ENL 684: Literary Studies and Theory Spring 2016 Professor Kate Holterhoff Final Exam: Sample Unit Katrina Hegeman Janove Understanding by Design Unit Overview Title of Unit: Examining Hamlet through Lenses of Literary Criticism and Theory Curriculum Area: English Language Arts Grade / Level: 11 Honors Course Description: This course focuses on the study, analysis, and comparison of American literature from its beginnings to the present. Students will examine literary works from a variety of genres, including the short story, novel, drama, poetry and nonfiction. In addition to the selected readings, vocabulary and grammatical principles are included in the course of study. Students will be provided with the opportunity to gain experience in reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking while studying a range of literary works representative of our society. An argumentative literary research paper is completed in the course, as is a study of Shakespeare s Hamlet through various lenses of literary criticism and theory. Summer reading is required. Teacher: Katrina Hegeman Janove Created: 5/1/16 Duration: 9 90 minute classes Revised: 5/3/16 Note: This study of Hamlet begins after students have already read and studied Hamlet at the comprehensive level. It also assumes some previous guidance and instruction about the controversial nature of how identity impacts the way we experience and read the world. Established Goals / Standards Stage 1: Desired Results 1. Reading: Literature Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. (RL.11 12.1) Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.) (RL.11 12.7) Analyze a work of fiction, poetry, or drama using a variety of critical lenses (e.g., formal, psychological, historical, sociological, feminist). (RL.11 12.8.A) By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11 CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. (RL.11 12.10)
2. Reading: Informational Text Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. (RI.11 12.1) Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. (RI.11 12.3) By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11 CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. (RI.11 12.10) 3. Writing Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. a. Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to create a unified whole; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. b. Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience s knowledge of the topic. c. Use appropriate and varied transitions and syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships among complex ideas and concepts. d. Use precise language, domain specific vocabulary, and techniques such as metaphor, simile, and analogy to manage the complexity of the topic. e. Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. f. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic). 4. Speakings and Listening Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks. (SL.11 12.4) Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. (SL.11 12.5) 5. Language Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. (L.11 12.1) Resolve issues of complex or contested usage, consulting references (e.g., Merriam Webster s Dictionary of English Usage, Garner s Modern American Usage) as needed. (L.11 12.1.B) 6. Additional Goals Students will examine complex and controversial theories to consider literature from multiple perspectives, as well as the relationship between literature and society. Students will reflect upon not only their own perspectives as readers but also the differing perspectives of other readers. Essential Questions
1. Why does Hamlet endure as one of the most studied and most critically significant Shakespearean tragedies? 2. How can literary theory and criticism offer new possibilities for analysis of complex texts? 3. Which literary lenses resonante with your own experiences, worldviews, and values? Understandings / Misunderstandings Students will understand that 1. Hamlet, like many other complex texts, endures not because of its knowability but rather because of its ambiguity and instability as a text. 2. A literary text can be read and interpreted through many critical lenses. 3. The ability to assume multiple perspectives is of paramount importance not only in scholarly settings but also in college, career, personal, and other contexts. Students may initially have the following misunderstandings: 1. Hamlet contains a finite set of potential meanings. 2. Literary theory and criticism are distanced from reality and therefore irrelevant. Literary lenses are restricted to the study of literature and/or English class. 3. Multiple perspectives is a nice idea but ultimately irrelevant to college, career, and life readiness. Knowledge Students will know 1. Factual Knowledge a. The names and basic tenets of selected literary perspectives b. Knowledge of specific details and elements 2. Conceptual Knowledge a. How to identify and categorize various applications of literary theory b. That overlap and conflict exist between the various categories of literary theory 3. Procedural Knowledge a. How to employ reading strategies to understand complex texts b. How to identify and employ literary lenses for the purpose of literary analysis 4. Metacognitive Knowledge a. Which theoretical lenses are personally most accessible and which are most challenging b. How identity and experience impact one s ability to assume multiple perspectives c. Which literary lens is most personally resonant and why Skills New Bloom s Taxonomy Students will be able to 1. Remember a. Recognize and recall the names and basic concepts of selected literary lenses 2. Understand a. Interpret a particular aspect of Shakespeare s Hamlet from a self selected literary lens
