This will be an eight-week unit on women writers. One objective is to make students aware of how women became involved as writers in the twentieth century, and also to point out the success of women in the field of literature. However, the main objective is to continue to improve the reading skills of students and to help them read for enjoyment and gain information about some of the main literary types. The major focus is on the concept of narrative form. Students should have a thorough understanding of plot, climax, conflict, and the use of details and causal connections in building narrative. They are given the opportunity to discern and enjoy variety in plot development.
As students relate to their own experiences the thoughts and feelings of characters in fiction, they will be able to evaluate the truth or falsity of the author’s presentation. A deepening awareness of the interpretation of character and of personal reactions comes as students evaluate characters according to what they say and how they say it, what they do, and what others in the story say about them.
If students are to have adequate awareness of a writer’s accomplishments, if they are to respect a work and see reasons for its inclusion in a course of study or on a reading list, they should be helped to see the full formal nature of the literary achievement. The teacher should show the problems raised by the writing of a particular work and the strategies applied by the author.
The first decision facing anyone who teaches a literary work is the amount of time to spend on it. Teachers usually spend more time than necessary on a full-length piece of fiction. It then becomes boring to the students. With fiction the question, “What are we doing this for?” must be repeatedly asked, and the answers must direct the nature of class activities, the length of assignments, the kinds of testing, and the extent to which supplementary activities (writing, word study, further reading on a similar theme) will be used. The class discussion itself can be a means of clarifying details in the story. The teacher should constantly associate the material with what students already know— with other stories, motion pictures, television programs, plays.
Throughout the discussion, reference should be made to the text. Students should not be permitted to make assertions about idea, theme, or character unless they can support what they say with specific passages in the book. Furthermore, close attention to the text makes possible a constant analysis of its language.