ENGLISH 4 : MODULE 03 : LESSON 11 INTRO: DEFYING ARCHETYPES
In this lesson, you will examine the ways women have defied the outdated archetypes. You will also have your own opportunity to investigate and comment on ways your generation has challenged traditional assumptions.
Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
identify central ideas
analyze central ideas to determine how they develop in a text
provide evidence from a text to support your conclusions
On the Front Lines
What do these recruiting posters reveal about the evolution of female archetypes? Compare the images to find differences of the female’s position in war.
Poster showing a young woman in a Navy uniform
© Library of Congress LC-USZ62-42150
Poster showing a young woman in a Marines uniform
© 2013 www.tumblr.com
Women have continually challenged traditional societal notions and are no longer limited to roles as wives and mothers. They now have the freedom of choice. Those choices have led many women to prominent roles in business, medicine, and politics—all traditionally the domain of men.
Until 2013, there was one territory limited exclusively to men—the front lines of war.
In 1994, United States Secretary of Defense, then Les Aspin, issued a memo outlining the Department of Defense’s policy excluding women from combat roles:
Service members are eligible to be assigned to all positions for which they are qualified, except that women shall be excluded from assignment to units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground.
In January 2013, the Combat Exclusion Policy was lifted, giving women equal access to positions within the U. S. military and the ability to be promoted to higher-ranking positions. The change in policy was intended to benefit the military as a whole. In a 2013 Pentagon news conference, the Secretary of Defense, then Leon Panetta, said, “The department’s goal in rescinding the rule is to ensure that the mission is met with the best-qualified and most capable people, regardless of gender.”
A Closer Look
Although the policy was changed, many people were still unsure of women’s ability to take on more dangerous and challenging combat positions. Read this article, U.S.–Women in Combat-Reaction, to see different perspectives on the issue. As you read, look for the key points that can be used to determine central ideas.
Discover key points in an informational text by looking for:
repeated words
repeated ideas
subheadings
topic sentences
Like a detective gathers clues to solve a mystery, readers gather key points to determine the main idea of the text. Once you have come up with a central idea, you can use the key points you discovered to prove that the idea you have identified is correct.
In a summary of a text, you explain the central ideas and provide paraphrased key points as support for your analysis.
When you find a great new show to binge-watch and you want to tell a friend about it, you share the big ideas and paraphrase the events. You don’t get bogged down in every single detail or include a bunch of quotations from the show in your summary, right? A summary of a text is the same as the show summary for your friend. Share the main ideas and include paraphrased details.
A paraphrase is someone else’s idea written in your own words. When you paraphrase a point, you do not simply change a couple of words from the original. The whole idea should be in your own words, and credit must be given to the source of the idea. Look at the following examples.
Direct Quotation NOT a Paraphrase Effective Paraphrase
“I think our culture instinctively teaches us to take care of women and we won’t be combat-ready,” said the pub’s owner and a former Navy SEAL, Greg McPartlin, who is a Bronze Star recipient. “We’re more interested in protecting her than shooting the bad guy.” Greg McPartlin, a former Navy SEAL, believes our culture is wired to take care of women so we’re more interested in keeping her safe than shooting the bad guy.
*Even though this sentence combines two sentences, it relies mostly on the author’s original words. Combining ideas and changing a couple of words is not a paraphrase. Greg McPartlin, a veteran Navy SEAL, believes that soldiers’ focus may be split between fighting the enemy and protecting female soldiers due to the American belief that men have a responsibility to protect women.
Follow these steps to write an effective paraphrase.
Read the sentence or sentences you want to paraphrase.
Turn away from the text to eliminate the temptation to borrow words from the source.
Explain the idea out loud without trying to repeat words or phrases.
Write the paraphrase, ensuring you acknowledge the source and get to the heart of the idea.
Put your reading and writing skills to work. Follow the steps in this interactive to practice identifying key points and analyzing central ideas in a text, and writing an effective summary.
Lesson Summary
Changes occur constantly in all aspects of life; the changing perceptions of women you have explored in these lessons is just one example. For this assignment, you will closely examine another type of change and summarize an article on the topic.
Choose one of these articles to read closely and summarize.
“The Lumineers ride folk-rock wave to Grammys”
“‘Anything goes’ now in campaign financing?”
“For 1st time since 1999, music revenues inch up”
“Practically human: Can smart machines do your job?”
“Games likely to follow Pentagon on women in combat”
“Funny women flourish in female-written comedies”
Follow the four-step process outlined in the lesson to closely examine the article. Use the Summarization Graphic Organizer for support.
Step 1: Locate Key Points
Step 2: Organize the Key Points
Step 3: Determine Central Ideas
Step 4: Summarize the Article
Article Title:
What information seems the most important? Note key points mentioned in the article.
Summarization Graphic Organizer
Look at the key points and organize any that are related.
What do the key points in each group have in common? Use that information to determine central ideas.
In a paragraph of eight to 10 sentences, write your complete summary of the article. Include the central ideas and the paraphrased key points that support those ideas within the article. In the summary, you submit, highlight the central ideas you’ve identified in bold and italicize the supporting evidence.
Your summary will be evaluated using the Defying Archetypes rubric.
Assignment
Complete the reading for this lesson.
Complete the self-checks in the lesson.
In the Assessments area, submit the analysis of your article for 03.11 Defying Archetypes.
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