GRADE 12 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
GRADE 12 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON – Teacher Copy Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
Learning ObjectivesThe goal of this exemplar lesson is to provide students an opportunity toexplore targeted passages of complex text. Through teacher Read Alouds, audio listening, student independent reading and rereading, and scaffolded discussion of text-dependent questions, students willrecognize theme, vocabulary, and literary features from careful reading and rereading of texts. Vocabulary is learned from context and writing aids deeper understanding of text. The lesson culminates in an evidentiary writing activity. Teachers may need to further scaffold the activities to address individual students’ needs depending on the intent of the lesson and specific learners’ needs.
Rationale: This lesson explores the nature of true nobility as described by the Wife of Bath, in Geoffrey Chaucer’sThe Wife of Bath’s Tale. Students will conduct a close, analytic reading to complete the independent summative writing assessment:What moral (life lesson) is the old woman trying to teach the knight?
Text Title: The Wife of Bath’s Tale- Geoffrey ChaucerMcDougal-Littell Literature, pp. 179-192
Genre/Text Structure: Literary Fiction & Nonfiction – Informational Text
Targeted Text Selection –
Page 188, Lines 282-296
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
RL.11–12, 1-6,10 W.11-12
Lesson Sequence
PERFORMANCE TASK /CULIMINATING INDEPENDENT WRITING ASSESSMENT:
- Identify, citing evidence from the text, what the moral (life lesson) is, and show why it is the overarching theme for the times and customs of the people in Chaucer’s world.
GUIDING QUESTION(S):
1. The students will readThe Wife of Bath’s Taleand listen to the audio at in its entirety, throughout this week. Rereading is embedded in the text- dependent questions and discussion activities.
2. Students will independently read lines 47-56, p. 182
3. Students should discuss and write about the initial meaning they have made from reading these lines.
Activities 2, 3 and 4:
GUIDING QUESTION(S):
- Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding questions about lines 47-56, p. 182. The targeted text should be in front of the students as they engage in their discussions.
3. Respond in writing: Explore meanings of gentleman, gentleness, gentleness, gentle birth. How do they relate to the major theme of the tale? OR insert awriting activity of your choice.
4.(If appropriate for the lesson) Use Communication, Information and Media connections at , or other online resources to provide insight and multiple interpretations of the Wife of Bath’s Tale.
Targeted Text Selection -
Page 182, Lines 47-56 / Vocabulary / Teacher Activities and Techniques
Text-Dependent Questions
47 Wherever there was wont to walk an elf
Today there walks the holy friar himself
As evening falls or when the daylight springs,
Saying his matins and his holy things,
Walking hislimit round from town to town.
Women can now go safely up and down
By every bush or under every tree;
There is no other incubus but he,
So there is really no one else to hurt you
56And he will do no more than take your virtue. b / wherever . . . elf: wherever an elf was
accustomed to walk
Friar:religious order
Matins: morning
prayer
Limit: the area to which aFriar was restricted in his begging fordonations.
incubus an evil spirit believed to descend on women
Take your virtue: violate a young woman / Return to the text, and ask students a small set of guiding questions about the targeted section.
(Q1) According to the Wife of Bath, today who has replaced the elves?
Possible answer:
The friars have replaced the elves—supposedly as the mystical representatives for the people.
53 Women can now go safely up and down
By every bush or under every tree;
There is no other incubus but he, / (Q2) In lines 52-54, what are the two possible meanings of these lines?
Possible answer:
1) Women can walk freely and safely.
2) They can have intimate relations with the friars.
47 Wherever there was wont to walk an elf
Today there walks the holy friar himself
As evening falls or when the daylight springs,
Saying his matins and his holy things,
Walking his limit round from town to town.
Women can now go safely up and down
By every bush or under every tree;
There is no other incubus but he,
So there is really no one else to hurt you
56And he will do no more than take your virtue. b / (Q3) What is the Wife of Bath’s attitude about friars? Cite textual evidence in lines 48-51, 54-56, to demonstrate your assertion.
Possible answer:
She speaks sarcastically about the “Holy Friar” doing his rounds for money; saying prayers for people, but at the same time seducing women.
Hypocrisy
[hi pókrəssee]
1. feigned high principles: the false claim to or pretense of having admirable principles, beliefs, or feelings
2. hypocritical act: an act or instance of hypocrisy
Synonyms: insincerity, double standard, pretense, duplicity, two-facedness, falseness / Formative Assessment:
Reader Response Journals: Find other examples of hypocritical behavior in the Tale. Cite the lines, and explain briefly why they qualify as examples.
Alternative Formative Assessment:
Class discussion based on reader response journals discussing hypocrisy in the Wife of Bath’s Tale. / Class discussion(s) on text-dependent comprehension questions OR writing responses (graphic organizers, reader response journals, or prewriting activities).
Summative Assessment/ Culminating Independent Writing Task:
“I could set right what you suppose a blunder,
That’s if I cared to, in a day or two,
If I were shown more courtesy by you.
Just now,” she said, “you spoke of gentle birth,
Such as descends from ancient wealth and worth.
If that’s the claim you make for gentlemen
Such arrogance is hardly worth a hen.
