Tag Archives: The last Battle

9/7/2016

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The question of the day was “What are the advantages of being old”? Some people said it was the senior citizen discount, a few said respect, others said that it was you could be a grumpy old person and not care what people think, and still others said retirement! While all of those responses are perfectly valid, I was looking for wisdom or experience.

Beowulf is like Huff in Secondhand Lions. He’s old, but still effective and quite powerful.

Today, we read The Last Battle (sniff) and parts of the The Spoils. We will finish Beowulf tomorrow and you’ll have the rest of the time to finish up your boast.

Remember – make sure you color code your boast and do the reflection survey in order to earn all points possible.

boast-colors

Ms. Miller and I stayed after today (it’s currently 3:53!) and no one showed up for help, so I hope this means that everyone is going to turn this in on time!

2/10/15 – A

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Today, we watched Legowulf Part 2 to review The Battle with Grendel’s Mother and then we added to our foldable.

We will finish Beowulf tomorrow and we will also finish the foldable tomorrow as well.

We then talked about how after Beowulf defeated Grendel’s Mother, he went back home to Geatland and eventually became king of the Geats. He ruled for 50 years when he had to defend his kingdom against a dragon. But it’s been a long time. Beowulf has gotten OLD. But even though he’s an elderly man, he can still kick butt and take names. Like Hub in Secondhand Lions.

I love this clip (and movie) because it shows not only can Hub still be dangerous, it shows his values. He even boasts!

I’m Hub McCann. I’ve fought in two World Wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks. I’ve seen the headwaters of the Nile, and tribes of natives no white man had ever seen before. I’ve won and lost a dozen fortunes, KILLED MANY MEN and loved only one woman with a passion a FLEA like you could never begin to understand. That’s who I am. NOW, GO HOME, BOY!

Wow. I get goosebumps. Every. Single. Time.

Afterward we watched that, we read The Last Battle. Things we discussed:

  • Beowulf knows he’s old and takes precautions
  • This isn’t a suicide mission
  • His first thought is still of his people – it’s always been about his people
  • He knows fate is against him, YET he still stays to fight the dragon
  • We can’t all be Beowulf, but we can be Wiglaf

I then gave you time to work on the Metaphorical Response. This is due tomorrow!

MR instructionsMR Grendel

2/10/2014

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I started out the day by reviewing my expectations for the Metaphorical Response. The ones that have been turned in to me have been a little weak, and I don’t know if that’s because people forgot all the material was in BB, if they were just rushing to get it turned in, or if I did a poor job explaining the instructions.

  • Make sure that you use real METAPHORS.
  • Make sure you use QUOTES (not paraphrases) that are properly cited with LINE NUMBERS.
  • You only need ONE quote per metaphor!
  • Focus on the third column – this is where you should spend MOST of your time here.
  • Make sure you go look at the Hamlet example in BB.

Today, we finished Beowulf. We started by watching a clip from Secondhand Lions to show how Beowulf could be old (>70) and still be strong and powerful. I stopped doing the Post-It notes – that was a dumb idea that I had. The idea behind was that I wanted to give you guys a PURPOSE for reading, but it just ended up being a time waster for you instead of helping. Don’t worry about that. 🙂

We read The Last Battle, The Spoils, and The Farewell.

I ended up giving you guys Flex Time so hopefully, you used your time wisely. Because I am SUCH a nice person, if you turn in your Beo-Boast or Metaphorical Response TODAY, I won’t give you late points. 🙂

Canaan, we miss you! We are super sad without you! Come back soon!

sad 3rd block

2/7/2012

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Even though Beowulf is an old man, he can still kick butt and take names. Like Huff in Secondhand Lions.

We read the Last Battle, The Spoils, and The Farewell today.

Watch the Legowulf movies in LMS – it’s a really good review, I promise!

And lastly, make sure you work on that Metaphorical Response – it’s due today!

Also, if you are a highlighting freak like me and want to be able to use this on the final exam and you missed a day, I now have a printout of all of my notes that you can use when you need to get caught up. This is not a replacement for reading – you still need to understand what was read, but it can help. 🙂