Lesson video

Hello everyone, my name is Mr. Pryke, and welcome to this first lesson on Kate Chopin short story, "The Story of an Hour".

This is one of my favourite short stories, but I'm not going to tell you why yet, because that would ruin some of the surprises that we'll find later on in the plot.

All you'll need for this lesson is a pen and paper or something to write on and with.

If you can try and move yourself away from any distractions, and when you're ready we'll begin.

In today's lesson, we're going to look at four things.

We're going to begin by looking at important elements of short stories.

Next, we'll make predictions based on the first line of Kate Chopin's Story of an Hour.

Our predictions are going to involve thinking about what happens in the plot.

Next, we'll read the first part of the story and we'll finish by revisiting our predictions to see if what we thought would happen was correct.

Let's begin then by looking at important elements of short stories.

There are three things which make up short stories.

Character, setting, and plot.

A character is a person in a novel, play, or film.

A setting is a location, a place where the story occurs.

And finally, the plot, the main events of the story.

All of these elements have to be included, otherwise there would be no story.

The characters setting and plot maintain our interest in what the writer is saying.

In today's lesson, we're going to be focusing particularly on character and plot.

The main focus for today's lesson will be on reading for meaning.

Reading for meaning means discussing and understanding what has been read, not just reading words on a page.

Reading for meaning is about looking at the information we are clearly given by a writer and thinking about what we learned from that information.

It's about looking at what a writer may be hinting at, the messages they're giving us, but not telling us outright.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the first sentence of the story.

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.

It's a great first sentence which really hooks us into the plot.

Before we move on, let's take a look at that word afflicted which can be challenging to understand.

Affliction, a cause of pain or suffering.

Let's have a look at some other examples of the word affliction in a sentence.

The man's toothache was the cause of his affliction.

She was struck down by a mysterious affliction.

I am afflicted by my asthma.

Look at how easily we could change the word affliction for pain or suffering.

The man's toothache was the cause of his suffering.

She was struck down by a mysterious pain.

Let's look back at that first sentence now.

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.

Again, we could easily switch that word afflicted.

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard suffered with heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.

So can you remember what the word affliction means? Pause the video here and copy and complete the definition.

When you're finished, press play to see if you got the correct answer.

Well done affliction.

A cause of pain or suffering.

If you've got one or both of those words, brilliant.

You may have even wanted to rewrite the definition yourself in which case well done.

Let's take a look back at that first sentence.

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.

Let's start making some predictions then based on that exciting first line from the Story of an Hour.

I would like you to complete the following two activities.

Activity one, based on the first line, list up to three things we know for certain about Mrs. Mallard.

Activity two, based on the first line, list up to three things we can predict about Mrs. Mallard.

Remember, we only have the first line of the story to work with here.

So don't worry if you're struggling to find three things.

Pause the video to complete the task and resume once you're finished.

Well done, let's have a look at some of the answers.

The first activity asks you to list three things that we know about Mrs. Mallard based on that first line.

Here are three that I found.

She has an affliction, she is married.

Her affliction is not a secret.

If you've got any of those, well done.

But don't worry if you didn't.

If you'd like to pause the video here and copy some of those answers down, that's absolutely fine.

Well done particularly if you've got the one in the purple box.

Her affliction is not a secret.

That was a tough one.

Activity two ask you to list what we can predict about Mrs. Mallard.

Now, remember these are just predictions based on that first line.

So we may find that we're wrong when we read the rest of the story.

Here's what I found.

I'm predicting based on that first line that Mrs Mallard is old.

I predict that she is fragile.

And I also predict that she needs caring for.

If you've got anything similar to that, well done.

But don't worry if you didn't.

And remember, they are just predictions.

So we may find that we're wrong.

Here I'd like you to complete another activity.

What do you think Mrs. Mallard will be thinking and feeling when she hears of her husband's death.

There are two sentence stems I'd like you to copy and complete.

