English Lesson Plan

Overview:A columnist at Central Connecticut State University may need to check out what goes into a good satirical piece. His attempt at this genre caused an uproar when his article, titled “Rape Only Hurts If You Fight It” ran Feb. 7, 2007, in the student newspaper, “The Recorder.”

Suggested time allotment: Short writing prompt with in-class assignment of 20 minutes or less or a longer lesson including comparison to a 1729 piece “A Modest Proposal,” where Jonathan Swift says the Irish should eat their young.

Objectives

Students will:

1. Read the information about the article and then read the article itself.
2. Write a brief reaction to the column – does it achieve its purpose? Is it satire as you know it?
OR
2. Learn about satire through text and lecture and then compare the CCSU piece to Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” What makes the latter work? Is this apparent in the CCSU piece?

Standards: National Council of Teachers of English and International Reading Association Standards for English Language Arts:

7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
8. Students use a variety of technological and informational resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
12. Students use spoken, written and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion and the exchange of information).

Resources and materials:
Web sites with information:
• “Writer apologizes for opinion piece on rape that sparked outrage” was an Associated Press article that ran several places, including the online version of “Editor & Publisher.”
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• The Daily Campus at nearby University of Connecticut covers the story Feb. 9, 2007, “CCSU Op Editor Calls Rape ‘Magical,’” by Brendan Cox.
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• Not surprisingly, the article is no longer posted on The Recorder’s Web site, but several blogs have it posted. The Feminist Pulse – Girlistic’s Blog – has the article. Scroll down the page to “jaw on the floor” or use FIND for “Petroski.”
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It is also posted, along with the painting, “Rape of the Sabine Women,” on “Women’s Space/The Margins” for Feb. 10, 2007.
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• For those completing a longer analysis of the merits of the satire, the complete text of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is on this Web site.
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