There had been no Wednesday post because there was no homework over the holiday week-end. 

TODAY IN CLASS
First period did a thorough job with the Monk and got a good start on the Friar.  Third period was a do-it-yourself project with some guiding questions on the Monk; I deeply apologize for the unusual circumstances.  Fifth got treated to what happens when straws break camels' backs . . .

Do not worry--I will carefully post what you need to know about the Monk tomorrow, and in all classes we will pick up with the complicated (and actually pretty difficult) Friar on Wednesday

FOR TOMORROW
No homework.  BUT during class tomorrow you will work independently on several much shorter pilgrim descriptions, have a few minutes to exchange ideas on those pilgrijms, and then work on three more as homework for Wednesday.

There will be a hand-out that will specifiy which particular pilgrims you're assigned to focus on, so I don't actually want you to get a head-start on this tonight! :)

Please DO realize, however, that every student ultimately responsible for knowing all of the pilgrims in the General Prologue, not just the ones you are assigned to take detailed notes on.

Almost to Thanksgiving . . .

TODAY IN CLASS
I stamped completed homework papers--annotations of the Nun, lines 122-145--with an eye toward discrepancies between apparent praise and between the lines criticism or "faint praise" (not special at all!).
But there were elements of redemption:  everyone with homework done was expected to add to their notes as we discussed; people who had neglected to do it were able to take notes for partial credit; people who had been absent were told to take notes as we went along and hand it in for up to full credit (depending on thoroughness).    We DID manage to complete all of the Nun (pp. 148-150) .

FOR TOMORROW
No homework, but we will continue together tomorrow with the Monk--and who knows, maybe even the Friar!!

TODAY IN CLASS
All classes have completed the first three pilgrims:  The Knight, his son the Squire, and their travel companion, the Yeoman.  We are ready for the Nun.  Your homework follows . . .

FOR TOMORROW
Read lines 122-144, at least two times.  You can print this page and do the rest of the work on that print-out, OR you can work at your computer but write notes and annotations on your own paper.  If you do that, make sure it's on loose-leaf paper you can hand in.
What to do--
Consider what kind of "praise" the narrator is giving the Nun.  Some things sound like compliments, but other comments "undercut" the compliments, either by adding some negative detail or by showing that really, there's nothing particularly special or praiseworthy going on.  Your job is to figure out these discrepancies.
It MIGHT make it easier if you read the rest of the Nun's description, just to get an overview, but I really want you to focus your observations and comments on lines 122-144.
Due tomorrow at the start of class.

MAKE-UPS
If you missed Friday's quiz and did not make it up today (a couple of people did), you must do it tomorrow after school or else on Wednesday MORNING.  No after-school make-ups on Wednesday.

TODAY IN CLASS
Student worked in groups to review their suggested test questions and to compile a "composite" quiz within their group; all original papers were turned in as well as the one created today by the group.

All classes also looked at the Middle English version of the first 18 lines of the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.  Takeaways:

• you can recognize quite a few words, and some of you make very good guesses about the rest (unlike Old English, you can almost "read" Middle English)
• notice that you can see the rhyming words at the end of the lines, two by two:  these couplets show that Middle English poetry has introduced rhyme (the Anglo-Saxon poetry did not have it). And the couplets were in Chaucer's original writing--not just added by later translators.

In first period, we looked at the text up to the introduction of the first pilgrim, the Knight.  We'll do that tomorrow (and move on!) in the other classes.

FOR TOMORROW

Quiz over pages 28-33.  The group work today should have been a good study review, but obviously some of you may wish to do more.

The quiz won't take very long; we will be continuing to read The General Prologue.

TODAY IN CLASS
We had a casual foundation discussion for Canterbury Tales, rooted in general observations about the spectrum of society one might see at various places (focussing on Western Washington), "high school" as portrayed in film, and some of the predictable "types" at IHS (or practically any large high school).

And we talked a little about satire, from "The Colbert Report" to "Southpark,"  with quite a few stops in between. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales will combine Chaucer's acute observational skill with his ability to point out the shortcomings of certain personality types or of major institutions.  The only difficulty for us will be that the society he examines existed over 600 years ago; the EASY part is that so many human traits have not changed one bit.  They are universal.

In 1st/3rd, we looked at the first 18 lines of the General Prologue, but we didn't do that in 6th.

FOR TOMORROW
No specific homework, but there WILL be a background quiz on pp. 28-33 of the textbook (the Medieval section of the major historical background section at the beginning of the book).  So you need to make sure you're studying it; the one-time through reading before you prepared your ten possible quiz questions will not be sufficient.
During part of class tomorrow . . . . students will work in groups to select the strongest, most representative questions from the homework that was due today.  (Many of you had turned that in on Tuesday).

Last-Minute Reminder!

FRIDAY IN CLASS
Time to finish questions on the Bede hand-out--the one that featured the broader geography and history of Britain, including the different national groups Bede identifies.

HOMEWORK
And you know--and have known--that the Beowulf essay is due. I opened turnitin.com early on Sunday, and the on-time deadline for submission is 11:59 p.m. tonight.  Hard copies should be printed, stapled, and ready to turn in at the start of class tomorrow.

TODAY IN CLASS
2nd Hand-out for Essay:  Embedding quotations, particularly poetry.  This hand-out also provided the accurate MLA citation for the Beowulf book. We talked about integrating quotations briefly, and I specifically called attention to some of the distinctions between poetry quotations (applicable in this essay), and prose.  For overall help with integrating quotations or any other aspect of MLA work, see the Purdue OWL ("Online Writing Lab"):
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
This source is carefully and thoroughly organized; it is to be your main resource for MLA formatting throughout the year.

