B - The one with two people and the evacuation drill.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can using AI to be our worst critics improve writing?

Thank you the Ahn and Stella for carrying the heavy supply bag during our evacuation drill!

Ahn and Stella plugged in their essays (on Anglo-Saxon ideals) into Gemini and Claude and asked it to roast their essays. They used quite generic prompts at first: "how do I make this better?" I encouraged the two to go back and refine their prompts and have fun with asking AI about their essays.

PRACTISE:

• Ask AI to suggest edits for your essay. Make edits to your essay based on what AI said, but do NOT copy and paste any text from the AI suggestions. Select a different font colour for the edits. Below your essay, write 5-6 sentences reflecting on whether or not you agree or disagree with what AI told you.
• Then, create a separate document in your e-folder. Label it: "I AI-ed the Beowulf Essay". Copy and paste the prompt(s) you gave AI and then copy and paste the result AI gave you. Write a short reflection of the results AI generated for your prompt. Was it what you expected?

READ: the excerpt from A History of the English Church and People, "The Seafarer"

NEXT CLASS: the sea, elegiac epic

F - The one about motives.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Why should we challenge conventional ideas of leadership and order?

Learners worked in paira to continue reading and annotating Greene's "The Destructors," Learners took note of T. 's character traits, and highlighted evidence that demonstrates T.'s authority. The TTOC asked learners to discuss:

• How does T. take leadership (away from Blackie)?
• Does T. destroy the house for personal gain or for an ideal/principle?

PRACTISE: Answer the question below and post your response to the digital whiteboard.

How does T. fit/subvert the definition of "leader" in a chaotic environment?

NEXT CLASS: character & conflict

B - The one that was at half speed.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What significance does the sea hold for sea-faring societies?

I asked learner to identify examples of kennings and alliteration in "The Seafarer." Learners struggled until I discovered that the reading was not completed! (Thank you for your honesty.)

I gave some brief notes on "The Seafarer".

Learners used the rest of the period competing the essay on Anglo-Saxon ideals.

READ:

• Bede, page 32
• excerpt from Bede's A History of the English Church and People, pages 33-34
• "The Seafarer" pages 35-38
• The Old English Period, pages 41-42
• The Medieval Period, pages 43-54

NEXT CLASS: the sea, Anglo-Saxon dualities

F - The one when we discussed what happens when individual authority collides with social order.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What happens to authority, leadership, and moral rules when the world has literally been destroyed?

COLLECTED: Hard copies of one-act Greek tragedy "redux" of "The Japanese Quince"

I spoke about the importance of completing assigned tasks on time.

Learners presented their choral reading of "Ode to Man" from Antigone.

I spoke about and gave brief notes on other key speeches/monologues from the play:

• Creon's "Ship of State" speech (lines 179-235),
• Creon v. Antigone - 1st stichomythia (lines 499-594),
• Haemon's metaphor of trees and sails (lines 797-804),
• Tirsesias's prophecy and destruction (lines 1090-1137);

and I made connections between individual authority and social order.

I introduced Greene's "The Destructors" (see the link to the left) as a piece that also questions leadership and law in the face of chaos and disorder. I modelled a close reading of the first two paragraphs of the story.

READ: Greene's "The Destructors," Camus's The Outsider

NEXT CLASS: close reading of text

B - The one about burials and embedding quotes.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How does the blending of pagan and Christian burial rites reflect the Anglo-Saxon struggle between achieving earthly immortality (the love of glory) and spiritual salvation (the inevitability of death)?

We read together "The Burning of Beowulf's Body," and discussed the Anglo-Saxon tension between glory and judgement. Learners identified pagan and Christian elements from the excerpt and chatted to the their partners about this dual lens and what that lens might suggest about what is happening in this time period.

We reviewed how to embed/integrate quotes into the body of sentences and paragraphs. Learners used the rest of the period to finish working on their essays.

DUE 6 October - Anglo-Saxon Ideals Essay

READ:

• Bede, page 32
• excerpt from Bede's A History of the English Church and People, pages 33-34
• "The Seafarer" pages 35-38
• The Old English Period, pages 41-42
• The Medieval Period, pages 43-54

NEXT CLASS: Elegiac Epic

F - The one about the individual & other.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: How does a ruler or society define who belongs as an individual and who is cast out as "other"? What happens when the individual's personal conscience defies his/her country's boundaries?

I asked learners to consider their priority: family obligation or the law.

Learners read and annotated the Choral Ode, "Ode to Man" from Antigone (lines 377-415). Learners discussed questions and I noted some features of the ode:

• What does Sophocles imply about human power at the beginning of the ode?
• What is the one power that humans won't ever conquer or escape?
• What must a ruler balance for a city to "rise high"? What happens when pride disrupts the balance?

Learners worked in groups of five to arrange choral reading of the ode.