b. Explain their interpretation of the text in the form of a literary analysis essay 3. Apply a. Implement critical reading strategies to maximize understanding of complex texts 4. Analyze a. Differentiate between selected literary lenses b. Differentiate between claims and evidence c. Organize in writing a cogent argument about a particular reading of Hamlet as enabled by the use of a selected literary lens d. Attribute theoretical concepts to their respective authors via the use of proper citations 5. Evaluate a. Check their arguments for cogency and alignment with rubric criteria b. Critique constructively peers arguments to assist in making them stronger 6. Create a. Generate a literary analysis essay to serve as a future scholarly writing sample b. Plan a brief TED Talk style presentation which overviews their argument and teaches the audience about their chosen perspective c. Produce a digital media presentation to accompany their TED Talk Academic Vocabulary 1. Lens 2. Perspective 3. Criticism 4. Theory 5. Selected Literary Perspectives (Appleman) a. Reader Response Perspective b. Archetypal Perspective c. Formalist Perspective d. Character Perspective e. Biographical Perspective f. Historical Perspective g. New Historicism h. Social Power Perspective i. Gender Perspective j. Deconstruction 6. Selected Critical Lenses (Appleman) a. Archetypal Criticism b. Gender/Feminist Criticism c. Social Class/Marxist Criticism d. New Criticism e. Psychological and Psychoanalytic Criticism f. Reader Response Criticism g. New Historicism Vocabulary Enrichment Words 1. Power Plus Vocabulary 2. Selected words from Hamlet 3. New words learning journal for theoretical texts
h. Deconstructionist Criticism i. Historical Criticism Stage 2: Assessment Evidence Formative Assessments 1. Tickets in/out 2. Guided questioning and worksheets to accompany in class activities 3. In class activities from Appleman 4. Quiz on critical lenses 5. Creative thinking homework assignments 6. Writing process steps in working toward summative assessment a. Prewriting b. Drafting c. Revising i. Peer editing activity Summative: 1. Literary analysis essay employing one critical lens to illuminate the greater meaning of one or more aspects of Hamlet 2. Brief TED Talk explaining the overall argument made in the literary analysis essay 3. Audience feedback/reflective activity during and after the TED Talk presentations Stage 3: Learning Plan # Lesson Activities and Texts 1 Activities Objective: Students will be able to consider childhood nursery rhymes and/or fairy tales from multiple perspectives. Students will be able to provide a general overview of select literary perspectives and make personal connections to them. Activity 1: Little Miss Muffet (Appleman) Groups: Choose a different nursery rhyme or fairy tale to retell. Write down the story as you know it. Then, tell this story through three new lenses of your own design. Class sharing of stories Activity 4: Literary Perspectives Toolkit (Appleman) Individuals: Read and annotate. Employ critical reading strategies. Reflective ticket out on lenses Review Activity 4: Literary Perspectives Toolkit. Writing prompt: Which lens is most interesting to you, and why? Which lens is least interesting to you, and why? What do you think affects the way you read a text? List as many ideas as possible.
2 Activities Objective: Students will be able to apply critical lenses first to popular stories, television shows, and/or movies and then to Hamlet. Think pair share with homework written responses; class brainstorm on whiteboard of all the different factors which could impact a reader s perspective Activity 5: Literary Theories: A Sampling of Critical Lenses (Appleman) and Activity 6: Literary Theory Cards (Appleman) Individuals: Read and annotate. Employ critical reading strategies. Groups: Each groups is assigned a literary theory. They must become the experts of that theory and in a poster, skit, or other visual illustrate how the theory could be applied to a popular story, television show, or movie. 3 Activities Objective: Students will be able to discuss how selected literary lenses could be applied to Hamlet. Students will examine Hamlet through a selected literary lens. Review of literary lenses and homework assignment Learning stations for students to add ideas from homework Overview of literary analysis essay assignment and scoring rubric LENS OPTIONS: Archetypal Criticism Gender/Feminist Criticism Social Class/Marxist Criticism New Criticism Psychological and Psychoanalytic Criticism EXCLUDED LENSES: Reader Response Criticism New Historicism Deconstructionist Criticism Historical Criticism Prewriting/brainstorming activity for literary Referring to Activity 5: Literary Theories: A Sampling of Critical Lenses, explain how each lens could be used to examine Hamlet. Employing the steps under the What to do section of each card, make a list of questions about Hamlet which each lens might answer. Prepare for a quiz next class on all literary lenses. Study by reviewing all in class activities and handouts. Continue prewriting.
analysis essay Mark passages for examination/evidence 4 Activities Objective: Students will be able to identify the basic ideas and applications of selected literary lenses. Students will examine Hamlet through a selected literary lens. Quiz on literary lenses Continue prewriting for literary analysis essay Review quiz. Distribution of critical theoretical primary texts (see table below) for students selected lenses Ticket out: Submit prewriting so far. 5 Activities Objective: Students will be able to reflect upon the areas of both intrigue and confusion in their critical theoretical primary text. Working together in small groups, students will be able to share understandings and clarify misunderstandings. Through the examination of assigned critical essays, students will understand how primary texts may be used as the foundation of literary analysis. Ticket in (2+2): 2 intriguing ideas presented by your homework text and 2 questions/confusion which arose while reading your homework text Groups: Sitting with students who read the same text, share out your 2+2s and attempt to clarify confusion. Refer to your teacher for assistance. How could this critical theory be applied in literary analysis of Hamlet? distribution of model critical essays employing the selected lenses Begin reading and annotating critical essays. Ticket out: Add new ideas onto your prewriting graphic organizer. 6 Activities Begin first draft of essay. 7 Activities Peer editing with first drafts. Read and annotate the critical theoretical primary text provided to you for your selected literary lens. Mark passages which seem fruitful for your analysis of Hamlet. Finish reading and annotating your assigned critical essay. Continue adding new ideas onto your prewriting graphic organizer. Finish first draft of essay. Revise first draft.
