Teaching Beowulf next! Any ideas?

[Iceblink]

Inner city black students.... juniors.

[Keanu from Speed]What would you do?[/Keanu from Speed]

[Saltenya94]

All I know is that in Annie Hall the woody allen charachter encourages annie to take college classes. She decides to take literature classes... and he says:

"Just don't take any class where they force you to read Beowulf"

Since that day - I see the name Beowulf - and my brain ignores it. So, basically I'm a clean slate. Tell me as a college student why I should read Beowulf.

I'm sure the good reasons aren't too far from these kids. I mean if Homer's ancient stories can still have meaning with students today, I am sure that anything can be grasped as well.

Yes, even "Heart of Darkness" which for me was a painful long read. Was I forced to read it? Yes. Did I enjoy it at the time? No way.

Did it have some merit to read it? I guess, kinda of yeah. It did bring up some good colonialism topics in a very wordy way... but still I'd be surprised if more than 1/5 of the class read that one in high school. but oh well....

[christopher d]

Some random thoughts from an amateur who's helped others set up medieval literature classes...

Folks will tell you not to use the Heany version. There are many vaild (imho) reasons for this, none of them pertaining to highschool. It's readable and has a cool cover.

It's a bad-ass story. Beowulf is the quintessential bad-ass. Hook them with the story. Then reel them slowly into what an epic poem is, the function it had, etc.

The dark ages and 21st C America aren't so terribly remote. We are turning very much into a culture of "only the strong survive", and he with the biggest gun makes the rules. Enjoy... it's a fun read.

[Jacen McCullough]

Inner city black students.... juniors.

[Keanu from Speed]What would you do?[/Keanu from Speed]


I'd spend at least one full class getting their heads wrapped around the language style used in Beowulf. Write down short (1-3 sentences) passages on strips of paper and hand them out to each student. Have them all stand up. Get a small ball (something like a koosh ball or the like) and toss it around the room. Whenever someone catches the ball, they read their passage and toss the ball to someone else of their choosing, who does the same. It helps them to just get used to the oddities of the older-style language.

After that, just apply it to the times. Beowulf is a story of a monster, murder, partying and a great hero. It shouldn't be a tough sell to a group of city kids. :) Maybe lead off with a "modern short version" where you retell the story in modern themes and language before really digging into the text?

[elainemichelle]

Yes, even "Heart of Darkness" which for me was a painful long read. Was I forced to read it? Yes. Did I enjoy it at the time? No way.
Ugh, don't say that. That's two books away in English right now.

Folks will tell you not to use the Heany version. There are many vaild (imho) reasons for this, none of them pertaining to highschool. It's readable and has a cool cover.
We read the Gummere one in 8th grade. It was enjoyable, the whole class was obsessed. I don't think she taught it a special way or anything. Just little worksheets here and there and the usual vocab tests pulled from whatever we were reading.

Just make sure the kids understand the story, stop and explain what things are.

The Adventures of Beowulf (http://www.lone-star.net/literature/beowulf/)

Pages such as Why is Beowulf Important? (http://www.library.unr.edu/subjects/guides/beowulf.html)

[X X I]

I'd spend at least one full class getting their heads wrapped around the language style used in Beowulf. Write down short (1-3 sentences) passages on strips of paper and hand them out to each student. Have them all stand up. Get a small ball (something like a koosh ball or the like) and toss it around the room. Whenever someone catches the ball, they read their passage and toss the ball to someone else of their choosing, who does the same. It helps them to just get used to the oddities of the older-style language.

Um... why do all inner city black kids have to like sports? And why do you assume that they can't learn it any other way? (A normal way such as class discussion)

[Jacen McCullough]

Um... why do all inner city black kids have to like sports? And why do you assume that they can't learn it any other way? (A normal way such as class discussion)


They don't and I didn't. What I suggested was shown to me a month ago by Baltimore County master teachers as a way to get kids used to the language they would encounter in a Shakespeare unit. The school we were at that day was small town-ish. The strategy has nothing to do with sports (the ball is used just to keep the activity random and fun), and it's a strategy for ALL learners (Not just inner city black kids). By hearing and speaking aloud some difficult passages in works like Shakespeare's plays or Beowulf, it takes some of the "terror" away from the language. Kids of all races and economic backgrounds tend to get scared away by books with difficult language structure, and this activity is designed to lessen that fear so they can read the work at face value.

[elainemichelle]

Um... why do all inner city black kids have to like sports? And why do you assume that they can't learn it any other way? (A normal way such as class discussion)
I've had teachers do that in almost every subject area.

We need a thread on teaching that way I think....

[Dr. Wankler]

Ugh, don't say that. That's (Heart of Darkness) two books away in English right now.

