Week Two: Beowulf and the Colomber

Textbooks: 

One of the things I'm really noticing this year are the textbooks that MHS has adopted. The books hold a lot of great stories for the students to read but they all seem to be abridged and the majority of the story isn't even told; especially when it comes to the classical literature. I guess it is just the English major in me that can't stand to see the great works cut up in to little pieces, so I always tend to tell the students more details then what the book is doing. The textbook isn't supposed to be the one teaching the material, but it was still shocking to me to find out just how much of some stories are left. Beowulf for example leaves out a lot of details and jumps around to just the action/ fight scenes and there is only a small paragraph in italics to explain what has happened in between. 

Though the classical works of literature are shortened there are still hundreds of amazing short stories that are available for students to read. Many of them have twists and turns that the students wouldn't expect and are perfect to teach along side the elements of literature. 

The books also have great introductions. I think it is always important to provide some history about the time period or context that the students will be reading about before they read so that they are prepared for what they are about to experience. There are also numerous articles and informative pieces of work in the textbooks that go excellently with the Next Gen  standards of providing our students with more informational reading instead of just fiction. 


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