English curriculum?

Question

I noticed on my curriuclum guide that I am supposed to fit in Beowulf, Canterbury Tales, and Hamlet into a semester for high school English, along with daily grammar, vocab and test prep. Do you think it is better to just squeeze these three works of lit into a semester or just take my time and go into the next semester with them?

Answer 1

I teach Freshman English at a university, and considering that those works are very often read in college, I would recommend taking your time with them in order to give the students as much info as possible

Answer 2

When you say test prep, are you talking SAT? Or would it just be tests over the materials you cover?

I think in a semester, allotting 5 weeks for each is not unreasonable, especially since most English teachers I know only use selected tales of the Canterbury variety. You might also try Beowulf book on tape, as it was originally an oral story, and Seamus Heaney gives a decent rendition. As for Hamlet, there are different versions of it, as Shakespeare, it is said, was indecisive and kept adding and switching scenes, so perhaps you could find a shorter version?

The vocabulary will tie in well with these pieces and could really augment their study. Research also suggests that grammar should be worked in with reading and writing, so there's no reason you cannot combine the literature and those facets of the schedule.

In sum, I would try to do those three in the allotted time, unless of course you have other unrelated--yet glorious--reading or writing plans that you want to work in during that time, too.

Answer 3

You must follow the curriculum guide! The English class could be blocked, therefore you have the class for only one semester. Daily grammar should take very little time--10 minutes of class time. Vocabulary as homework.

Answer 4

you'll need to take your with those. first of all, they are rough reading for high schoolers. they are difficult to understand, long, and tedious. split them up and give small breaks in between them so your students don't go insane. plus, vocab and grammar are not fun subjects for high school students. also, if you can make the novels interesting, do it. perhaps for canterbury tales, you give each student a different character and they have to do a little research on them to share with the class.
good luck and try to stay positive. you have a rough year ahead of you with those novels!

Answer 5

You'd better follow the curriculum guide. You can give grammar for homework as well as vocab too.

Answer 6

Since different students have different threshold for learning and development, I would suggest to work along with the student's learning curves. Test and evaluate them prior to implementing your own method of teaching the curriculum.