It could be worse. It could be Conrad's Secret Sharer. Heart of Darkness works better if you read it aloud. Not so loud that you scare lots of people around you, but loud enough that, if you were riding public transportation, you'd get a seat to yourself.

[zverskiy yobar]

Some random thoughts from an amateur who's helped others set up medieval literature classes...

Folks will tell you not to use the Heany version. There are many vaild (imho) reasons for this, none of them pertaining to highschool. It's readable and has a cool cover.

It's a bad-ass story. Beowulf is the quintessential bad-ass. Hook them with the story. Then reel them slowly into what an epic poem is, the function it had, etc.

The dark ages and 21st C America aren't so terribly remote. We are turning very much into a culture of "only the strong survive", and he with the biggest gun makes the rules. Enjoy... it's a fun read.

the problem with Heany is that he is extremely liberal with alot of the translation.

Of course that is his point -to be liberal with it and create a modern "celticized" version of the original.

I am not saying this is bad-just that was his goal.I own a copy of his version and that is the version that is in my "strum through" pile of frequent reads.

AND I do agree with your general idea that his is probably the best version to have HS juniors to read.

as far as the concept of "only the strong survive" .. yes it is a violent epic.But this is where liberal translations really screw up.There are alot of words and concepts that guys like Heany dont translate to well.
He also does a very poor version of re creating the Germanic rite of Sumbel in his version.

This is very key part of the poem and one that Would speak to teens, regardless of background.

Keith-
I dont know how up youre on Beowulf studies... I would suggest reading "Beowulf's Wealtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition " by Helen Damico
It takes a strong look at the role of Sumble in the poem and the role of Hrothgars Queen Wealtheow.

another book I would suggest is "Lords of battle:Image and Reality of the Comitatus in Dark Age Britain" by Stephen Evans it doesnt specifically focus on Beowulf.. but it draws heavily from that and the Epic poem " Gododdin" for much of its literary source.

Both are alternative -BUT RESPECTED academic works that I believe will help you teach the students about Dark Age Warband culture and how it is found in the poem.
Dont focus on the stuffy academic works that disect its style.focus on the heroic culture and how it relates to modern times.

My two cents

BTW-both works are hard to find in places like Barnes and Nobles and pretty pricey to order online.

If your school is part of the Northern Illinois library loan system you can get both through them-I know for a fact NIU has both, dont know about other universites in the area.

[(TxT)]

Right now we are doing a Beowulf unit in my senior English class. We would talk about some of the story then the teacher would read it to us from an abriged book. I dosed off everyday we did this. Then we had to red it in groups, pointless because the teacher already told us the ending, my group quickly got of task an bsed the assignment. We then had to make a visual desribing Beowul, my group made a coat of arms and kicked every other groups ass. Now we just had to read a mock-epic called Beocat and relate it to Beowulf, that sucked as well. I have an assignment due tomorrow in which we have to write a dialogue between two characters in the story.

IMO this story sucks big balls. First off I hate reading fantasy and anything that takes place before the colonization of America. Second, people try to say it has all the element kids today enjoy like partying and murder, we kids enjoy watching murder in movies and experiencing the party not reading about it. When that happens we drift of topic and talk about cool movies and parties. Third, our teacher tries to make us think that Beowulf is so cool, he isn't a real person so this usually never translates to anybody. Lastly, when the teacher ead it to us she did so from a childrens book, big no-no. It made me feel the whole time like we were learning about a childrens book and not an important piece of literary history, who care about a childrens book?

If you wan to make kids learn from reading Beowulf first read it aloud in class and make them write down character analysis, important quotes, and plot detail as a class together as you read, and make sure you as the teacher are involved in this because the kids won't understand what the hell is going on. Try to make this intersting by letting the kids themselves discuss and not you the teacher because once you say something they'll zone out. Then when you're done with each section have the kids either take a quiz on it or assign a creative writting paper that relates to the story an weight it as a quiz. At the end do the same with a unit test and have them do a project for their review in which they must write their own section of Beowulf using the same characters and have them either read it to the class or act it out.

[elainemichelle]

IMO this story sucks big balls. First off I hate reading fantasy and anything that takes place before the colonization of America.
It's not fantasy. It's based on fact.

Second, people try to say it has all the element kids today enjoy like partying and murder, we kids enjoy watching murder in movies and experiencing the party not reading about it. When that happens we drift of topic and talk about cool movies and parties.
See, this part I don't understand b/c I absolutely loved Beowulf.

Third, our teacher tries to make us think that Beowulf is so cool, he isn't a real person so this usually never translates to anybody.
It's quite probable that Beowulf was a real person. All of the details surrounding that are a bit fuzzy for me and I don't feel like looking for my binder for English from 5 yrs ago.

