1. Welcome! November 15th, 2017 Wednesday
Do Now
Get out your weekly Bell Ringer sheet and begin working on Wednesday’s assignment. Once the bell rings, you will have five minutes to discuss the prompt with your group. Make sure you stay on task! 
Remember: Do Now's are INDEPENDENT and QUIET exercises. Thank you 

2. What if students had no summer vacation?
© Presto Plans

3. Stories and change
When you analyze literature for a deeper meaning, remember that stories are all about change. Something—a character, a symbol, the author’s tone—needs to change in order for the story to have meaning.
Today, we’re going to talk about symbols. Symbols, like characters, gain meaning when they change.
Using your handout, you’re going to track three symbols, analyze how they change, and discuss what they might represent.
But first, let me walk you through an example…

4. Three Significant Quotations/ Moments
•“John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures” (pg 1).
•The narrator recognizes something bad is happening to her because of the house, and asks her husband to leave. He doesn’t take her seriously, uses logic to deny her (three more weeks on the lease, the repairs at their house aren’t done, she needs more rest, etc.) (pg 4).
•“Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!” (pg 6).
Remember John, the narrator’s husband in “The Yellow Wallpaper”? I’m going to walk you through my analysis of John as a symbol.
First, I took note of how John acts/is described in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. I picked moments and quotes that I thought were important.

5. Analysis of change
In the beginning of the story, John is shown to be a logical doctor who doesn’t believe in anything supernatural. Even in the middle of the story when the narrator tells him the house is making her crazy, he refuses to leave because it’s not logical, so he doesn’t believe her. He insists she just has to rest, and she’ll be fine. At the end of the story, he faints when he realizes his wife has truly lost her mind – his “reason” failed him.
What happens to your symbol at the beginning, middle, and end of the story? Give me a quick run-down in your own words (a least 3 sentences).

6. Analysis of Meaning
John is supposed to represent the Rationalists. He’s a man of science and reason, but it is his devotion to these things that cause him to overlook his wife’s emotions and the warnings signs about her mental state. Through John’s character, Gilman points out the Rationalist’s error in ignoring human emotions (especially women’s) in favor of supposed “scientific” methods.
What’s the deeper meaning of your symbol? What is Gilman trying to say?

7. Symbol Hunts
I’m going to number you off into three groups. Depending on your number, your group will focus on one of the symbols. Take the following steps:
With your groups, discuss what your assigned symbol might represent. How might your symbol have changed throughout the story?
Skim through the beginning, middle, and end of the story once more and mark any significant moments where your symbol is mentioned or described.
Of the moments you marked, write down the most important three on your handout– try to get one from the beginning, middle, and end of the story so you can discuss how the symbol changed.
With your groups, discuss and write your answers for the next two boxes. How does the symbol change? What do you think it represents? What did Gilman trying to say to the reader? Be sure to use at least 3 sentences for both explanations.

8. Symbol Shares
Go back to your assigned seats. Share your group’s findings with your seat partners. Give them a run-down about your evidence, how the group thought the symbol changed, and what you thought Gilman was trying to represent.
As you listen to your classmate’s discussions, take notes on your handout. You don’t have to write their quotes or responses word-for-word, but write enough so that I will know you were paying attention to your groupmates (detailed bullet points is fine)