Canterbury Tales 3 - The General Prologue: Discussion & GW
"He who repeats a tale after a man / Is bound to say, as nearly as he can,
Each single word, if he remembers it, / However rudely spoken or unfit,
Or else the tales he tells will be untrue, / The things pretended and the phrases new." Geoffrey Chaucer
The General Prologue - Discussion & Group Work: For the last11 years that I taught, we did the General Prologue together as a Discussion - first with my ever-present Lesson Notes and the last few years I also had Power Point slide (with lots of quotes - but not a Vertext) discussion. I think this is the right way to teach The General Prologue. There is just so much there and it is great to encounter the Wonder of Chaucer together as a class. The Group Work is included here as well - and I think it's good - if there were time and world enough, perhaps you could do both.
Lesson Overview
So there are two different ways to cover the General Prologue here. In either case - I begin with a Test. Notice I don't call it a quiz. "The General Prologue" is too long and too important for a quiz - so there are more questions here and rather than 100 points - it counts for 200. After the test - there are two options: 1) A Power Point Presentation led discussion (teacher led really). 2) A Group Work that covers much of the same ideas as the discussion except done in small groups.
Power Point Discussion (see the Power Point below for more details).
The idea of what a Pilgrim is?
The setting and time of year
The order of the Prologue and the idea of a "Frame Story"
Going through the Major Characters
How was this work and Chaucer different than what came before?
Comparing the reaction to Chaucer to moder censorship
Chaucer's Retraction
Bringing it back to the idea of Pilgrims - How are we, like these characters - Pilgrims? Or are we? How do our readings make us Pilgrims?
Group Work
The Group Work starts with the students going over the Prologue Charts that they brought in (filled out). While the students are taking their test on "The General Prologue", I would go around and check that they filled out their charts. Those who DID NOT would not be allowed to get into a group - and then had to do the Group Work on their own as homework (this is my standard procedure for students who do not do their work (usually reading) leading into a Group Work. See the Group Work itself for the rest of the questions - they pretty much preecho what was to become the discussion (see directly above).
The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales with my notes
The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales with my Lesson Notes
Ok - 30 years of notes here and it really makes my point (that I made earlier) - there is SO MUCH here that it was hard, very hard - until I started using the Power Point Presentation below to make sure that we go to everything - and (perhaps even more importantly) that everything stayed connected.
The Discussion Lesson Notes &
Power Point Presentation
Power Point Presentation
Lesson Notes 2013-2021 (most recent) Lesson Notes 2011-2012
Power Point Presentation
See the above description (or the Power Point itself). This is not a Vertext (quotes only). There are very pointed questions as well as quotes designed to prompt a Class Discussion.
Group Work Handout & Test
The General Prologue Group Work Docx PDF
See above for more on the Group Work - it pretty much echoes what we later ended up doing in our discussion - except in a small group. Because it depends so much on the
The General Prologue Test (200 points) Docx PDF - note there are two different formats here: one is short answers - the other is choose the correct Pilgrim and you get a choice of questions to answer. That's kind of ideal for a text with that much information in it.
Remote Enhancements
The Power Point Presentation given above is ideal for Remote Learning (in fact, I did use it that way).
Songs played during class
The first song "Pilgrimage" - I usually play at the end or the beginning of class, as the students are coming in. It sets the mood for the idea that above all - The Canterbury Tales is a story of pilgrims - and that we too are on a pilgrimage.
The second audio is what I believe to be an impression of Morgan Freeman reading the Prologue in Middle English. I actually used to play a version by Robert McNeal - but I can't find that on YouTube. Right before I play the Middle English Prologue - I once again, play an excerpt from Beowulf in Old English. I want the students to see how far the language has come (we used to spend 2-3 days on the Changing English Lanaguage - but class time disappeared).
Class Recordings (for registered members)
Audio
Video
The Canterbury Tale 4: The Pardoner's Prologue & Tale There is a group work here that brings in Grendel, Emily Dickenson, The Depression and more. There is also Lesson Notes for a Discussion.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
Sometimes I wanted to do a lesson as a Group Work because it felt so overwhelming - I wasn't sure how to cover so much with an entire class. That's why I did "The General Prologue" as a Group Work for so long - However, with Power Point Presentations - it really helped me focus everything and make sure that I got to the most important material.