PRACTISE: Creative Adaptation of "The Japanese Quince" as tragedy DUE as a hard copy next class

READ: (see the links to the left)

• Greene's "The Destructors"
• Camus's The Outsider

NEXT CLASS: choral ode, choral reading, disruption of social order

B - The one about archetypes.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What does the archetype of the hero tell us about how societies valued human greatness?

I gave some brief notes on archetypes in literature, and learners discussed how the characters Beowulf and Antigone reveal what the Anglo-Saxons and the Ancient Greeks (respectively) valued about heroics and greatness.

Learners continued working on their essays on Anglo-Saxon ideals

NEXT CLASS: Burial

F - The one with the Gallery Walk, or more correctly, Gallery Stand.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: In a world of uncompromising convictions, who bears ultimate responsibility for tragedy: the defender of order or the champion of justice?

Learners reflected on the topics I asked them to consider whilst watching Antigone at Bard on the Beach last week. They noted their thoughts on questions about power, sympathy, spectacle, and modernity, then they all participated on a Gallery Walk/Stand, where they extended thinking on another learner's reflections. They used, "Yes, but..." and "Yes, and..."

I went over the assignment for preparing a Greek Tragedy adaptation of Galsworthy's short story "The Japanese Quince." Learners used the rest of the period to work on their adaptations.

READ: Antigone (see the link to the left)

NEXT CLASS: Creative Adaptations, The Choral Ode

B - The one that was a work period.

Learners used the period to outline and draft the essay on Anglo-Saxon ideals.

NEXT CLASS: Archetypes

F - The one with all the introverts. (The extroverts all went to prepare for mass.)

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Why must we consider varied perspectives in literature.

We shared briefly the the same "hot take" from last class: "what moment stood out for you in the play?"

I reviewed the Creative Adaptation assignment.

Learners used the rest of the period completing one of three tasks:

• the Post Viewing Reflection from last class
• the Creative Adaptation assignment
• reading Antigone

NEXT CLASS: Gallery Walk

B - The one with all the discussion and maybe being slightly annoyed at Antigone for not accepting Creon's counter-offer.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How does the definition of "hero" evolve when the primary threat shifts from monster-in-the-dark to law-of-the-state?

I asked learners to share one memory of their experience watching Antigone at Bard on the Beach last week. We discussed how tragedy in general departs a little from Campbell's idea of the hero's journey:

• Beowulf's love of glory v. Antigone's battle of conscience
• wyrd (fate - Beowulf) v. hamartia (tragic flaw - Antigone)
• monster v. tyrant - threat to society
• epic (Beowulf) v. tragic arc (Antigone) - tragedy deliberately breaks Campbell's loop (Antigone doesn't return "transformed"

I introduced the Literary Essay on Anglo-Saxon Ideals and I reviewed the key differences between the literary essay and the expository essay.

Learners use the rest of the period to complete their notes on the excerpts from Beowulf and to begin outlining the essay.

READ: "The Battle with Grendel"

PRACTISE: Notes and annotations for "The Coming of Grendel," "The Coming of Beowulf," "Unferth's Taunt," "The Battle with Grendel"

NEXT CLASS: archetypes and essay prep

F - The one when it was the post viewing experience with Mrs. Graham.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do director's staging choice and actors' performances transform the static text of an ancient play into a dynamic relevant critique of modern power?

IN MY PLANS:

• Free Write - What was the single most memorable moment, visual image, or sound yesterday's performance of Antigone?
• Discuss with a partner what you saw/heard and explain your immediate feeling/reaction.
• Post viewing critical reflection responses via learners' e-folders

According to Mrs. Graham: "Learners did their free write respectfully and shared with a partner their response to the prompt. After the sharing, everyone settled down to write their critical reflection paragraphs. Currently, the learners are all working diligently and the learners know to add their responses to their digital folders by the end of class. Note: Two learners did not go to the play so I let them do other work but also reminded them to finish reading the play via the blog's link."

NEXT CLASS: Gallery Walk, Creative Adaptation

B - The one that was a prelude to the play.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How does Campbell's Hero's Journey fit in with Greek tragedy?

Learners use the period to continue work on two graphic organizers:

• one for textual evidence of Anglo-Saxon ideals in "The Coming of Grendel," "The Coming of Beowulf," and "Unferth's Taunt"
• one for comparing Beowulf to Antigone with respect to "the hero's goal," "the obstacle," and "the role of fate"

Learners left at 11:15 to make their way to Bard on the Beach.

NEXT CLASS: archetypes

F - The one in your tableau era.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION:  How do performance choices translate the literal text (on the page) into dynamic power and emotion (on stage)?

Learners stood up and discussed with different partners the questions I posted last day.

I asked learners to think back to Galsworthy's "The Japanese Quince," and consider the absurdity (in the philosophical sense: "human life has on inherent meaning and the universe is entirely indifferent to our search for purpose) of the characters and their how their desire for social conformity hides human vulnerability. I asked learners to also think back to their Grade 9 study of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, particularly the "mechanicals" - absurdity, contrast, art(ifice)/beauty - and to think about whether or not we can consider Mr. Nilson and Mr. Tandram as "mechanical."

