Looks like im off the hook for class minutes!

It turns out, John Leskow has officially joined our class. Welcomee!

Notes to add on:
-The Fight at Finsberg and Beowulf is significant in order to remember the glory days of the Danes.
-The Leader of the Danes at Finsberg had a sword put on his lap unsheathed because this foreshadows a call for revenge; time to draw blood.
- "Wheel of Fortune": What brings you to the top will soon bring you to the bottom, then back up again. (Danes and how they fell)

Tanya

Class Notes 10/28/08

Today in class we had another Beowulf Review session.

Quote #3- The AS life and culture of quote #3 includes being known for your ancestory, the AS belief in demons, Christian/Pagan influence(Cain).

Poetic Forms- Caesura, Alliteration, Rhythm, Kenning, Stress

Why did the warriors come with Beowulf to the dragon's cave?
He wanted to be escorted, but he wanted to fight by himself. He wants an audience for the fight. He wants to prove himself.

Mythic Heroic Archetype- The entire poem (BW) is a battle against himself(always about the internal)

Beowulfs weakness=his pride

*Reminder, mythic heroic archetype story/poem does not need all 10 points.

Does Wiglaf ruin the archetype?
No, because it is merely a variation of the theme. BW should have asked for help all along...i.e. Saving Private Ryan

How long is BW with the Danes?
4 days

Is it possible to be a guide and a hero?
Yes. But it will take a lot of variation. Ex. Stephen King's book the Gun Slinger=hero looses his fingers and cannot carry out journey, guide becomes hero and hero becomes guide.

Does every community have a hero with extraordinary strength?
No, BW is exceptional, he has much more strength(physically and mentally)

Grendel-No weapons
GM-Sword
Dragon-Shield

Why does BW use weapons against GM?
It is all about teriitory. BW wants to make it a fair and equal fight. He must adapt to the specific situation.

Laz asked us about our opinions of the book...sadly, few answered.

If the Geats don't trust BW, why did they choose him to fight?
He was put on the spot to prove himself or die trying. He had the chance to make something of himself, so he did.

STUDY FOR THE TEST ON THURSDAY OR BE PREPARED TO FAIL!!!

John Leskow

Minutes for Oct. 27

Today Mr. Lazarow discussed the format of the Beowulf test:
Section 1: essentially short answer, asks about in depth analysis (which we have discussed in class) elements
Section 2: Poetic format of Beowulf, how Anglo-Saxons organized their poems, and the basic terms for Anglo-Saxon poetry
Section 3: Mythical archetype hero, what categories of the mythical archetype hero does Beowulf fall under?
Section 4: Quote section (need to know the list of 31 quotes that was given to us earlier)

Also, we reviewed for the Beowulf test, mainly talking about the characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon culture. The primary ideas behind Anglo-Saxons are the reliationship between the lord and his people (visa versa) and the belief that all things come to an end.

Lastly, if you are ever in a situation where you need to impress someone, talk about hapax legomenon. A hapax legomenon is the single occurance of a word recorded in a certain language. This happens when there is very little known about a language and there is only one instance where a word is used. Because the word is only used once there are no other examples for context clues.

Sean H.

where are the notes from 10/21

??? where are they.
seriously.

...ellen hassinger.

class minutes from friday the 24th

sorry that this is so late guys! i was freaking out because i just couldnt figure out how to blog, because i forgot you had to log in! ughh, but finally..
here it is:

alright so on friday we got an assignment, as well as a work sheet.
the worksheet was 4 pages (front & back) of quotes from the text Beowulf

the assignment for the quotes is:

4-5 sentences on the quotes of your choice, 5 or 6 points made about quote in each paragraph.
this should outline
1) the speaker and who was spoken to
2) when was this said, whats happening at this time?
3) cultural elements
4) any use of kennings, mention to archetype hero..etc things discussed, making connections to things we've been speaking about in class.
5) what is so signifgant about the quote or moment, an analysis of the quote.

also.
- mr. laz handed back the college essays, and said he was done as far as he was concerned and to ask him (on our own time) for extra help which he would gladly provide. how sweet!
- as well as a reminder the assignement about the riddles (whcih was covered in a previous post) is due on MONDAY! which is tomorrow, if you didnt know.
-WE ARE DONE TALKING ABOUT BEOWULF IN CLASS. THE TEST IS NEXT WEEK.

anyways..i had a thought if anyone wants to get together to discuss beowulf and study for the test it'd be awesome. is anyone interested in studying for the test sometime this week? awesome.

love,
ellen hassinger
10/26/08

10/23 Class Notes

Today we were given our two writing assignments that are both due on Monday. Mr. Lazarow placed a few Anglo Saxon riddles on the board, and we're to choose one to write an essay on its meaning. We also have to write our own 10-line Anglo Saxon poem. To do this assignment, you'll also have to copy down a riddle from the board during a study hall or 12th period.