8 Activities Submit final draft. Work on TED Talk. 9 Activities TED Talk presentations. Finish TED Talk. Reflective journal entry on literary lenses and essay writing process. Critical Lens Selected Lenses and Critical Texts Critical Theoretical Primary Text Model Critical Essay Employing this Lens 1. Archetypal Criticism Excerpts from The Archetypes of Literature by Northrop Frye Excerpts from To Be and Not to Be : the Archetypal Form of Hamlet by Harvey Birenbaum 2. Gender/Feminist Criticism Excerpts from A Room of One s Own by Virginia Woolf Excerpts from Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism by Elaine Showalter 3. Social Class/Marxist Criticism Excerpts from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx Excerpts from Shakespeare s View of English History by Paul N. Siegel 4. New Criticism Excerpts from Tradition and the Individual Talent by T.S. Eliot Excerpts from Style in Hamlet by Maurice Charney 5. Psychological and Psychoanalytic Criticism Excerpts from The Interpretation of Dreams & the Uncanny by Sigmund Freud Excerpts from After Oedipus: Shakespeare in Psychoanalysis by Julia Reinhard Lupton and Kenneth Reinhard
Unit Rationale Because one of my interests as a high school English teacher is how to increase rigor while still maintaining differentiation and authenticity, I have decided to make literary lenses a higher priority in my classroom especially in my junior honors English class. Literary theory, in my experience, is one of the most challenging yet also most rewarding and most eye opening content areas in English language arts. Like Deborah Appleman in Critical Encounters in Secondary English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents, I also believe that literary lenses are of paramount importance in today s English classrooms, because they teach students how to consider not only texts but also life from multiple perspectives. Looking through lenses requires open mindedness, curiosity, critical and abstract thinking, empathy, self reflection, thoughtful discussion, healthy debate, and many other prosocial processes, all of which support the push for literary lenses in the classroom. In crafting this unit, Examining Hamlet through Lenses of Literary Criticism and Theory, I wanted to ultimately lead students to the point where they apply a fundamental understanding of selected literary lenses to argue a possible reading of Shakespeare s Hamlet. To bring students to that summative assessment, however, I chose first to begin with the personal and already known: children s nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Introducing the concept of lenses in general through Appleman s Activity 1: Little Miss Muffet and then asking students to recreate the same effect with chosen stories of their own, I wanted to establish from the start that lenses can be fun and unusual and can lead to fruitful discussion of texts that before might have seem tired or known. In my teaching experience, starting with the personal is a surefire way to hook students attention and make them feel invested in what they are about to learn.
The next step in this unit was transitioning from informal lens application to the lenses of literary criticism and theory. To narrow down the study of literary lenses, I consulted Appleman s Activity 4: Literary Perspectives Toolkit and Activity 5: Literary Theories: A Sampling of Critical Lenses. This narrowed the lenses to ten: Archetypal Criticism, Gender/Feminist Criticism, Social Class/Marxist Criticism, New Criticism, Psychological and Psychoanalytic Criticism, Reader Response Criticism, New Historicism, Deconstructionist Criticism, and Historical Criticism. In addition to scaffolding the reading and discussion of these lenses, I also thought it extremely helpful to provide students with the overview and guiding questions for each lens which Appleman offers in her Activity 6: Literary Theory Cards. These cards provide the basis for not only academic discourse on literary theory in general but also close reading of selected critical theoretical primary texts, which I narrowed down to just five lenses and then further narrowed those texts into smaller excerpts. Although it felt relatively simple to narrow down the ten lenses to what I believed would be the five most easily accessible lenses for my students archetypal criticism, gender/feminist criticism, social class/marxist criticism, New Criticism, psychological and psychoanalytic criticism it was somewhat of a challenge to select a critical theoretical primary text for each of those five lenses. What I tried to do was select excerpts of texts which seemed most seminal and representative of their literary perspective: The Archetypes of Literature by Northrop Frye for archetypal criticism; A Room of One s Own by Virginia Woolf for gender/feminist criticism; The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx for social class/marxist criticism; Tradition and the Individual Talent by T.S. Eliot for New Criticism; and The Interpretation of Dreams & the
