Consider The Green Knight: a new movie for British Lit When you’re teaching a new class, you just can’t do it all. You ease into the new routine, the new texts, the new lesson plans, and activities. For example, even though I taught British Literature to high school seniors for three years, I never taughtContinue reading “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight”
Category Archives: British Lit
Beowulf Lessons for High School
Seven Beowulf Lesson Plans and Resources It’s that time of year again for British Literature teachers. It’s time for Beowulf! Have you started your journey into Anglo-Saxon poetry? My usual early fall Anglo-Saxon routine culminates with a three-week unit on Beowulf followed by a short unit on The Hero’s Journey. I didn’t always enjoy teachingContinue reading “Beowulf Lessons for High School”
3 Resources for Shakespeare in Love
3 Resources to Build Prior Knowledge and Background Last week, I published a post about the 1998 movie Shakespeare in Love, one of my very favorite movies. That post recognized the fact that while the movie is indeed R-rated, it’s still one you can watch IF you know the parts to skip. In that post,Continue reading “3 Resources for Shakespeare in Love”
Shakespeare in Love: What Not to Watch
Despite its R rating, you can still teach with this film. Here’s how. If you need a good movie for your British Literature classes, but have always shied away from Shakespeare in Love due to its sexual content, shy away no longer. At the bottom of this post I’ve outlined the exact scenes to skipContinue reading “Shakespeare in Love: What Not to Watch”
Doctor Faustus: 10 Multi-Media Resources and Activities
High school students need to know the basics of the Doctor Faustus and also come to appreciate the staying power of Marlowe’s most famous work. Do that with multi-media selections to the max! Here are ten resources that have worked for me.
Canterbury Tales Lesson Plan Resources
There seems to be quite a bit of interest in this Canterbury Tales post from last year, so I’m reblogging it so more readers will locate it more easily! I’m getting ready to teach Canterbury Tales again in about a week, and if things go like they usually do, I’ll be creating some new resourcesContinue reading “Canterbury Tales Lesson Plan Resources”
A Better Beowulf Unit Begins with Sutton Hoo
The Dark Ages discovery builds Beowulf engagement Need an awesome nonfiction text to enhance your Beowulf unit? Look no further! I have a resource for you that you really must check out. It’s titled “Revisiting Sutton Hoo, Britain’s Mythical Ship Burial.” Written by Sam Knight and published in The New Yorker (August 9, 2019), thisContinue reading “A Better Beowulf Unit Begins with Sutton Hoo”
A New Poem Activity for The Wanderer
While our study of The Wanderer included some note-taking, reading the poem aloud, and completing a close-reading activity, I wanted us to go one step further to get more out of this beautiful verse. So when I read about something called the “Ubi sunt” motif present in The Wanderer, I took notice… especially when I considered how it might be a way for students to better connect personally to this poem.
Gulliver’s Travels & The New York Times’ Anatomy of a Scene
Using the New York Times Anatomy of a Scene collection as inspiration, high school students provide director’s commentary for a movie clip and thereby showing their understanding of satire.
Paradise Lost: My British Lit Students Translate Lines into Braille
My senior British Lit students recently tried their hands at embossing Braille code. Here’s how they did it.