Lesson Plan : The Canterbury Tales
Teacher Name: | Jim Cleary |
Grade: | Grade 11-12 |
Subject: | Language Arts |
Topic: | Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales |
Content: | The Miller's Prologue and Tale The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale |
Goals: | -Develop a better understanding of Middle English -Develop a better understanding of Chaucer�s unique linguistic style -Understanding of how authors' assumptions, cultural backgrounds, and social values affect texts. -recognizing common themes that run through the different tales. -relating the cultural and historical contexts to the literature and identifying perceived ambiguities, prejudices, and complexities -making associations between historical and current viewpoints. -understanding how literary movements influence writers (Medieval Period). |
Objectives: | In this assignment, the students will Interpret and evaluate Chaucer�s The Canterbury Tales through reading for meaning and then partaking in a reflective discussion. After reading the selected tales from the Canterbury Tales, the teacher will split the class into an even number of groups, approximately 6 or 8 groups of 3 to 4 people. Half of the groups will be assigned the deconstruction of The Miller�s Prologue and Tale and the other half will be assigned The Wife of Bath�s Prologue and Tale. Once in their respective groups, students should: 1)First, students should deconstruct the texts, searching for themes and symbols (about 20 minutes). Teacher should emphasize students to keep in mind Chaucer�s cultural background and the social values that might have affected the text. �Teacher should have students try to relate these cultural and historical contexts to the literature and identify the prejudices, particularly against women, in the texts. 2)After analyzing the text, the students should be informed that they will be creating rhymes, chants, songs, poetry, letters or myths to help them connect the themes in the text with the time period in which Chaucer lived (about 20 minutes). Examples: -They could make a letter, proposing to be Chaucer himself, writing to the Wife of Bath explaining what prejudices he added about women in her tale. Or -They could write a song about what Chaucer is trying to say by all the men getting hurt in The Miller�s Tale and Alison getting away unscathed. 3)Students should present their creations to the class. Each group will have about 3-4 minutes to present and explain their findings. |
Materials: | The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Computers, writing utensil, paper |
Introduction: | |
Development: | |
Practice: | Questions the teacher should ask or areas the students should keep in mind while reading: -Alison and John�s marriage was it arranged? Why is Alison cheating on John with Nicolas? How does John react to Alison when Nicolas informs him of the flood? -Is The Millers Tale a feminist or anti-feminist story? What is the point of Alison not getting hurt? Could it be a warning to men of hurtful women or could it be suggesting that women are better than men? -the Wife�s argument on her marriages was it convincing? What light does this shed on the idea of multiple marriages in her time? How do you think people would react to her life these days when remarrying is so common? -Focus on what women want most in this story does this topic imply that all women are the same? Is the Wife herself sexist? Discuss the gender politics in this story. |
Accommodations: | |
Checking For Understanding: | |
Closure: | |
Evaluation: | The point of this procedure was to allow students, in small groups, to evaluate similar texts and then present their findings. In order to evaluate their understanding, students are to be assigned a 1-2 page essay for homework in which they will show their comprehension of: -Chaucer�s cultural background and social values and how they affected the tales. -Understanding of how the different methods groups utilized in presenting affected their interpretation of the texts. -Comparing and contrasting the Miller�s Tale and The Wife of Bath�s Tale by recognizing the common themes, elements, and prejudices that are prevalent through the two Tales. |
Teacher Reflections: |
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