BEOWULF PROJECT OPTIONS - Free Webs



BEOWULF PROJECT OPTIONS

1. Provide live music or prepare a musical soundtrack for a scene from the poem. The scene you choose should be approximately 100 lines long. You could choose a scene that highlights Beowulf’s bravery or one that emphasizes Grendel’s evil nature. Present your musical rendition to the class. One group member should read the scene aloud as the music is played.

2. Choose an excerpt from the portions of Beowulf in your textbook and present a dramatic reading to your classmates as though you were an Anglo-Saxon bard. Choose a section that you feel has particular emotional intensity and suspense, and practice reading it several times before you deliver your reading to the class. Try to find various ways to involve your listeners in the storytelling. Vary the rate and pitch of your delivery, make dramatic pauses, and use gestures and even sound effects or musical instruments!

3. Research and present to the class the biblical allusions from the poem, such as the ones to creation and Cain and Abel. Look for other Christian symbols and allusions, such as references to God, the devil, and hell. Make an oral and visual presentation to the class.

4. Research and present to the class the Sutton Hoo treasure excavated in 1939. Draw, model, photocopy, or download pictures of the objects and make an oral and visual presentation to the class.

5. In a group of three or four people, prepare a Readers’ Theater for one or two sections of the poem. For a Readers’ Theater, one or two students present a summary of the action to the rest of the class while the other group members act out the scenes, using dialogue from the poem and perhaps some dialogue you write yourselves.

6. Write Beowulf’s epitaph, praising his deeds, leadership, bravery, or character. Include at least one phrase form the poem in the epitaph. Make an oral and a visual presentation to the class.

7. Compare and contrast Beowulf to an epic Greek hero, such as Odysseus, Hercules, or Achilles. Determine points of comparison, such as family background, good deeds, goals, moral values, relationships with followers, accomplishments, and means of death. Make an oral and visual presentation to the class.

8. In a group of two or three, create a comic book version of one of the major events in the story. Group members should plan and devise a storyboard for the comic together, but individual group members can take responsibility for writing the copy and creating the art.

9. Present an oral interview of one or more of the characters from the poem. One group member should be the talk show host, while other group members take on the roles of the characters.

10. Every age has its villains. For the Anglo-Saxons, they were dragons and monsters that lived in the depths, the Victorians had vampires and Frankenstein, and the contemporary era has space aliens and sociopaths. Research and evaluate what a particular time period’s villains say about that time. Create a villainy time line. Make an oral and visual presentation to the class.

11. Prepare a special-edition newspaper about Beowulf. Copy might include news stories on Beowulf’s battles, an editorial on heroism, and interview with one of the characters from the epic, and a Beowulf-themed puzzle. Each group member should create at least one story or feature.

12. Using Wheaties cereal boxes, make a box featuring the epic hero, Beowulf. His picture should appear on the front and biographical information should appear on the back, etc. Present your Wheaties box to the class.

13. Do you have your own, original idea for a project? Run it by me for approval!

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download