Lesson Plan 3 – Gender
Lesson Overview: Gender in “The Squire’s Tale”
Students will analyze and discuss the theme of ‘gender’ in Chaucer’s “The Squire’s Tale through the description of women versus men in this text, and through discussing the David Nirenberg article.
Time: One, one hour and fifty-minute class period
Materials:
- The “Squire’s Tale” Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
- Modern English translation of the “Squire’s Tale”
- Copies of the article Nirenberg, Christendom and Islam
- Access to a computer to watch the animated version of the tale.
*The students will have already read and annotated the “Squire’s Tale” beforehand*
Agenda:
- Have the students take out their annotated version of the “Squire’s Tale”
- Split the students into discussion groups of 3 or 4. Prompt them to talk about what they noticed about gender within the “Squire’s Tale’. Give them questions to think about such as: “how was Canacee described in this text? What is noticed about the women versus what is noticed about the men in this tale?”
- After they finish discussing, pass out the David Nirenberg article to read by themselves, annotate, and then discuss back in their groups
- Circle back to the whole class and start a whole class discussion on what they talked about in their groups. Ask what they thought about how the West seems to hyper-sexualize the East, especially in relating to women within the Squire’s Tale. Ask generalized questions on how they saw gender within the tale and any conclusions about
Assessment:
Have the students write down a short response about their thoughts on the class. Write down any more questions they might have about gender and more research they would want to do on this topic. Have them turn in these responses for the teacher to look over and set the agenda for the next class.