Let me read them for you.

Number one, I think Mrs. Mallard will be feeling when she hears her husband's death because.

And number two, his death might make her think of because.

It's your job to fill in the gaps.

So pause the video here, copy and complete the sentences and then resume the video once you're done.

It was her sister Josephine who told her in broken sentences veiled hints that revealed in half concealing.

Her husband's friend Richards was there too near her.

It was he who had been in the newspaper office when the intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed".

He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.

She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same with a paralysed inability to accept its significance.

She wept at once with sudden wild abandonment in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself, she went away to her room alone.

She would have no one follow her.

There stood facing the open window, a comfortable roomy armchair.

Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.

She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all a quiver with the new spring life.

The delicious breath of rain was in the air.

In the street below, a peddler was crying his wares.

The notes of a distance song which someone was singing reached her faintly and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the West facing her window.

She sat with a head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair quite motionless except when a sub came up into her throat and shook her as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams. She was young with a fair calm face whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.

But now there was a dull stare in her eyes whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky.

It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.

Well done, and thank you for listening so closely.

Let's move on to our multiple choice questions.

I'm going to present you with four multiple choice questions about the plot.

Feel free to pause after each question so you can select your answer and then press play to find out whether you are correct.

When you're ready we'll begin.

Question one, what affliction does Mrs. Mallard suffer from? Is it option one asthma, option two heart trouble, option three poor eyesight or option four hearing loss? If you need to pause the video to make your selection, do so now and then click play to find out the answer.

So I'm hoping that you made the choice for option two, heart trouble.

Well done, if you did.

Number two, how is Brentley Mallard, Mrs. Mallard's husband killed? Option one, he is killed in a railroad to disaster, option two, he dies from natural causes, option three, he is killed in a car crash and option four, he is murdered.

Pause the video if you need to, and make your choice.

So well done if you selected option one.

He is killed in a railroad disaster.

Question number three.

How does Mrs. Mallard react to the news of her husband's death? Option one, she becomes angry and start smashing things.

Option two, she sits in silence and does not believe the news is true.

Option three, she does not react and option four, she weeps and goes to her room where she is alone.

You know the drill by now.

If you need to pause, do so and then click play to find out the answer.

So I'm hoping that you picked she weeps and goes to her room where she is alone option four.

Brilliant work if you did.

Final question then.

What does Mrs. Mallard do when she is alone in her room? Option one, feeling restless, she paces the room.

Option two, feeling tired, she sits in her arm chair.

Option three, feeling angry, she smashes things in the room or option four, feeling sad, she stares at a picture of her husband.

Pause the video and make your choice.

So I'm hoping that you picked option two, feeling tired, she sits in her arm chair.

Well done if you've got those correct.

If you didn't, please don't worry.

But it might be an idea to rewind the video and listen to the story again before you move on.

Here's your next task.

I would like you to write a summary of everything that has happened in the story so far.

You can write your summary independently or if you'd like a little bit of extra help, you can use the sentences you can see on your screen.

Pause the video to complete the task and then resume once you're finished.

Let's review our answers.

Here's what I put.

In "The Story of an Hour", the reader is introduced to Mrs. Mallard, who has a heart affliction.

She hears news of her husband's death.

He was killed in a railroad disaster.

In reaction to this, Mrs. Mallard weeps on her sister's shoulder before going to her room and refusing to have anyone follow her.

Please don't worry if what you've written isn't exactly the same as what you see on the screen.

Try and look for similar points and give yourself a tick if you find any.

Let's continue reading the story.

As I mentioned before, we're not going to read the entire story today, but there's a particular twist in this section that I really, really like.

Listen carefully because we're going to play a game of true and false afterwards to see if you've understood what you've heard.

There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it fearfully.

What was it? She did not know.

It was too subtle and elusive to name, but she felt it creeping out of the sky, reaching towards her through the sounds, the sense, the colour that filled the air.

