We started out with cinnamon buns followed by an introduction to IAMBIC PENTAMETER.
The NEXT ac-TIVE-it-TY was NAME that TUNE.
Congrats to Salsa for a truly impressive tie-break victory for the last cinnamon bun. We discussed if true love really exists and then started Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare. Pick-up lines were practiced on your "temporary boyfriend/girlfried" and finally you drew 2 key images from sonnet 116. All in all a good day. Have a great weekend!
Today we were treated to an excellent performance of "The Passionate Shepherd" and "The Nymph's Reply" by William and Destiny. I'd say the Justin Beiber song that followed made more people happy than miserable. Reminders that tomorrow is the re-test for the Anglo-Saxon/Medieval Unit. More importantly don't forget that tomorrow is LOVE day and there are cinnamon buns!
I don't think I need to write much. Awesome day!! I love this class!!
Awesome job today on the Sir Gawain mini-presentations! Other topics covered today:
Lines 1-49 of Canterbury Tales.
The "Bob and Wheel" technique used in "Sir Gawain". Finally, the intense review game which ended in a tie between the Gawains and the Beowulfs.
MEDIEVAL BANQUET TOMORROW!!!
Today we started the last poem from the medieval unit: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. We started by going over the qualities of a Medieval Romance. Then we started "Sir Gawain" and were treated to an EPIC puppet performance in the Searcy Puppet Theatre. Finally we broke the poem into sections and started working on our presentations for tomorrow.
Sir John begs Barbara to mend his broken heart.
Great day today. We started with a dramatic presentation of the "Miller's Tale" and then introduced the elements of a ballad. We listened to "Hurricane" by Bob Dylan and highlighted elements of a ballad in the lyrics. Afterwards we went over the medieval Scottish ballad "Bonny Barbara Allan" and re-created the poem using cameras, ipad apps and twitter. The results will be shared in class on Monday.
Reminder: Medieval Banquet this Wednesday!! Looking forward to all the great projects!!
Today we covered 3 Key things:
1. Some key elements of Anglo-Saxon civilization (loyalty to leader, belief in fate etc.)
2. The two main traditions in Anglo-Saxon culture: Heroic an Elegiac. We listened to examples of modern Elegiac songs such as "Summer of '69" and "Time of Your Life" and "Old School".
3. The next section of "Beowulf" (the battle vs. Grendel) and the last two adventures of Beowulf (Beowulf vs. Grendel's mother and Beowulf and the Fire Dragon).
4. We did a quick write on "What is a hero" and "Who is a hero to you". We will discuss the importance of heroes and the similarities and differences between the heroic idea in "Beowulf" and some of our modern heroes on Monday.
Great enthusiasm today in the re-enactment of the battles. Reminder of your homework:
a) Read "The Battle with Grendel"
b) Take the poll on the home page about your choice for a final assessment
Reminder: Quiz on Tuesday on the Anglo-Saxon Unit.
Covered a lot things today including:
1. Kennings (Fancy metaphors that the Anglo-Saxons used to describe things) Such as "shelterer of warriors" to describe Hrothgar.
2. The (very brief) history of the Anglo-Saxon time period which inlcuded the invasion of the Germanic Tribes (Angles/Saxons/Jutes) who brought the original "Old English" to Britain.
3. The next section of the Epic "Beowulf" which included Beowulf's arrival
4 A brief discussion of great monsters in history.
5. The offiicial introducion of our new lit names.