Beowulf fun

Recently, my English 12 students finished studying ancient Anglo-Saxon culture and reading the epic poem Beowulf.  Instead of giving them a boring, written reading comprehension exam over the second half of the story, I gave them the option of doing that or performing the story for me.  

Because they talk seemingly nonstop AND are thespians, they opted to perform the story...and they did a great job!  They really did discuss the story's events with each other, they made some of their costume pieces, and they borrowed masks from the drama cabinet.

There was one problem, though:  The student with the main role as the monster didn't show up to school for 2 days in a row, and no one knew where he was.  In a last-minute decision, and because he loves his students, Brian (Mallory's husband) volunteered to be the monster, and the kids got a TOTAL KICK out of that!

Here he is, in all his glory, wearing a hideous rubber mask and a fake arm out of cardboard.  

(In the story, the monster's arm gets cut off, so this was how the kids brainstormed this event.)

(My school used this mask last year for their performances of "Beauty and the Beast".)

This boy is the hero of the story, who cuts off the monster's arm.

Narrators

FIGHT SCENE!

In the story, the hero hangs the monster's arm in the gathering hall to show his defeat.

The arm now hangs from my classroom ceiling and is always a conversation starter.  :-P

The king in the story

The monster's mother

The hero and the dragon fighting each other...

...and dying with each other.

I'm not exactly sure why I love reading this poem.  I read it for the first time as a senior myself and was disgusted with the goriness of some parts of the storyline.  Thanks to my Taylor English classes, I can now learn how to analyze poems and stories for themes and hidden meanings, and I'm able to do that with this poem, so I guess that's why I can bypass the gross factor and teach this poem.  :-P

Here are my seniors!

*I don't want to list their names, for privacy/safety reasons.  Even though their names aren't on the list of students who are prohibited from being on our blogs, I still want to keep the students in my photos anonymous, unless you can't see their faces, like my English 9 kids.*

They're a yakkety bunch, but they're very sweet and LOVE to laugh - and talk - but they're great.  On Thursdays, I bring in iced coffee from the store, and we celebrate Thursdays in class.  Why?  Because no one ever gets excited about Thursdays, and that's usually the most frustrating day of the week in terms of kids' attention spans and attitudes.  Plus, they're seniors, so why not make something fun and memorable?

Some of them have also mentioned trick-or-treating at my apartment next week.  I'm not sure if they were serious or if they just wanted to talk, but I'd love it if they did!