Daniel Wallace
High School for Arts, Imagination and Inquiry
12th Grade ELA
Stations Lesson
Objective: Students will be able to craft an analytical paragraph on how ideas of silence develop
over the course of Maxine Hong Kingston’s “No Name Woman.”
Aim:
How do ideas of silence develop over the course of Maxine Hong Kingston’s “No Name
Woman”?
Do Now: Quick Write: What would you have done if you were the woman in this text?
(Alternative option: what would you have done if you were the man who impregnated
her?)
Development
1. Pair Share: Students will discuss the Quick Write with a partner. Each partner will
have thirty seconds to explain his or her thoughts.
2. Teacher will preview the written analysis goal of the class period and station
procedures.
3. Stations: In six groups, students will spend five minutes at each of the three stations,
and then rotate and repeat until each student has completed each of the three
station assignments. Stations are as follows:
 Wall of Silence. Students will each contribute one quote from the text to a
large paper hanging on the wall. Quotes will be related to “silence,” and
students will have them prepared from a prior activity. Each student will then
respond to at least one of the other quotes by asking a question, making a
connection, or simply writing their thoughts.
 Power Tableau. As a group, students will come up with a way to represent
the dynamics of power and silence in “No Name Woman” by embodying
them in a frozen, silent tableau.
 Circle Discussion. Students will be seated in a circle. Each will have a sheet for
notes. They will respond to the question “How would ‘No Name Woman’ be
different if characters were more open with each other?”
4. Written Analysis: After returning to their seats, students will craft a short piece of
analytical writing in response to the “Aim.” (How do ideas of silence develop over
the course of Maxine Hong Kingston’s “No Name Woman”?) They will be
encouraged to use quotes from the “Wall of Silence” and ideas from the “Power
Tableau” and “Circle Discussion” to inform their writing.
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Closure


Volunteers will share their analysis with the class.
Students will be asked how this text connects with larger issues of gender and
power.
Extension

Students will construct larger pieces of analytical writing based on how central
ideas develop over the course of “No Name Woman.”
Common Core State Standards
This lesson serves primarily as a scaffolded approach to meeting the following nonfiction
standard:
RI.11-12.2. Determine two or more 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 provide a
complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
It also works toward reaching the following:
RI.11-12.3. Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific
individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
W.11-12.1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts,
using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
W.11-12.10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and
revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes
W.11-12.4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and
style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing
types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
LCI Capacities for Imaginative Learning
This lesson incorporates the following capacities:
Noticing Deeply, Embodying, Making Connections, Identifying Patterns, and Creating Meaning
For more information, visit www.lcinstitute.org.
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