Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Beowulf Lesson Plans

I am going to do something different for this post. I'm going to give an audio tour of my Beowulf lesson plans for all three of my years of teaching. To listen, you'll first want to download and open the .pdf files of each year's lesson plans, which can be found below:

Beowulf 2005-2006 Lesson Plans

Beowulf 2006-2007 Lesson Plans

Beowulf 2007-2008 Lesson Plans

Then, you'll want to download the podcast, which can be found here:

Beowulf Lesson Plans Podcast

There is a very real danger that this post could be regarded as a gimmick. I am very aware of that danger. I did this recording because it is, in some ways, representative of the future of education. All of the students are running around these days with iPods in their ears all of the time or with their thumbs tapping out incorrectly spelled "TXT" messages. As educators, we fight this. But, the bottom line is that technology will win out in the end. It always does. So, why not try to embrace something new and see what we can do with it? This podcast, as well as this blog in general, is my attempt to fuse an old method of reflective thinking with a modern method of transmission.

Speaking and listening engage different parts of one's brain than do writing and reading, so this will be an interesting exercise. Some may prefer the audio tour, others may have wished I just wrote the entire reflection, just like all of the other posts.

(photo of me at home recording the podcast in front of the Dumont High School-supplied MacBook)

Written: 12/5/07
Podcast Started: 12/5/07
Podcast Finished: 1/2/08

3 comments:

Segacon said...

I'm a college student who is studying to be a high school English teacher. Your Beowulf lesson plans were very helpful in creating my own lesson plans. Thanks for sharing them.

Anonymous said...

I regret to inform you that while your lesson plans are well-structured and certainly ambitious, they do not correlate with the current CCS. Please correct this immediately to make your plans as flavorless and uninspired as possible.

Anonymous said...

What grades are you normally teaching Beowulf in? I am a teacher in Canada, and I am thinking of teaching it to grade 9's (it is in the grade 9 curriculum here) any suggestions? Thank you!