Tanya Martin, Maggie Taylor, Mimi Voyles, Chris Woodward ELAN 7408 Peter Smagorinsky Fall 2006 Rationale This rationale is in support of the unit on gender roles in American literature as crafted by Maggie Taylor, Mimi Voyles, Tanya Martin, and Chris Woodward. The rationale will serve to clarify underlying principles behind theme selection, array of literature, and student assessment. The unit is constructed so that these components build upon each other, scaffolding a multiplicity of independent student perspectives. We hold the belief that literature classes have a responsibility to consider the culture within a given body of literature. In so doing, a teacher might best represent tensions or complications within the culture by building a theme around these tensions through illustrative literature. The decision to examine the theme gender roles in American literature was as easy decision to make; there was no discussion necessary within our group to justify the importance of such a thematic unit and we all agreed it would be interesting to explore. For the purposes of a rationale, though, it seems prudent to begin with a justification for unit selection. A principal benefit to a unit on gender roles is that the thematic focus is accessible and applicable to all students. Regardless of a student’s sex or stance on gender issues within literature and their community, students do not operate outside gender roles or the perception of gender roles. Additionally, American literature has many descriptive and colorful voices within its history, which illuminate the theme gender roles. A possible concern with this unit may stem from the idea that schools generally teach literature from a new critical perspective- that is, that there is one universal truth to be gainedfrom a canonical work, and the goal is to teach students this one agreed upon interpretation. While our unit asks that students take a critical look at the literature, we believe that this approach is more valuable to students, not only because it addresses the Georgia Performance Standards for English/Language Arts, it is also fundamental to their own personal growth. There is as little reason to abandon the canon as there is to sanctify it. As such, the unit will include canonized literature readily found in much traditional curricula. Such literature is critical to examine if one wishes to include historical perspective. Many historical examples illustrate suppressive or constrained views of gender roles. Juxtaposing historical and contemporary literature encourages students to explore the changing landscape of perspective in regards to gender. To adequately explore the theme gender roles, it is necessary to include modern literature that might be outside the canon. While women have long had a significant impact on literature (Uncle Tom’s Cabin was second only to the bible in being top selling book of the 19th century) the evolution of societal views on gender roles have ushered in a more diverse and rich body of literature from female writers. Tracking changes in social viewpoints on gender roles also achieves a larger goal of examining social change in American history. This unit is not merely a study on women in literature, but it is crucial to include women’s voices in the study of gender roles in American literature. As mentioned, some literature or texts included in this unit will step outside of the traditional literary canon. Some texts will include artifacts from popular culture. An example of this type of text is commercials recorded from different channels. These examples will be used to encourage students to identify and consider differences between commercials with different target audiences, speculate the reasons for these differences, and reflect on how gender might bean active agent in these differences. This is one example of how popular culture will be included in the unit. There are a variety of reasons for why popular culture will be included in the unit design. One reason has already been touched upon; in order to consider contemporary perspectives on gender roles it is essential that the instructor include current reflections of how such perspectives play out. Additionally, it is important that students see how the theme reaches into their personal experiences, to help them see the relevancy of what is being read and discussed. Geneva Smitherman is quoted in Kutz and Roskelly’s An Unquiet Pedagogy as stating, “Unless teachers begin with the language their students know, students will have nothing to connect their new learning to.” By brining knowledge that exists in student’s lives outside of school into the classroom the teacher is able to illustrate the relevancy of the theme within students’ personal experiences. We continue to ask students to examine their own lives in evaluating the theme of gender roles within American Literature by setting up assessment that encourages such comparisons. The major assessment component of this unit allows students to explore their comprehension of the literature and themes of the unit by using a variety of genres. Some examples students will be able to choose from include song writing, PowerPoint presentations, and posters. Students will be presented with a rubric detailing the project they choose and ways in which they must demonstrate specific connections to the texts examined during the unit. Students will also be required to complete an essay portion for this project, making such connections explicit. Jeff House, in Writing is Dialogue: Teaching Students to Think (and Write) like Writers, writes, “We often think and experience the world in a multidimensional, multivoiced way.” It is our hopethat by encouraging students to explore a variety of voices we will encourage them to explore modes of expression they had not previously considered. It is our intent that by assigning a variety of literature (both canonical and contemporary), by connecting themes of gender role to student’s personal experiences, and by asking students to produce a personal response in the form of encouraging multi-genre projects that the students will have a heightened comprehension of the importance of observing how gender roles play out in society and in literature. In “Creative Writing and Living Language” Robert W. Rounds wrote, “The pupil who is most likely to succeed in writing creatively is the one who searches