Exploring Gender Roles: Objectives and Goals

Exploring Gender Roles in Society, Literature, Art, and Film

Gender roles play an important part in shaping who we are and what is expected of us. This unit will especially focus on what is expected of men in regards to expression, emotions, and their relationships.

Using gender theory and feminist theory, this course will aim to reimagine masculinity. Students will create a memoir relating to their own experiences with gender roles and working in groups on a project that relates gender roles to a broader context. 

The overarching objectives of this unit are to...

- analyze poetry from a theoretical perspective;

- learn the process of writing a reflective essay;

- practice editing peers' written work;

- work within groups to produce a finished product;

- discuss complicated and nuanced topics as they relate to gender;

- use textual evidence to support claims about a piece of literature.

Students will...

- Be able to discuss gender, the gender binary, societal expectations of gender roles, and stereotypes;

- Analyze poetry using gender construct theory;

- Write a memoir focusing on a specific aspect of childhood;

- Critically and constructively edit peers' written work;

- Work with a group to construct a project that addresses some aspect of gender, gender binary, masculinity, or femininity. 

• Grades 11-12
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.6 Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.7 Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)

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