Uncanny by Sigmund Freud psychological and psychoanalytic criticism. Not only do these texts seem emblematic of their lenses, but they also offer rich language and vivid imagery to illustrate their ideas; they are not as abstract as some of the other well known texts in these categories. Furthermore, these selected texts offer points of both insight and confusion, which together help fuel engaging discussion an in class activity which I frequently use to help students grapple with complex texts. Sometimes in the English classroom it seems much more encouraging and productive to be working through confusion with others than working through it alone. From these critical theoretical primary texts, students then progress to reading critical essays which apply these lenses specifically to Hamlet. Since students will have already studied Hamlet at the comprehensive level before beginning this study of critical theory, they are ready at this point for such literary analysis of their own, which these model critical essays will assist. To find these model essays, I scoured literary databases and also took some leads from an incredible online annotated bibliography called Hamlet Haven, a thesis project by University of South Florida graduate student Harmonie Anne Haag Loberg. Ultimately, I was able to locate, preview, and download the following critical essays: To Be and Not to Be : the Archetypal Form of Hamlet by Harvey Birenbaum (archetypal lens); Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism by Elaine Showalter (gender/feminist lens); Shakespeare s View of English History by Paul N. Siegel (social class/marxist lens); excerpts from Style in Hamlet by Maurice Charney (New Criticism lens); and excerpts from After Oedipus: Shakespeare in Psychoanalysis by Julia Reinhard Lupton and Kenneth Reinhard (psychological/psychoanalytical lens). Through these excerpts, students can see how the how to processes of Appleman's Literary Theory Cards can lead to a writer s examination of Hamlet
through a particular literary lens. Although students may not agree with the interpretations presentation by their critical essays all the better, in my opinion they can see how theory supports textual interpretations of all kinds. What I like about the closing of this unit of study is that, after working through the challenges of the literary analysis writing process, students present their findings in the form of abbreviated TED Talks before the class. To me, this is an authentic opportunity for students to stand before an audience as an expert of their own lens. They must explain their perspective in audience friendly yet formal language; they must speak with both conviction and diplomacy; they must respond to post talk questions from the audience; they must engage in thoughtful dialogue and perhaps ultimately agree to disagree. These are skills that we use not only in the classroom, but also in life. And this is why critical perspectives should have a firm footing not only in English classes, but also in history classes, foreign language classes, history classes, art classes, and so on. Framed in an engaging way which highlights personal relevance, literary theory and criticism illuminate what teachers have always known to be true: that texts and classrooms and social realities are inextricably intertwined and deserve to be in dialogue with one another.
Works Cited Appleman, Deborah. Critical Encounters in Secondary English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents. Third ed. New York: Teachers College Press. 2015. Print. Birenbaum, Harvey. to Be and Not to Be the Archetypal Form of Hamlet. Pacific Coast Philology 16.1 (1981): 19 28. Web. Charney, Maurice. Style in Hamlet. Princeton University Press, 1969. Web. Eliot, T.S. Tradition and the Individual Talent. 1919. Rpt. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch, William E. Cain, Laurie Finke, Barbara Johnson, John McGowan, T. Denean Sharpley Whiting, and Jeffrey J. Williams. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. 955 961. Print. Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams & the Uncanny. 1919. Rpt. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch, William E. Cain, Laurie Finke, Barbara Johnson, John McGowan, T. Denean Sharpley Whiting, and Jeffrey J. Williams. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. 814 841. Print. Frye, Northrop. The Archetypes of Literature. 1951. Rpt. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch, William E. Cain, Laurie Finke, Barbara Johnson, John McGowan, T. Denean Sharpley Whiting, and Jeffrey J. Williams. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. 1304 1315. Print. Leitch, Vincent B., William E. Cain, Laurie Finke, Barbara Johnson, John McGowan, T. Denean Sharpley Whiting, and Jeffrey J. Williams, eds. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. Print.
Loberg, Harmonie Anne Haag. Hamlet haven: An online, annotated bibliography. 2002. Graduate Theses and Dissertations. Web. <http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/1524> Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto. 1848. Rpt. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch, William E. Cain, Laurie Finke, Barbara Johnson, John McGowan, T. Denean Sharpley Whiting, and Jeffrey J. Williams. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. 657 660. Print. Reinhard Lupton, Julia, and Kenneth Reinhard. After Oedipus: Shakespeare in Psychoanalysis. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993. Print. Showalter, Elaine. Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism. Shakespeare and the Question of Theory. Ed. Patricia Parker and Geoffrey Hartman. 1985. 77 94. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Dana Ramel Barnes. Vol. 35. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Apr. 2016. Siegel, Paul N. "Shakespeare s View of English History." Shakespeare s English and Roman History Plays. Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1986. 47 79. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 152. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Apr. 2016. Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One s Own. 1929. Rpt. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch, William E. Cain, Laurie Finke, Barbara Johnson, John McGowan, T. Denean Sharpley Whiting, and Jeffrey J. Williams. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. 896 905. Print.