The Once & Future King by T.H. White
"'The best thing for being sad,' replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, 'is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails.' "
Introduction
This unit usually comes in my school year after Winter Break. The book is assigned at the beginning of the year to be finished by the time we come back from break. In my class, this book is the most independant activity that they do all year. They read it on their own (hopefully tying together the other things we've done as well the idea of this very old subject (Arthur) being written about in a contemporary way) - and the other work is done in a group or by themselves. We don't have a class discussion. I think that's on purpose. We discuss everything else - they also need a text that is theirs.
The Once and Future King is such a magnificent novel. In fact, it is really three separate novels - and the novel is divided into "books" - the first book "The Sword in the Stone" is familar to so many of the students from the Disney Movie of the same name. As the reading goes on - the books become more and more "adult" and the writing more complex. It eases the students into it (like Harry Potter does with it's progressive years at Hogwarts - in fact, J.K. Rowling says that she was more influenced by The Once and Future King in writing her series - than in any other writing.
After the students take the test - or while they are working on one of their Group Works, I will usually come around (especially since we don't have a discussion) and ask them which was their favorite book. It is amazing how diverse and nearly evenly divided their answers are - which to me is perfect!
Another great reason for doing this book is that we encounter King Arthur so many times in this class. The first time with the Celtic Stanzas of the Graves. Next, during the Middle Ages we have two encounters: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and La Morte d'Arthur. There is this - and then finally the epic poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Tennyson - later in the year, when we study the Victorians.
On the Tests
This is the only time I do this all year - but the tests have a second chance built in. Because this was due after Winter Break - though it was assigned on the very first day of class - a lot of students (typically about a 1/4 of the class) did not have the reading done. Because I was (and am) always more concerned that they learn something - both the novel - but also about doing long term assignments - there is a "second chance" built into the test. The very first test (see below) - before they have seen any of the "real" tests - asks if they did at least 3/4 of the reading. If they haven't done that much - it gives them a choice: 1) Answer up until the part they read (notice I did not say guess on anything - that, to me, is cheating) and take that grade OR they can have three more weeks to read the rest of the book and take a test on it after school. Hurray! Book read, lesson learned. They will get 75% credit on that test (but they can then do the two group works for full credit - meaning they can get as high as a "B" on the entire unit).
A pretty straight forward group or solo work. See my page on Group Work. The questionis try to get the students to pull all of the informaton together that they did on their own. To get them to see the connections that hopefully they made when they were doing the reading. It ends with a very serious contemplation of Might and Right both in the book and in other things we've read.
A very complicated but rewarding group or solo work that is built around tying different quotes together from things that we have read (see Grendel Chapter 5 Group Work) - or that they may have read (like Gatsby) or things that we will read later in class. The Once and Future King is full of references to Macbeth and other works - it really is the perfect book for British Literature.
An extra credit essay that came from a student's idea: "What was in Lady Macbeth's hand [the paper] is never knowable - even if we could ask Shakespeare. Two other questions include linking the novel with the life of T.H. White and with the war that was going on when he wrote it.
What's Next
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night: Twelfth Night is our follow-up Shakespeare play after completing Macbeth. We would usually begin right after - or close to right after Winter Break. Twelfth Night is studied as a prelude to a short unit on Literary Criticism. That is one of the reasons for choosing this play - there is SO much literary criticism (of all sorts) on this play - feminist, Marxist, New Historicism and much more. I will be posting that unit when this one has been completed.
We go through Twelfth Night a lot faster than we did Macbeth -gone are the language exercises, most of the "up on your feet" activities (though we still have some), and the ancillary materials that surrounded Macbeth (and that served to get students to understand and appreciate not only that play - but Shakespeare in general).