As for Beowulf, we discussed Part 3 again today. Mr. Lazarow brought up a few key points about the ending of the poem. In the end of the poem, Beowulf's tribe obeys his orders of not helping him fight the dragon. Despite those orders, Beowulf's most loyal soldier disobeys him. Beowulf is not upset by this, and is in fact glad to see him come and help. The point that the author is making revolves around the theme of loyalty. Loyalty comes before all other things, and his tribe forgets that. As a result, Beowulf dies and the Geats end up falling as well. This also translates back to Grendel's Mother fight, when the Danes walked away, while the Geats showed their allegiance and loyalty to Beowulf. The author is telling us that the Geats have become the Danes. They've lost their loyalty and because of that, they shall end much like the Danes.

Ryan Grosso

CLASS MINUTES: 10/22

Hey guys, sorry I forgot to put this in yesterday...
Today in class we once again asked questions about Beowulf. At the start of class Mr. Lazarow compared the fight against the dragon in Beowulf to the fight against the dragon in the Hobbit. Afterwards, we talked about the history between the Swedes and the Geats:
The Geat king, Hreathel, dies,
The swedish king is named Ongentheow.
His sons, Othere and Onela invade the Geats.
The Swedes win the battle of Hresosnohill.

The new Geat king is Heathcyn, son of Hreathel.
The Geats capture Ongentheow's queen at the battle of Ravenswood.
In the same battle, Ongentheow counterattacks, rescues queen, and kills Heathcyn.
Hygelac, the younger brother of Heathcyn arrives with reinforcements.
Ongentheow is killed in the battle, and the Swedes lose.

Eanmund and Eadgils are the sons of Othere,
exiled by their uncle Onela (now the Swedish king).
Heardred (the Geat king, after Hygelac's death) gives them refuge.
Onela invades Geatland and kills Heardred.
Weohstan (the Swedish king's retainer) kills Eanmund.
Beowulf becomes king of the Geats.

Beowulf (the Geatish king) supports Eadgils when he invades the Swedes and kills Onela.

After the history of the Swedes and Geats we continued asking other questions of Beowulf.
Sorry again that I didn't post this yesterday...

Mickey Gill

Class Minutes 10/20/08

Today in class we talked about Beowulf and some writing assignments that we will have in the future.
-Test on Beowulf next week.
-We will also have two other writing assignments later this week.
-When Grendel's mom attacked Heorot she took back Grendel's arm and also killed and took Aeschere's head.
-Aeschere was one of Hrothgar's closest friends and advisors.
-Beowulf fought Grendel's mom with armor and weapons because by taking them the fight would be more equal since Beowulf did not have home turf advantage.
-Beowulf took 9 hours to reach the bottom of the lake where the lair of Grendel's mom was. As Beowulf was swimming down Grendel's mom came and dragged him down all the way to her cave.
-During the fight with Grendel's mom when Beowulf was pinned down by her he remenbered his past achievements and skills. By remenbering his fame he regained confidence in himself and gained strength to fight back against her and defeat her.

-Piero Benites

Class Minutes 10/16/08

Today in class we talked about the following about Beowulf:
-Hidleburh is the siter of the king of the Danes.
-The sword hilt is the part of the sword that you grab-not the entire sword.
-Beowulf went into the lake to kill Grendel, not Grendel's mother, but succeeds in both.
-Beowulf gives the swordhilt to Hrothgar because it represents a renewal of faith.
-In the Mead-hall the Geats slept with their armor on just in case something attacks, they were prepared.
-When Beowulf takes the 9-hour plunge into the lake, the danes give up, while the Geats wait.(That's Faith)
-Beowulf didn't bring the treasure up from the lake because they didn't deserve it.
-Wealtheow talks Hrothgar out of adopting Beowulf because he has loyalty to another tribe, but instead, Beowulf becomes a friend, or a protector, to the danes.

