I LOVE the Beowulf movie!

... even though I've never seen it. Why? It is an AWESOME trap for students who haven't done the reading.

Heh heh heh. I wish people would make bad movies about everything I teach. I'm not quite sure what this says about me.

Final presentations today. Apart from the student who talked about how Beowulf fails to kill Grendel's mother because she seduces him, they were all decent, some much better than decent. This is the third time I've used this presentation assignment -- basically, "tell your classmates about your final paper, bring questions for the class and note places where you'd like some help, and we'll have a nice, relaxed conversation about it" -- and it has gone over brilliantly every time. I'm not sure it actually makes for better papers (sometimes I think nothing results in better papers, ever), but it does get them talking to each other rather than through me, and generally they are interested in what their classmates have to say. Sometimes it's even hard for me to get a word in edgewise, which I thought would NEVER happen with this group.

I wish it were possible to do this in the standard Norton Anthology of Brit Lit I survey class, but there is just TOO MUCH to read. (I have made the painful decision that we're not reading any Malory next semester. I adore Malory, but it's just not possible to do him justice in the survey. We might skip Sidney, too. This was a much less painful decision.)

I can't believe I'm already thinking about the next semester of classes before this one wraps up, but of course it's only a two-week break. Help.