Whoever loves to work for virtuous ends,
Public and private, and who most intends
To do what deeds of gentleness he can,
Take him to be the greatest gentleman.
Christ wills we take our gentleness from Him,
Not from a wealth of ancestry long dim,
Though they bequeaththeir whole establishment
By which we claim to be of high descent.
Bequeath:to give or leave by will —used especially of personal property. 2: to hand down: transmit. / Prewriting Activity: Compare meanings of gentleman, gentleness, gentleness, gentle birth. How do they relate to the major theme of the tale?
Culminating Independent Writing Task:
What life lesson is the old lady trying to teach the knight? Use direct references to lines in the Wife of Bath’s Tale to support your answer.
Extension Activities/Further Resources: Hypocrisy is a common theme in literature, film, and poetry. Find a modern story, film, or play that relies on hypocrisy as an important element of the plot. Be prepared to present a comparison between
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and your selected work. / Technology:
– (see links embedded in pacing guide)
Graphic Organizers at
English Language Learner(ELL) Resources and Strategies
Key Academic Vocabulary
Vocabulary Idioms/Figurative Language/Sayings
Literary Analysis
Writing Task
/ Have students use McDougal Littell Classzone Writing and Grammar section (under Graphic Organizers, the Vocabulary tab), use Vocabulary Practice Flash Cards for the following vocabulary: elf (line 47), holy and friar (line 48), matins (line 50), blunder (line 282), descends, wealth, and worth (line 286), hardly (line 288), (line 289), virtuous (line 291), gentleness (line 293), wills (line294), ancestry and dim, establishment (line 295), claim (line 296). This organizer can be found at .
You can also have students use McDougal Littell Best Practices Toolkit, New Word Analysis Transparency p.E8 to study this academic vocabulary from the selection.
Explain these phrases, expressions to students and then help students paraphrase and use them in their own sentences:
- “…evening falls”(figurative language)
- “…daylight springs”(figurative language)
- “…set right” (idiom)
- “…cared to” (idiom)
- “…gentle birth”(saying)
- “…work for virtuous ends”(saying)
- “…to be of high descent”(saying)
McDougal Littell Best Practices Toolkit Open Mind Transparency p.D9.
And/or
McDougal Littell Best Practices Toolkit Transparency Character Traits and Textual Evidence p.D5. These graphic organizers can be found at or McDougal Littell EASY Planner.
Write a dialogue: How might the other pilgrims have reacted to the Wife of Bath’s Tale? Write a dialogue in which at least two pilgrims, as well as, The Wife of Bath herself comment on the story.
Students may use McDougal Littell Best Practices Toolkit Prewriting Story Board C51 for additional support and guidance for their writing. This organizer can be found at or McDougal Littell EASY Planner.
Student Copy
Text Title(s): “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”Genre/Text Structure: Literary Fiction & Nonfiction – Informational Text
Text Selection
Page 181 - 192 / Vocabulary / Text-Dependent Questions
31When good King Arthur ruled in ancient days
(A king that every Briton loves to praise)
This was a land brim-full of fairy folk.
The Elf-Queen and her courtiersjoined and broke
36Their elfin dance on many a green mead,
Or so was the opinion once, I read,
Hundreds of years ago, in days of yore.
But no one now sees fairies any more.
For now the saintly charity and prayer
41Of holy friars seem to have purged the air; / Clarify vocabulary by referring to the glossary / Paraphrase the opening, lines 31-41
______
______
______
______
______
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47 Wherever there was wont to walk an elf
Today there walks the holy friar himself
As evening falls or when the daylight springs,
Saying his matins and his holy things,
Walking his limit round from town to town.
Women can now go safely up and down
By every bush or under every tree;
There is no other incubus but he,
So there is really no one else to hurt you
56 And he will do no more than take your virtue. / Lines 47-56: Write your interpretation of these lines.
______
______
______
______
Find other examples of hypocrisy in the text
“I could set right what you suppose a blunder,
That’s if I cared to, in a day or two,
If I were shown more courtesy by you.
Just now,” she said, “you spoke of gentle birth,
Such as descends from ancient wealth and worth.
If that’s the claim you make for gentlemen
Such arrogance is hardly worth a hen.
Whoever loves to work for virtuous ends,
Public and private, and who most intends
To do what deeds of gentleness he can,
Take him to be the greatest gentleman.
Christ wills we take our gentleness from Him,
Not from a wealth of ancestry long dim,
Though they bequeath their whole establishment
By which we claim to be of high descent. / Compare meanings of gentleman, gentleness, gentleness, gentle birth. How do they relate to the major theme of the tale?
Culminating Independent Writing Task:
What life lesson is the old lady trying to teach the knight? Use direct references to lines in the Wife of Bath’s Tale to support your answer.
For further information regarding this document contact the Division of Language Arts/Reading, Secondary District Instructional Supervisors,
Dr. Erin Cuartas, Ms. Laurie Kaplan or Dr. Sharon Scruggs-Williams, 305-995-3122; for ELL questions, contact the Division of Bilingual Education and World
Languages District Supervisor, Ms. Caridad Perez, 305-995-1962.
2012-20131