-Brandon Barrett

My Earlier Post

Well turns out we spent today going over my question! and I basically had everything wrong haahah so I guess it's good we did. Any thoughts on Grendel though? I'm reading the extra credit book and it's really interesting and helpful in understanding the anglo-saxons. Just reading Beowulf I wasn't really seeing and understanding their whole tribe versus tribe wars. I mean how I was picturing the anglo-saxons' lives is a lot different than what they actually were! (Which is way more barbaric...) x_x I actually kind of see Grendel in a completely different light! Then again I am only on chapter three so there is still room for that to change.
-Emily Wallace

Class Notes 10/15

Mr. Lazarow started off class today by reminding people about the opportunity for the Larry Smith writing event, and then we moved on to Beowulf. We discussed the story of "The Fight at Finnsburg", which represents a full deviation from the story, but represents a Danish victory, similar to their victory over Grendel
The Fight at Finnsburg
-Hildeburh is the princess of the Danes
-Daughters are only good for being married off, specifically to other countries to form alliances
-Hildeburh is married to Finn the Frisian king
-Their son is the Lord of the Danes/Jutes
-The Danes are welcomed in the Frisian Mead hall
-The son travels with the Danes to the Frisians, and when tempers flare, fighting erupts and the son of Finn and Hildeburh (also the Danish lord) is killed
-The Danes now exact blood-vengance on the Frisians for killing their lord
-During winter, a truce is made and the Danes stay with the Frisians as brothers
-When spring nears, the Danes break the truce and slaughter the Frisians
-This deviation has nothing to do with Beowulf, but with the Danes, and how the story relates back to a time when the Danes were victorious and were not fighting, as they are now that Grendel is dead
-Chris Balch

OH LOOK! A POST!

Okay, well, Hildeburh is the daughter of Hoc. She's the sister of Hnaef, leader of the Danes. She is married to Finn of the Frisians. As for why the story is told, I'm not sure. What was the story, anyway? I know the stuff about Hildeburh (or I think I do, anyway), but I don't quite get the story.

WOOO BLOGGING

So no one is really blogging very much..... and since I just posted minutes I have a comprehension question about Beowulf. I won't ask it in class because of the spiel we got today about not using class time productively. So before Wealhtheow gives her praise to Beowulf there was a story told. I was just wondering about the significance of it? I mean the person referred to was the woman Hildeburh, so is it just told because Wealhtheow is about to speak or is there another big reason this is told at the celebration? I think i'm pretty much all clear on most of the questions on the sheet though. If anyone has anything they want to ask FEEL FREE!! :D
-Emily Wallace

Minutes for October 14th!

Mr. Lazarow opened up class today with three things. The first is that apparently the senior powder puff football team is not looking too good. This is because they do not have enough people. I am assuming you can sign up if you are interested? If not they may be getting crushed by the juniors who have a team and have already had practices.
The second item Mr. Lazarow went over was an opportunity with the writer, Larry Smith! He wrote the six-word memoirs book and is coming to our school and to host three sessions with students. If you are interested in going to a session, let Mr. Lazarow know and he'll try to get you in. But I do not know if this opportunity is still available... :(
Item three was regarding Beowulf. He explained that we were not using class time productively because we were asking questions about the comprehension of the poem. Mr. Lazarow said we should focus on harder issues in class and use the blog and hard work to answer others in our own time.
Other than that we started talking about Beowulf's battle against Grendel's mother today. We reached around the point where he finds the sword in the cave. However, then we got a bit distracted because a big portion of the class did not know that the Roman Empire preceded the Anglo-Saxon era.
-Emily Wallace!

CLASS NOTES 10/13/08

Today we began class by Mr. Lazarow reminding us that for extra credit we can read "Grendle" by John Gardner and writing a paper on it. This prompted many people to go ans sign out a book. Next, he went around and collected the college essays we were supposed to have done. Finally, he asked if anyone needed to ask any questions on the "Beowulf" text. There were a lot of questions thrown around and Mr. Lazarow ended up insulting Kaitlyn a few times. Thus concludes my daily notes for English 4 pd. 11

-Mike Rudolph

Class Minutes 10/10

He started class by reminding us that are college essays are due monday. If you want extra credit you can read the book Grendel and write a paper comparing it to Beowulf. We took a quiz on our old english names for extra credit on our Beowulf final test. Then we had a vote in class to see what laz's old english name would be. It is Ealdwude which means old wooden ship. Finally we concluded class by asking questions about Beowulf.