We discussed the possible connections to Antigone. I reviewed "the backstory" in order to frame our viewing of the play tomorrow. Learners worked in groups of three to create tableaus from the backstory.

We discussed the importance The Role of the Chorus and I invited learners to view the play tomorrow with one of the lenses below:

• Power & Posture (actor movement, spatial hierarchy) - Groups 1, 3
• Sound & Energy (vocal layering, music, tension) - Groups 2, 4, 6
• Modern Resonance (language choices, contemporary relevance) - Groups 5, 7
• The Chorus (how public opinion is staged) - everyone!

NEXT CLASS: Parallelism, Creative Adaptations

B - The one when you spoke Old English.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What does language teach us about culture?

Learners spoke their assigned lines from the Prologue from Beowulf. (You were fantastic!) I played a sample and learners discussed how closely they pronounced the Old English.

We watched an excerpt of a brief summary of Beowulf, then reviewed the characteristics of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

Learners began reading and annotating "The Coming of Grendel." They also took note of passages that exposed Anglo-Saxon ideals: allegiance to lord and king, love of glory as the ruling motive for a noble life, acceptance of the inevitability of death.

I asked learners to watch Antigone on Thursday, with a literary lens, as an archetypal bridge particularly when it comes to the hero's journey, community obligation, and fate.

READ: "The Coming of Grendel," "The Coming of Beowulf," "Unferth's Taunt," Antigone

PRACTISE: 

• Annotate the excerpts from Beowulf
• Create a graphic organizer noting examples of Anglo-Saxon ideals
• Create a graphic organizer comparing how Antigone and Beowulf define heroics, community obligations, and fate

NEXT CLASS: Anglo-Saxon ideals, hero, obligation, fate

F - The one that felt like a whirlwind (or maybe it was just me).

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: When social conventions conflict with personal conscience, what determines which we choose to obey?

I made a bit more of a formal introduction to the course. We reviewed the Course Outline (see the link to the left) and chatted a bit about assessment. Learners created their e-folder to house evidence of their learning, and invited me to collaborate on the folder.

We looked at the one sentence summaries of plot (in parallel form) on the digital parchment document from last class. I spoke about clear and concise writing.

We did a close reading of Galsworthy's "The Japanese Quince" and I modelled how to annotate text. I asked learners to consider the title of the short story, and a few learners offered some great ideas!

READ: The Backstory (to Antigone) and Antigone (lines 1-235)

NEXT CLASS: 

• How does the literal surface (like two men holding their newspapers behind their backs) reveal the absurdity of social conformity hidden behind human vulnerability?
• Are Mr. Nilson and Mr. Tandrum "mechanical"? Consider the "mechanicals" from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream - absurdity, contrast, art(ifice).
• The Role of the Chorus

B - The one about heroes and monsters.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Can heroes be monsters too?

Learners shared their definitions of "hero" and "monster."

We discussed our discussion about Campbell's "The Hero's Journey," and I asked learners to consider that Campbell's "map" describes story telling from it's early existence, when it was only created as oral "text."

I distributed the textbook and we read together the introduction to the middle ages, in particular the historical context of including the Germanic invasions (the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes), Anglo-Saxon ideals and literary styles. I highlighted Anglo-Saxon ideals:

• allegiance to lord and king (comitatus)
• love of glory as the ruling motive for a noble life
• the inevitability of fate (wyrd)

We looked at an excerpt from the the Prologue of Beowulf, in the original Anglo-Saxon ("Old English"). I assigned learners 6-7 lines each and gave them a pronunciation guide. Learners used the rest of the period preparing an oral reading of their assigned lines in Old English.

NEXT CLASS: Prologue, Beowulf, Grendel, Antigone

F - The one with Mr. Cole.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How does precise language structure transform a simple surface reading into clear and compelling insight?

Learners read Galsworthy's "The Japanese Quince," then posted a one sentence summary of plot in parallel form to the a digital "parchment". Mr. Cole reviewed the submissions and asked learners to reconsider parallel structure.

Mr. Cole distributed the Short Story Checklist (see the link on the left) and learners used the rest of the period to make some preliminary notes and text annotations.

(I apologize that I wasn't able to be present at what was supposed to be our first meeting!)

NEXT CLASS: mechanicals, Antigone

B - The one about archetypes.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Why do human cultures, separated by thousands of years and miles, keep telling the exact same story?

Learners told their summer stories.

We looked at the course outline together and discussed assessment. Learners created their e-portfolios and granted me access to collaborate.

Learners mapped out their favourite stories and we uncovered archetypal patterns in plot and character. We looked at Joseph's Campbell's "map" and I suggested the course is about recognizing these patterns in western literature throughout time.

NEXT CLASS: Beowulf