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The Dragon: "Not that any age is darker than another..."
Grendel Day 5 - Chapters (4)5 and 6 Discussion: Very little of Chapter 4 - A lot more on Chapter 5 (though they worked on it in groups last time - and a lot on the surprisingly funny Chapter 6.
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
We have really not had a full-throated class discussion since the Opening one for this book. We have a lot of ground to cover. Though I have (and so will you) a slide to facilitate a Row Reading Discussion (see my page on the types of discussions), I rarely used it. There is just too much ground to cover here and it almost always fell to a Ringmaster Teacher Discussion (again, see my page on discussions).
Because the students spent a whole period on the mind-warping quote-laden group work for Chapter 5 - you do not have to spend as much time on it as you normally would. And you normally would spend a lot of time on it. It really is the most important chapter in the entire book - everything leads up to it - and the rest of the novel (and the year for that matter follow it). See my extensive Lesson Notes below for the questions that I ask (and that students asked and that have since been incorporated). There are so many things you need to cover as the teacher (hopefully many of them have been in that group work). Some things you don't want to miss 1) Gardner's playfullness - the chapter is dense and often opaque. When the dragon yells at Grendel - he is often yelling at us "the reader" - "Hey pay attention; don't fall asleep." 2) Grendel thinks every happens because of an accident but the dragon sees a purpose: "You are mankind". Hence, the Joker and Batman pictures in the last Group Work. 3) There are fun things from their reading of Beowulf (ie the man that will kill him is mentioned). STUDENTS LOVE CONNECTIONS to things they read earlier and it shows them the payoff for the work that they do. These are just three things - see my notes for many more.
Chapter 6 is amazing - and the discussion needs to show and reaffirm that (because the students will already see that in their reading). For one thing, it is incredibly funny. Coming after Chapter which is deadly serious with little bits of humor. You will notice in my notes that there is a theme. "Why throw an apple at Unferth?" Well - (garden of eden - yes - innocence, just see how Unferth acts) Another reason is the Harvest Festival - he wants to defeat their ideas and plans and theories. But another reason is it's just plain funny. Again - see my notes for leading the discussion. We begin the discussion on Chapter 6 by me asking "Do any of you recognize the opening line?" In 30 years of teaching Grendel, in every class at least one student sees the Dickensian reference to the opening of A Tale of Two Cities.
This, in turn, leads to great question: "How could things be the same and completely different at the same time?" See my notes for what follows...
My Lesson Notes & a sample reading page
My Lesson Notes & a sample reading page
See above for instructions - the text with my notes served as a guide for the questions, comments and ideas that I ask - though I was always ready for and often elicited the students ideas, questions, etc. Over the years - as I wrote notes in this text - the previous years' notes and questions become incorporated into the lesson. Again - you will find that these instructions are flexible - and I had to be - they kept changing the amount of time that we had in the classroom.
Most Recent Quiz
Most Recent Quiz
Most Recent Handouts & Quizzes (two different quizzes depending on how far the students were asked to read)
Most Recent Handouts & Quizzes (two different quizzes depending on how far the students were asked to read)
Reading Quiz Chapter 6 ONLY: Docx PDF Note: There are FOUR different versions of the quiz for good reason. By now students may have become comfortable asking their peers from other classes what was on the quiz. My students know this is cheating - but some of them have rationalized there way out of it. To me, it is impossible to teach unless you know if the students are doing the reading.
Alternate Discussion
Alternate Discussion
PowerPoint Slide: In the past, I also divided the reading up into Rows and we did a Row Based Reading Discussion in class before launching into Ringmaster Teacher for Chapter 6. Please see my page on Class Discussion methods.
GrendelChs5and6disc_2016.mp3Class Recording
Class Recording
We begin by talking about Chapter 5 and the dragon. I try to not cover what has already been covered during their previous day's group work - and then we fly right into Chapter 6 and the battle (ridiculous at times) between Grendel and Unferth - as well as between Grendel and what the dragon wants him to become.
In this group work, the students will connect it to so much that has come earlier: The last chapter with Unferth, his loss of innocence in Chapter 2, the weight of the Shaper. And they will also connect it in a more literal way with Beowulf - their first reading. Students love seeing the concrete references to that old Anglo-Saxon work in this modern novel by an American.
There are also questions that talk about that most modern of ideas (perhaps): "Conspiracy Theories" - and I prepare the students (see the last question) for John Keats's epic poem - "Ode on a Grecian Urn". I can do that because I've seen the connections over the years that the students make themselves - point out to me - and that I integrate into the lesson.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Grendel 4 - The Dragon and the Monster - Chapter 5 solo/group work
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
Chapter 6 of Grendel is just plain fun to teach (and I hope to be a student for as well). Many of the students will come in surprised that it was so funny. They will also be so happy to use intellectually (during their reading and during class) what we had learned during Beowulf. After an intense group work like the previous lesson - it is wonderful to follow through with a robust class discussion.
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