from discovering new ideas in your review of the content!

DAY 3 BR: Images

• Preview these images:

• http://lucydillamore.com/projects/nua-year-2/imagery-for-the-yellow-wallpaper/

• Thoughts? Which one did you like “best”? Which was the creepiest? Do the images align with your interpretation of the story?

DAY 3: Socratic Discussion

• Many of yesterday’s “rules” apply today:

• Outer group becomes inner, inner the outer• Leader volunteer needed• All members MUST contribute responses to

reading questions and may insert their own questions/ideas

• There is a hot seat for outer members to contribute, should they feel compelled

• Outside members must be marking their reaction sheet to evaluate their inner partner

– SOCRATIC SEMINAR EVAL PACKETS DUE TOMORROW FOR EVERYONE!!!

DAY 3 : Homework

• Evaluation packets due tomorrow – remember to be honest about your own participation, your inner partner's, and the overall impact of the class discussion

• Read the non-fiction texts about the writing of “The Yellow Wall Paper”

(Why I Wrote… and Wear and Tear…)• Annotate the text for information

you find interesting, confusing, worth discussing

Day 4 BR: Read and Respond

• Read “Perilous”, written as an editorial response to the publication of “The Yellow Wall Paper”

• Jot down your immediate reaction to the words you have read

• What do you suppose life was like in terms of gender differences during this time period?

• Do you think the general diagnosis for women to “do nothing” holds any validity?

Day 4: Shoulder Partner Response Writing

• How does Gilman describe Dr. Mitchell and her experience of his rest cure?

• Which characters in the short story embody her perspectives/experiences with a medical professional in real life?

• Mitchell makes the point that, generally, exercise benefits most patients. Why might it lead to “increase of trouble, to extreme sense of fatigue, to nausea” (p. 38) in women?

• What gender assumption does this perpetuate?

Day 4: Reflections on Real Thoughts

• After reading the perspective of the author and of the doctor about their approaches and understanding of ”the rest cure”, how do you respond to the concept?

• Use your shoulder partner responses to guide class discussion – what are your thoughts/reactions to their stance on the matter, male and female respectively?

DAY 4: HOMEWORK• Choose a prompt from the writing project

sheet.• Remember – you will make references to

both the text and the non-fiction analytical responses we have reviewed (plus whatever resources you seek outside of here!)

• THAT MEANS IN-TEXT CITATION!!! (see next slide for review)

• Plan your ideas for homework and prepare bits of the text you will likely use to respond.

• In class tomorrow, we will write our summative essay for your final grade on this unit.

Use Grading Rubric to Plan

Using and Citing Resources• When writing a paper with resources

other than yourself, you MUST use in-text citation and create a works cited page.

• IN-TEXT CITATION: a reference to the text directly or a piece of text used word for word to support your writing– The narrator’s husband seems to think the rest cure is a

plausible solution to his wife’s condition. He told his wife they went to the farmhouse “solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get” (Gilman 648).

• WORKS CITED PAGE: a list of all the works you references, cited, used in writing your paper.– Gilman [Stetson], Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wall

Paper”. Short Story collection, pages 647-656.

GRADING FOR THIS UNIT

• Formatives – – Annotated texts (story and other

materials)– Value of Discussion/Participation– Evaluation of self and peer

• Summative – – Essay Response (grade will be assessed

based on content, relevance to text and prompt, conventions, successful use of resources)

DAY 5: SUMMATIVE DAY

• Essay Writing– Use prompt and plan you prepared last

night– Remember to reference and CITE the

texts (you should do this MORE THAN ONCE!!!)

– Reference both the story and the criticism read in class and outside of

– List all works (texts) used on a separate works cited page

– Place in bin on your way out with rubric stapled to the front and NAME on it!