-Jimmy Rhoads

Class Minutes 10/8/08

Here are the class minutes for Wednesday October 8th. 2009:

• First we got our Toulmin Model quizzes back.
  
• we then discussed possible extra credit opportunities. Later in the class Mr. Lazarow offered extra credit for reading Jon Gardner's Grendel and comparing it with Beowulf
• The rest of class was spent discussing Beowulf. We talked about how the text was divided and the types of sub-storylines presented throughout the book. Some of these sub-plots, or kernals, or are just mentioned, explained partially, or discussed in detail.

-Andrew Burke

ps so that was class minutes-kaitlyn mcgreevy....haha my bad forgot to say that

so today we went over many of the questions off of the worksheet for beowulf. basically these are the bullet statements taht are important
-a-s hate unknown , live in small communities, and blame what they odnt understand on unknown
-A-s worlview is when you turn away from your community you become an outcast
-warriors feel that if u can sacrice one person for the sake of many it is worth it
-Grendle/monsters in in marshes, where no people are, and come out and harass people at night when people arent active
-Beowulf came to help defeat grendle for honor and the fact that the kind had once a long time ago helped his father
-when beowulf came up onto the shore he first met the watchman who he refuse to tell his name because his name is sacred and he wasnt of a high enough statuc to tell him his name
-unferth, the kings right hand man, challenges beowulf when he comes and brags about himself

Class Minutes

Hey everyone,
Today we talked about the college essay, one of the deciding factors in whether or not we as seniors can get a higher education. All of our transcripts and activities have similar things on them, and the essay i what will set us apart.
One of the most important things is to not be cliche. Everyone writes about an important person or significant experience in their life, which is okay, but you(the writer) must no get caught in the bear trap. This bear trap is not talking about yourself. Most of us get caught up in talking about the person or experience and not about us.
We must be creative and take a RISK. This is the only way to stand out and not write a very standard essay.
Mr. Lazarow explained t us how he approached this when he was in applying to college. He was very interested in Marching Band but that's boring and standard so he wrote about control. He used control in to explain how he would got about his life in 3 different aspects. He then wrote it in a very different format that included him changing the format. He wrote forwards, backwards, and up an down which demanded control from the reader and also showed his correlation to marching band.

Jordan Levy

I just wanted to know how far everyone else has read in Beowulf so Ill know who to ask when everyone has questions about the book and the study packet thing
-Chris Balch

Class Minutes

Hey everybody,

Here's the minutes for Friday, October 3rd. 

We spent most of the class discussing questions about Beowulf. First, we discussed that Beowulf took Grendel's arm and gave it to the king to put in the mead hall. This led to a big discussion on the most important relationship in the entire book, the relationship between the King and Thane (Nobility). The thanes would do anything for their lord, including dying to protect him. The king then returns the favor by being the "Ring-Giver". As the "Ring-Giver", the king gives out different rewards for acts of service to the king. Armbands were given as a sort of standard operating procedure. If a warrior did something significant, then they would probably receive a token taken from the opposing side, such as a shield or banner. The most extraordinary deeds were rewarded with the thing that was prized and wanted by warriors, land. 

Next, someone asked what the importance of announcing your lineage when introducing yourself to someone. Because there were no last names, announcing your lineage was a way of identifying yourself to others. It was also a way to provide the accomplishments of your predecessors. 

We also discussed revenge and the blood price cycle. We discussed how people would get revenge on someone who killed a member of their family by killing them or a member of their family. It then became an endless cycle of "blood-for-blood" until no one was left. We discussed the term wergild as well. Wergild is literally defined as "man-price" and means the amount a person is worth. Wergild can be paid to a family in order to end a blood feud. 

We discussed how Ecgtheow was unable to pay a wergild, which put his tribe in danger. He ended up exiling himself in order to protect his tribe. Ecgtheow then found the Danes and meets Hrothgar. After hearing Ecgtheow's story, Hrothgar was so moved by how honorably Ecgtheow acted that he paid off the wergild for Ecgtheow. Later, Beowulf sought out Hrothgar and the Danes to help them because Hrothgar had helped Ecgtheow, Beowulf's father. 

We then moved on to discuss the prologue. We reviewed the importance of lineage again and also discussed the introduction of Hrothgar and his lineage. The book also introduced Scyld and his story. Scyld was found coming ashore from the sea as a baby and became a very important warrior and later king for the Danes. When he died, the Danes sent him back out to sea in a boat with gold. 