Now, her bosom rose and fell tumultuously.

She was beginning to recognise this thing that was approaching to possess her and she was striving to beat it back with her will as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.

When she abandoned herself, a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips.

She said it over and over under her breath, free, free, free.

The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes.

They stayed keen and bright, her pulses beat fast and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.

She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monster's joy that held her.

A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.

She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind tender hands folded in death.

The face that had never looked save with love upon her fixed and grey and dead.

But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.

And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.

What a twist.

It turns out Mrs. Mallard is happy that her husband has died in his railroad disaster because she now feels free.

There are plenty more twists and turns to come in the remainder of the story but that will come next lesson.

Let's play a game of true or false to see how much you understood about the plot.

I've got four statements for you here.

I'm going to read them to you and I'd like you to pause the video, select which ones are true and which ones are false and then resume the video to check your answers.

Statement A, a strange feeling begins to overcome Mrs. Mallard.

Statement B, the strange feeling Mrs. Mallard feels is sadness.

Statement C, Mrs. Mallard feels free from her marriage, and statement D Mrs. Mallard is excited about a future without her husband.

Pause the video here to make your selection and then resume to hear the answers.

So here are the true or false answers.

Statement A was true.

A strange feeling does begin to overcome Mrs. Mallard.

Statement B however was false.

That strange feeling that Mrs. Mallard feels is not sadness.

Statement C was true.

Mrs. Mallard feels free from her marriage and statement D was also true.

Mrs. Mallard is excited about a future without her husband.

Well done if you've got those correct but don't worry if you didn't.

So let's revisit our predictions from the beginning of the lesson.

Let's review really, really quickly what's happened so we can check whether our predictions are correct.

The story begins when Mrs. Mallard hears about her husband's death in a railroad disaster and she wept at once in her sister's arms. After she weeps, she went away to her room alone and she sat quite motionless.

But she begins to feel a strange feeling coming towards her.

She begins to repeat the words free, free, free under her breath.

And she opens and spreads her arms out to her future these days without her husband in welcome.

So here's your task.

I would like you to pause the video and answer this question.

What have we discovered about Mrs. Mallard's feelings since our predictions? Sentence one, Mrs. Mallard feels sad at the beginning of the story because.

And statement two, Mrs. Mallard feels sad when she first hears of her husband's death but.

I would like you to pause the video, to copy and complete those sentences.

This is a way of checking if our predictions were correct.

I know that I got one wrong.

I thought that Mrs. Mallard would be old based on that first line, but it turns out that she's young.

Pause the video now and resume when you're finished.

Let's review our answers.

An acceptable answer to this question might be, Mrs. Mallard feels sad at the beginning of the story because her husband has just died.

And Mrs. Mallard feels sad when she first hears of her husband's death, but she soon realises that this is a good thing.

This is an acceptable answer because it's really, really clear about what happens in the plot.

A good answer may read like this.

Mrs. Mallard feels sad at the beginning of the story because she finds out that her husband has died in a railroad disaster and she is now a widow.

And Mrs. Mallard feels sad when she first hears about her husband's death, but the shock soon subsides and she realises she is free from her marriage.

These are good answers because they use a line from the text to back up their ideas, and we call that line a quotation.

That brings us to the end of today's lesson.

A really big well done on all the fantastic learning you've achieved today.

I've got three final things I'd like you to do now.

First, look back at your notes today and identify the three most important things that happen in "The Story of an Hour".

It's totally up to you what those important things are.

Second, don't forget to complete the exit quiz on the next slide.

And third, if you're able to, please take a picture of your work and ask your parents or carer to share it with your teacher so they can see all the fantastic things you've learned today.

And if you'd like ask your parent or carer to send a picture of your work to @OakNational on Twitter so I can see what you've been doing too.

Thank you for joining me today.

Next lesson, we are going to be reading the rest of the story and there are plenty more twists and turns to come.

Take care, and I look forward to seeing you next time.