Caedmon of Whitby excerpt from Bede (96-100):  we briefly talked about the contents, and I showed you both pictures of the actual site as well as the Old English version of Caedmon's poem.

Hand-out: Final selection from Bede  Students received a hand-out that illustrates the broader historical focus of Bede's work (vs. the more church-related material).  1st/3rd had plenty of time to read it carefully in class; 5th not so much time.

FOR TOMORROW
Homework is strictly to work on the essay.  You should have a rough framing by Friday, and at least some quotations worked in.  Then you could even ask a good question or two if you're not sure of your embedding skills!

You do NOT need to work outside class on the questions at the end of  the new Bede hand-out--you'll have class time tomorrow to do them.

(However, IF YOU MISS CLASS ON FRIDAY, you need to answer the questions on the back as homework.)

TODAY IN CLASS
1.  New hand-out for the out-of-class essay due at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12.  Hard copy due on Tuesday, Nov. 13.

2.  Time to read background material (pp. 97-98)  and an excerpt from "A History of the English Church and People" (pp. 98-100) by a person known as "the Venerable Bede."

FOR TOMORROW
Study the topics, consider what each one involves, and make a decision on what you plan to pursue.  Make at least a starter effort to gather material/details from the text that would apply to the essay.  NOTE WELL:  this is not any form of "research essay."  Do not look things up.  Use only your text of Beowulf or the comitatus article I handed out.

Post for Tuesday

Umm . . .yes.  It's late.

But there was really nothing much to say.  Tuesday in class:  the written portion of the Beowulf exam (2 paragraph responses plus a longer response).  For Wednesday:  no homework.

Filming Tomorrow; Wear Assigned Color!

For my 5th period, it's blue--I don't know about the rest of you!

TODAY IN CLASS
3rd period took the objective portion of the Beowulf test.  In all classes we went over expectations and potential topics for the written portion tomorrow.

FOR TOMORROW
Study and prepare.  See Friday's post (Nov. 2) for the details we discussed today.

Be ready to start the test as soon as the bell rings. Have loose-leaf paper and a blue or black pen out and ready to gol

Important Change, and Essential Information!

TODAY IN CLASS
Music to my ears:  I got back to school from my meeting just after school let out, and spoke briefly with the substitute teacher.  She had nothing but praise for your behavior today.  That makes me happy.  Thank you.

The downside, of course, is not your fault--we'd just gotten all caught up to be at the same place, and 3rd period could not take the test today because of the unexpected fire alarm (and the LONG time you were out there).  I wanted everyone to be "on the same page" in terms of how much time you would have to think seriously about potential written questions. Now, if I post the general topics here that that I will draw on, 3rd period would have extra time and everyone else would have to prepare over the week-end.

SO--here's the deal.  3rd WILL have the objective part on Monday, of course.  In 1st and 5th, I will make the out-of-class assignment (that will take about 15 minutes) and then you will move on to the minor wrap-up pieces for the Anglo-Saxon unit.

Then, on Tuesday, EVERYONE will take the written part on the same day.  We have 50 minute class periods that day, and I really didn't intend for the writing to take a full 55 minutes anyway.

HERE ARE THE TOPICS YOU SHOULD STUDY.

For the paragraph responses:  you will write on TWO, and they will be worth 10 points each. However, there will be only three to choose from on the actual test!

• briefly showing exactly how/why Beowulf fulfills the requirements of an epic, using the fuller definition from the hand-out, not merely from your book.  Your response should refer to several specific features of the poem.
• illustrating from the text three solid examples of wergild
• be able to provide some significant solid details about specific settings in the poem that relate to the overall concepts of good and evil.  I would probably ask for one (good) or the other (evil)--not leaving it up to you.  And the degree of detail you are able to provide would be really important
• define comitatus and think about DIFFERENT situations that could be used to illustrate the presence or the break-down of this standard

For the multi-paragraph response (presumably from two to four, though the number of paragraphs should depend on organization and development, not overall "length").  Note that there seems to be some overlap with topics given above.  You can't double-up.  Either the test itself won't have overlap, or if it does as choices, you can't write on the same topic twice.  

• Comitatus--I could ask for a fuller application to the poem--either because I didn't ask it in the short one, or that you would know you can't write about it twice.
• Setting--I could ask a longer question about setting--comparing/contrasting two settings, for example, in terms of their significance in understanding characters, values, ultimate meaning, or whatever else you see as important purpose or effect
• Consider the apparent values of Anglo-Saxon culture by looking at the culture of the warrior or followers of a king or other leader.  Be as specific as you can.
• DIGRESSIONS--some critics have established as many as 16, but some are really minor, and others (like the story of the swimming contest with Brecca) are so integral to the main story that they probably shouldn't be considered digressions in the first place.  I could ask something about digressions that show something specific, or ask why some particular digression seems to be included, or . . .the point is, review the digressions that are told either by the scop or related by specific characters.  Main ones to consider:  the stories concerning Sigmund, Finn, Hermod, Thrith, Herdred, or one of the stories concerning Higlac  (you could focus on just a couple of these for review--I'm just giving examples)

AGAIN, you will only get TWO options for the longer question.  You won't have as many options as are listed here!

Part 1 of Beowulf Test on Friday

As has been mentioned all week, in class, on the blog, and via hand-out, there is a two-part Beowulf test:
Part 1 = Objective   Friday, Nov. 2
Part 2 = Written   Monday, Nov. 5

Check back tomorrow, even though I won't be in class, because there will be a post listing the areas to focus on for writing.  You will have some choice, but not much.  That post should be available no later than 3:30 p.m. on Friday.