Middle Ages 5 - Le Morte d'Arthur: Group Work & Discussion
"Here lies Arthur, King Once and King That Will Be."
Le Morte d'Arthur: Group Work and Row Reading: For all but wo years this was done as a Group Work - and I think that assignment is highly evolved. For one year we did it as a Row Reading Discussion, having the students do their reading and prep for the discussion in class. For another year - I used a Power Point presentation to help focus a Teacher Led discussion on the reading.
Lesson Overview
The Group Work is straightforward - as I hope all of my Group Works are. There are two very different Power Point Presentations - One is a Single Slide designed to facilitate a Row Reading Discussion based on connections to the life of Sir Thomas Malory with his work - also connections to the previous reading, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight".
The other Power Point is much more extensive and is designed to assist the instructor in a Teacher Led Discussion - focusing on some of the same points found in the Group Work (see below for some of those points).
Group Work & Power Point Teacher Led Discussion (see the Group Work handout and the Power Point below for more details).
Connecting Malory's life to his text
Romance & Courtly Love
Dreams & trying to defy destiny
The depiction of Women in these stories (getting ready for the next lesson)
The change in the English language
Back to that Celtic Grave about Arthur...
The Shaper
Group Work Handout & Quiz
This is not a Vertext (quotes only). There are very pointed questions as well as quotes designed to prompt a Class Discussion. Consider it a Teacher Led (Ringmaster Teacher) Discussion with slides to help with focus and with bringing in past (and future) material - such as "The Art of Courtly Love" and the future assignment: "The Once and Future King".
This Power Point slide gives students an assigned part (based on row - see my page on Row Reading Discussions) of the reading. They have already done the reading (at home) but you will give them a few minutes to prepare to make comments on a particular section - then go around the entire room. Unlike most Row Reading discussions, this one is designed to make connections - to the previous "Sir Gawain" reading and to Malory's life (which is the front of the reading)
Remote Learning
Both of these Power Point Presentations could be used in Remote Learning - and in fact I did use the first one, though I had used in a few years prior to Remote Learning, for that purpose.
This is the reading from the very old text book - including the biographical material on Sir Thomas Malory.
The same reading with my notes on it.
Class Recordings (for registered members)
Audio
Video
Lords & their Babies - The Weaving of Women's Tales: After reading about Women Writers in the Middle Ages (and Virginia's Woolf's "Shakespeare's Sister" (where the phrase "a room of one's own" comes from) - the students are given a very practical lesson in why there were so few women writers during the Middle Ages. The class is randomly divided into "Lords" & "Ladies". The students who are "Lords" (randomly chosen) have to take care of a paper baby - while using their wrong hand, cannot join groups - and then they must act on their own initiative, while taking care of their babies - go to the table at the front, sharpen their broken off pencils and still get the Group Work done.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
King Arthur shows up time and time again in my British Literature Classroom - first in the intro to the Anglo-Saxons, next in a Stanza of the Celtic Graves in the previous lesson: "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" - then here, then over Winter Break when the students read The Once and Future King, and finally in the spring when we read "The Lady of Shallot"