The last thing we discussed was a very important theme in the book. We discussed the theme, ALL THINGS END, and how nothing is permanent and nothing lasts forever. Mr. Lazarow emphasized this point strongly and told us it was very important to the story. 

REMEMBER!!!!!! Everyone should bring in one of their college essay prompts tomorrow so we can begin to work on them. If the school you are applying to does not require an essay, then take one from the Common Application, which you can find online. See you all tomorrow

-Sarah Mercer

Minutes of the Meeting 10/2/08

Ok, today in class we handed in our note cards with our Anglo-Saxon name, and then Mr. Lazarow opened the floor to any questions we had, and we basically spent the rest of the period doing that.

The first question had to do with the structure of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

A-S poetry is built by single lines in order to deliver what the audience wants to hear to the audience.  When Seamus Heaney translated Beowulf, he "enjambed" the lines, thus there isn't always one complete thought on a line and that you should keep reading until there is punctuation to do so.  The break in the middle of a line is called a caesura (he really wants us to spell that right) and it acts like a breath mark.  The lines become like a chant when read correctly.  There are 2 things that create unity across a single line.  1.) alliteration - a series of words taht begin with the same sound (not necessarily the same letter)  2.) stress - stressed/unstressed syllables - there are four per line.

Characteristics of an epic poem are that it 1.) is very long 2.) tells the story of an epic heroic journey 3.) is lofty and 4.) begins in the middle of the action.

Lastly, we discussed Grendel's description.  A description is not given in the book, and therefore there is no way to know for sure what Grendel looks like.  It is possible that it is a human because it is said to be a descendant of Cain who was born of Adam and Eve.

That's really all that mattered to me this Thursday, October 2nd.  I'm Patrick Lafferty, and you've just been filled in.

--Patrick Lafferty

Class Minutes

(Soo this is my first post...pretty excited.)

Class started off today with Kaitlyn informing us that she had met Mr. Lazarow's twin. He then went into a breif lesson about "Doppelganger" which means "dark half twin". Mr. Lazarow does not have a twin. Now that we covered that...

A couple questions were asked about the slides from Monday and how the Hero can learn something that results in helping the listener. The hero typically does his deed and becomes a teacher for himself because of Archetype, the older you get the more knowledge you contain along with wisom and maturity therefore being the guide.

To connect the power point with Beowulf, the class did a warm-up that contained the importance of a name. Names have meaning; they say something about a person. Also certain cultures contain multiple names, names that would be added on, for instance a confirmation name. Mr. Lazarow used his son's name as an example: Jacob Liam Lazarow. The "J" in Jacob represents the Jewish tradition in using letters, his rgeat uncle was named Joseph, and therefore the J came from Joseph. The "L" from Liam is Gaelic and is short for William. Finally, the last name comes from Lazarov, which is understood by the Russians. Not only full names, but also nicknames or reveiving a nickname, all supports the notion that names have meaning.

We received a packet containing a table of first and second elements with meanings next to each element. Putting that aside, we talked about "old English" and how it only refers to that which was written or spoken by Anglo-Saxon--> F U T H O R C, these were the only symbols used at the time and were knows as runic (not letters from the alphabet). Beowulf is the only example in old English that we will be reading, nothing more. We then used the packets to depict the names Hroth/Gar and Beo/Wulf. The meanings of the different elements came out to tell us that Hrothgar means fame and spear, which translated into famous spear. From this name we came to a conclusion that this individual was a male-warrior and had some sort of skill. Beowulf turned out to be bee-wolf, which told us that it was some sort of animal.

With these examples in mind, Mr. Laz gave us a task to complete tonight:
Assignment: Pre-step: index card (3x5) put real name on it

1. Write name of choice with list given for yourself (consider who you are and what you do)
2. Define your name by element using the packet. DO NOT write down name with all possible elements *pick one certain element with one definition
3. Give translation of the two elements together
4. On the other side of the index card: Mr. Lazarow (same format)
5. Take index car- seal envelope with your normal name on it. KEEP YOUR MADE UP NAME A SECRET. YOU WILL REGRET IT LATER IF YOU TELL!

A few questions came up about the background history of Beowulf:
-A.S stands for Anglo-Saxon
-# of manuscripts- 1 (almost destroyed as well)
-30,000 lines survived only 3,182 of them used

In the last minutes of class Mr. Lazarow brought up a term "KENNING" which is the ability to say certain words in different ways. Ex. sword: war-biter

Tanya