BEOWULF Unit Plan

BEOWULF Unit Plan
October 13th –October 22st
Text:
Raffel, Burton, Trans. BEOWULF. NY: Signet Classic, 1963.
Student Responsibilities:
• Review Sparknotes – take notes on your blog page
o Key Facts
o Plot Overview
o Principal Characters – make a list
o Themes
• Post responses to blogs as assigned
• Take notes and/or annotate text during the reading – questions or comments you may want to post or bring up during small group and large group discussion
• Jot down page and line numbers for quotations you may want to use to support your test answers – see test focus below
• Participate in small and large group discussions
Readings Due Dates:
• October 13th: Grendel: reading by Mr. Osterhaus
• October 14th : Complete Grendel post; read Prologue to Chapter 8
• October 15th: No class – continue reviewing Sparknotes; post assigned blog
• October 16th: Read Chapters 19-25; post assigned blog
• October 19th: Read Chapters 26-32: post assigned blog
• October 20th: Finish the book; post assigned blog
Assessment Discussion and Test
• October 20: Large Group Discussion
• October 21: Final BEOWULF Test
Vocabulary -- kenning
Pretest Focus
• Analysis of characters in terms of hero qualities – Germanic Heroic code/Grendel
• Character Analysis of Beowulf – hero or braggart (hubris)?
• Evidence of pagan and Christian influence on the poem
o Ritual
o View of after-life
o Other?
• Evidence of Good vs. Evil theme
• The giving of gifts theme – gold, weapons, etc.
• Beowulf’s beliefs and values (i.e. belief in legacy . . .)