The Anglo-Saxons Part 1
"The past is never dead. It's not even past." William Faulkner
"The past is never dead. It's not even past." William Faulkner
This course is, for the most part, organized chronologically. With that in mind - we begin at the beginning with the Anglo-Saxons and the oldest tales written in English (Old English). The Unit on the Anglo-Saxons is divided into two parts - with the Group Work below being the only lesson for Part 1. I did this because, though Beowulf is definitely Anglo-Saxon - I wanted it (and later Grendel) to have its own Unit. Part 2 will come after we are done with Grendel.
It's the third day of class and we dive right into the material. The students will read "The Introduction to the Anglo-Saxons" as homework. There will be a quiz - and then I quickly get them into groups (for the first time!) and they spend the rest of the period using what they read in a cooperative way - that helps them understand far more than if they were doing it on their own. For more on Group Work - go to this page.
Beowulf and Grendel come right after The Anglo-Saxons Part 1 - and their story is continued in Part 2 with many more lessons.