Lesson Overview 

First of all - What unabashed FUN!  This assignment is fun for the students, fun for the teacher - and important to both.  The students (see the handout) will perform the last scene from Beowulf.  They have to pick a theme that makes critical thinking sense (again see the handout - but think "heroes fighting even though abandoned by all around them) and they have to pick a translation other than the Burton Raffael one that they have in their text book and that they've read (and gone over in class).  Rather than going over how this is done (see the handout), here is some of the reasoning:

First thanks must be given to Peggy O'Brien, Michael Tolaydo, Michael Lomonico and the Folger Shakespeare Library.  This lesson was developed shortly after returning from my summer institute there.  Before that experience, I might have had a long-term project like make a Beowulf Newspaper or a model of the Mead Hall.  Sadly, though these projects may have looked nice (and be loved by administrators and parents - who very well may have made them, especially the models).  But what does such a project do to help a student with the text - and to prepare them for what is coming up next and throughout the year?  This project does both.

By acting out that final scene - the students have to show they understand what is taking place in the text.  Though it wasn't written as a play - by creating a play out of the words, they also are able to even expand that mastery further.  By choosing a theme (other than Anglo Saxons) they are able to discover the universality of the text - and get ready for what is coming up with Shakespeare when they will also have to choose an appropriate theme for their scenes from Macbeth.  They also have to use a different translaton (see the exercises on Beowulf in translation) - once again, giving them reinforcement on the original nature of the story.  Speaking of which, by performing and speaking - and as the handout says, they must speak at least one line in the original Old English - they are reaquainted with the idea that this is originally an oral story. 

Thoughts on the Lesson 

As I said before - so much of how I teach originated at the Folger Shakespeare Library - and it took me a while, but I started applying those ideas: 1) text through performance  2) the importance of the text  3) active teaching throughout the school year - even in those places that weren't directly tied to Shakespeare.  Students would come back 20 years later and remember what their theme was for Putt'n on the Beowulf.