We started with Beowulf. After being told that they had 20 minutes to create costumes out of found objects around the school, the seniors then reported back to class, and enacted the Battle between Beowulf and the evil swamp monster Grendel:
Grendel, spawn of demons, ostracized, lonely, and bitter, comes to Herot Hall to eat the sleeping Danes where his grief and anger is sated with their blood...
But on this night, Grendel's feast does not proceed without interruption. The great hero Beowulf lies in wait, pretending to sleep and biding his time until the monster is close enough to attack...
And then-- Beowulf leaps up, and STRIKES the monster!
They battle ferociously, ramming into the walls of the great hall, until at last Beowulf subdues his foe--
--And ultimately, rips off the arm of the swamp monster. Grendel, defeated and wounded, limps back to the swamp to die alone, leaving a trail of blood behind him...
For Beowulf's second battle I took a tamer approach, telling the four groups of kids that they needed to paraphrase their assigned sections of text in the style of snooty brits, southern hicks, valley girls, and Napoleon Dynamite/Kip, respectively. That got them practicing paraphrasing the text AND writing to a specific audience/ utilizing a specific style/voice. But the kids wanted to go back to acting it all out in costumes for Beowulf's last battle. So once more, they took 20 minutes to find costumes for Beowulf and the dragon:
King Beowulf, now old and at the end of his life, approaches the dragon in his cave...
They begin to fight. It is a fierce battle, for though Beowulf is now an old man, he is still a fierce warrior... However, it will take everything he has to break through those dragon scale balloons...
At long last, Beowulf is engulfed by the dragon's flames... (Please note my student "S" who represents the embodiment of the dragon's fire.) Beowulf, alas! begins to die.
All is not lost however! A new hero emerges: the young Wiglaf rushes to his king's aid, risking life and limb to defeat the dragon. As he dies, Beowulf passes his proverbial "torch" to the young hero...
And in this interpretation, his beard as well...
Finally, Beowulf dies, and his devoted followers grieve his passing with great solemnity...
Fun, right? WE all were entertained, in any case.
Next it was the sophomores' turn. To end their mythology unit, I had all the sophs sign up to play a character from mythology; they then had to research this character and act the part out during one fabulous mythological lunchtime extravaganza. Incidentally, the end of the unit fell on October 29th-- the Friday before Halloween. Note: my private Christian school kids are not allowed to dress up for Halloween. Some of the older male teachers, I must admit, watched my sophomores parade around in their togas with great suspicion, at one point telling me, "So THIS was your way of getting around the 'no dress up' rule, huh?"
I responded-- in full toga regalia-- "The end of my mythology unit just HAPPENED to fall on this Friday. Halloween has nothing to do with it."
"Suuure," they teased, good-naturedly. "And you probably planned waaaay out in advance to make sure it fell on this day, didn't you?"
"I WISH I could plan that far in advance!" I retorted.
In any case, the sophomores did a great job!
From left to right, we have a Muse (goddess of inspiration), Artemis (goddess of the hunt, hence the leopard skin), Athena (goddess of wisdom and war), and Aphrodite (goddess of love, and mother of Cupid who is represented in baby doll form.)
In another part of the cafeteria, Achilles gets ready to strike Hector, while the god of War, Ares, urges them on...
Meanwhile, Dionysus, god of Wine, proceeds to imbibe in a corner...
Narcissus, of course, is busy gazing at himself in any reflective surface he finds...
While Hercules, fresh off his lion kill, converses with Argus, the hundred-eyed guard...
Cronus, unfortunately, is still trying to prevent being overthrown by eating his children as soon as they're born...
And Daedalus-- master inventor, most well-known for his homemade wings which his son Icarus famously ruined by flying too close to the sun-- is interviewed by one of my seniors who is currently earning extra credit.
Can you spot the teacher??
Don't worry. I make sure I get in on the action too-- about a month ago, the Mentorship class hosted a murder-mystery-themed event and I got asked to play the trophy wife of the clubbed victim. I got to be the one to scream bloody murder-- remember?
That's the exciting stuff. Most days, however, consist of normal clothing and relatively calm-- albeit goofy-- learning activities in class. And finally, most days end with me sitting at my desk, utterly knackered, head spinning after another full day, and trying to reassemble my brain for some grade-entering before I leave.
It's a gift-- I try to remember that every day. I'm so blessed to get to do what I love.
3 comments:
you amaze me daily...to say the absolute least.
I echo carly... how do you do it? I see those kids engaging joyfully with literature, and have fond memories of VSAA. I do believe you are making an impact, dear greta.
I like everything about this post, a lot.
Post a Comment