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”
Tag Archives: British Literature
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”
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”
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”
The Dream of the Rood: A Dream of a Poem
Last fall, as I read and planned lessons for Beowulf, “The Wanderer,” and “The Seafarer,” I kept coming across “The Dream of the Rood.” It wasn’t included in our textbook, but since I kept reading about it (and it was included in my trusty Norton anthology, after all), I became more and more curious. Fast forward: my “Dream of the Rood” close reading activity is here!
A New Movie for Your Anglo-Saxon Poetry Unit
The 1-hour and 52-minute movie is captivating, and builds suspense and excitement around the very culture awash in The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife’s Lament, and Beowulf.
Everyman: Resources for the Morality Play
A media mix brings Everyman to life My senior British literature classes ended the first semester with a study of Everyman, the 1510 morality play. Again, just as with The Canterbury Tales and Le Morte d’Arthur, I felt challenged to find a supplemental text and activities as a result of the minimal two-page treatment ourContinue reading “Everyman: Resources for the Morality Play”
Le Morte d’Arthur: Resources for High School
My quest with my high school seniors into British Lit continues with one of the last two texts in our Medieval Era unit: Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. This text, published in 1485, provides the tales of the legendary King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. (A post on our last medievalContinue reading “Le Morte d’Arthur: Resources for High School”
The Canterbury Tales Lesson Plan Resources
This year, I taught The Canterbury Tales for the first time. Here are the resources and activities I used.
When Christian Bale becomes Beowulf
Here’s another way to infuse relevance into Beowulf When you extend your Beowulf unit into a mini-unit on Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, three things will happen: 1) You’ll build excitement to read an Anglo-Saxon poem so old we don’t even know exactly when it was written or by whom. 2) You’ll open students’ eyes toContinue reading “When Christian Bale becomes Beowulf”