Barbara W. Winters
On Becoming a Parent: The Birthing Process
“Midwife’s Tale”
Goal
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to introduce students to life in New England during the Colonial period and the community participation in child birth
Objective
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to allow students to discuss the similarities around childbirth between modern times in the African American community and colonial times and the White community, different ethnic and cultural backgrounds
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to vary presentation of materials in the block schedule when the periods are 90 minutes long
Summary of Content
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Students will see scenes in “Midwife’s Tale” which depict the customs of courtship and marriage and child birth and infant care and then will participate in a guided discussion on the similarities and differences between their own lives and what they saw on the screen.
Review of New Subjects or Vocabulary - 10 minutes
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The teacher will provide an introduction to the movie and tell the students that they should think about how the scenes in the movie compare with similar occurrences in their own lives. They should participate in listing some facts about Colonial New England, such as the years covered, the geography, and the lifestyle.
Materials and Resources
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a copy of “Midwife’s Tale,” the video
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enough copies of an entry in the book on child birth
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a map of the United States
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copies or overhead transparencies of the maps in the book
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television/VCR
Methods
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a home study guide for presentation prior to the day of class and information on the nature of the scenes to be shown for students’ parents teacher introduction with reference to geography and history viewing of the movie class discussion
Motivation/Warm Up - 15 minutes
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collect any responses to the study guide and parental information sheet
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Ask students who was in the delivery room at the birth of their child. What preparation did they have? Who helped?
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Ask if they know about the customs of child birth in other countries?
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Ask if any of them experienced birth at home.
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Tell them that the film shows child birth in another time, but in a place not too far from New Haven. Show them the place on a map. Tell them the date and help them envision what colonial Maine was like.
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Activity - 60 minutes
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Students should prepare a sheet of paper, folded vertical. The first column on the left side should be headed colonial Maine and the right side modern New Haven. While watching the scenes, students will be asked to recorded brief
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notes under colonial Maine. The teacher will provide some suggestions, if
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necessary, such as no men present, mother sat in a chair, everyone watched.
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Watch three scenes from the movie - the courting scene, the child birth scene, and another which shows the family with an infant.
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Check to see that all have at least seven observations. Allow students to share notes.
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Ask the students to match each comment recorded with an observation under modern New Haven, out loud and together as a group. If very personal comments are made, be prepared to deal with both positive and negative. Allow the group to address the issues. Walk around and be sure that all have matching lists of at east seven items.
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Use the lists of several students to point up the similarities.
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Ask one or two students to gather the differences from other and speak about them. Ask them why the differences occurred. While some are obvious, others may call for some thought. For instance, it is obvious that a full service hospital was not in existence in colonial Maine. However, students should be prompted to tell why men were not present at child birth in colonial times. Students may want to share their own tales and opinions about fathers in the delivery rooms of local hospitals.
Home or Seat Assignment - 5 minutes
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A student may chose not to participate in the conversation about their own experiences. At that point, the teacher should allow anyone, not everyone, to simply list what they see in the movie and to remain silent, non responsive to any prompting about personal experiences. They should be asked to listen and to respond in writing. Or they could be offered an alternative assignment.
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The teacher should distribute the copies of the passage in the book. For homework, students should be asked to read the entry. They will complete the assignment by writing a half page about one instance in the delivery room or one person, a helper at the hospital. Again, for the student reluctant to speak about personal experience, they may provide a half page critique on the movie scenes.
Conclusion
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If the objective is clear and the introduction accepted, students will carry this lesson themselves. This may be an occasion when young mothers can talk about their own experiences with their peers. It is also an opportunity when
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even the poorest student can be an expert. At the end of the period, students will have discussed some commonalties with their peers and they will have seen and discussed commonalties with women on the screen who are quite different from themselves.
Evaluation
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Both recall and thought questions will appear on marking period, mid term and final examinations.
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Some students may discuss the circumstances of their own birth with their families and bring that nformation to subsequent classes.
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At the end of class or before the next class, students will present their observations about colonial Maine.