Lastly, when the teacher read it to us she did so from a childrens book, big no-no. It made me feel the whole time like we were learning about a childrens book and not an important piece of literary history, who care about a childrens book?
We found 21 titles with the keyword beowulf and Audience is Child (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?userid=3B6ZAg5A8A&WRD=beowulf&AUD=JUV&kids=y)

I think maybe your teacher is just slightly inept.

If you wan to make kids learn from reading Beowulf first read it aloud in class and make them write down character analysis, important quotes, and plot detail as a class together as you read, and make sure you as the teacher are involved in this because the kids won't understand what the hell is going on. Try to make this intersting by letting the kids themselves discuss and not you the teacher because once you say something they'll zone out. Then when you're done with each section have the kids either take a quiz on it or assign a creative writting paper that relates to the story an weight it as a quiz. At the end do the same with a unit test and have them do a project for their review in which they must write their own section of Beowulf using the same characters and have them either read it to the class or act it out.
This is fantastic way of teaching it, esp. the acting it out part at the end.

[MikeLastort2]

Have you thought of reading "Eaters Of The Dead" by Michael Crichton and comparing that to Beowulf? After that, you could rent a copy of "The 13th Warrior" which is the movie based on Crichton's book. Maybe an effort to show that great stories and literature live forever.

[(TxT)]

This is fantastic way of teaching it, esp. the acting it out part at the end.


That is how my tenth grade teacher taught us all of the books we read and her class was always fun and you actually learned. The only exception was when she taught the book Night which was about the Haulocaust and South African literature.

[Iceblink]

I'll follow up in a little while. I'm heading out to the library to pick up some ancillary materials... but, man.... I love this forum.

[elainemichelle]

That is how my tenth grade teacher taught us all of the books we read and her class was always fun and you actually learned. The only exception was when she taught the book Night which was about the Haulocaust and South African literature.
Last year for Othello we broke up into groups and edited scenes so we'd have 25 lines each at least and had to act it out in front of the class (extra credit for memorization). It was hilarious b/c my classes are full of attention whores and we're all very overdramatic to start with. I was Desdemona in her death scene wearing a sheet as a toga/dress. We had to turn in why we got rid of the lines we got rid of and then had to do a direct paraphrase (comma to comma, line to line etc) of what we kept.

Sophomore year we had to write our own scene with lines from various stuff by Shakespeare while keeping iambic pentameter intact. We started with King Lear and added some really weird stuff. Painted a backdrop on paper, made paperbag costumes, etc. It was entertaining until I realized I would never memorize my lines and failed that part.

[Robert25]

When we studied it our teacher, a very cool one, had us assemble into groups and perform scenes from Beowulf. My group did the scene where beowulf tears grendel's arm off. Luckily I was grendel and got to say Argghhhhhhhhh! as loud as i could, a good reason for a highschool student

[Sapphire]

Well, I'm sure you're already immersed in teaching the text at this point . . . but I had a great experience reading this work in high school. My instructor had us re-write the story from Grendel's perspective. It always stuck with me, and changed the way I perceived non-protagonist characters. After the assignment, I was always trying to see stories from other points of view. Anyway, an important lesson for me; just thought I'd share.

[Iceblink]

Well, I'm sure you're already immersed in teaching the text at this point . . . but I had a great experience reading this work in high school. My instructor had us re-write the story from Grendel's perspective. It always stuck with me, and changed the way I perceived non-protagonist characters. After the assignment, I was always trying to see stories from other points of view. Anyway, an important lesson for me; just thought I'd share.

Hehe. The John Gardner lesson. I'm actually using that as their final assessment. Did your teacher ever tell you that there was a whole novel written that way?

Thanks for the suggestion. As you can see, I would have taken it had I seen it in time.

One thing I wonder... did he have you add the story little by little as you went on.... like:

Read the beginning -> Grendel's perspective.
Read the battle -> Grendel's perspective.

etc.

I gave it to them as a final activity... but maybe it would have been more effective to have them change it as we went along.

[Sapphire]

Hehe. The John Gardner lesson. I'm actually using that as their final assessment. Did your teacher ever tell you that there was a whole novel written that way?
. . .
One thing I wonder... did he have you add the story little by little as you went on.... like:

Read the beginning -> Grendel's perspective.
Read the battle -> Grendel's perspective.

etc.

I gave it to them as a final activity... but maybe it would have been more effective to have them change it as we went along.

I didn't realize that. But now that you mention it, it seems vaguely familiar that I had heard about the Gardner novel - anyway, its been years so who knows?

If I remember correctly (and I could just be lying to you), he allowed us to pick a section and rewrite only that part.

I hope you had a good experience teaching it.