Monday: Presentations and Writing with T-Chart

Each group first presented their poster on the underlying thematic and topical concepts in Beowulf.

The remainder of class was spent working on the following assignment:

• Make a t-chart comparing Beowulf to Gilgamesh based on the 9 traits of an epic hero and the hero’s journey
• Answer the following question- “Which hero is superior?”
  • name the criteria you are using to make your judgement
  • support your claim with evidence from your t-chart

Assignment: Finish the above t-chart and paragraph/s for Wednesday.

Wednesday: Lesson Planning

Each person will be assigned one of the following sections.  The goal of this project is to teach your assigned section to the class, develop the learning activities, and ensure that the class covers works from the area that are representational of the selections included in our text.

Additionally, this activity will help you to develop planning skills, consider how the brain works to acquire new learning, and construct a multi-fasted project that requires different thinking, planning, speaking, and interaction skills.

Sections:

• China (418-485)
• Japan (486-561)
• The Middle East (562-611)
• Africa (612-667)

You will have two full class periods for your learning activities.  Work that you assign to the class will be recorded in the official grade book.

Each group must include:

• Information on the background information pages that informs the cultural context and understanding of the texts.
• An assortment of texts- at least 1 long (4+ pages), 1 mid (2-4 pages), and 3 short (1 page or less)
  • these texts should be chosen with a purpose/learning outcome in mind
  • should include any tales of hero/epics
  • should give the class a good understanding of the section overall
• Assignments- with the following thinking documented
  • what is the purpose of the assignment?
  • how will the learning task/assignment help develop knowledge of literature, critical reading, or literary analysis?
  • what is the evaluation criterion?
  • what is the proposed point value? (Ms. Johnson has the right to override you in this area)
• Assignments must also-
  • include development of writing skills
  • involve writing a paragraph or more at least once
  • involve critical analysis skills in some meaningful way at least once

Each group should be able to run the lesson– Ms. Johnson will not be the teacher on these days.

• People might get stuck, so you should be able to ask probing questions to get them thinking.
• People might have questions about things, so you should know the selections well enough to answer 99% of the questions that come up.
• People might get stuck…. so you should be able to give feedback and help class members complete the learning tasks.

WHAT DO I NEED TO GIVE MJ?

• Create a lesson plan in writing
  • text to be covered
  • materials needed
  • learning activities– with the learning objective stated
  • evaluation criteria for activities
  • timing of activities– estimates should be reasonable
• You should be able to explain/justify/rationalize the text selections
  • you must leave something out– so why did you leave out the things you did?

Friday: Work Time

Today you continued working on your proposal with your group members.

Assignment: Finish the written proposal and have it ready to turn in at the start of class Tuesday.