Etymology (and Beowulf) Background “Speed Googling” RAFT
You will have a very short amount of time (about 60 seconds) to research each of the following questions. After gathering the “answers” to these questions, Mr. Foster will discuss them with you. You can use “wiki-devil” as a starting off point to get familiar with your topic, but you should also use different websites to confirm the information you find. In fact, each Wikipedia page has a bibliography of more valid websites at the bottom; scroll down and use those sites as confirmation resources. During the lecture, amend and/or complete all answers in a DIFFERENT COLORED writing utensil than the one you used when you did your own research.
1)What is the difference between “old” and “middle” English and which do you speak?
2)What was the first text that was mass distributed on paper in the English language?
3)How were texts circulated before print?
4)What three major factors influence the change of language?
5)Is English based on Latin? How or how not?
6)List the five most populated countries that speak English as their primary language (even if English is not the “official” language).
7)Cite two specific ways that technology has affected American-English usage in the past 20 years.
8)What is considered the first story ever written in the English language and who was the author?
9)What does Anglo-Saxon mean?
10)Describe the religion of the Vikings of medieval Europe. Discuss honor, fate and pagan.
Now that you have sufficient background information about Beowulf and how your language came to be, your task is to write one expository paragraphs that informs, tells and explains key etymological aspects of American English-the ones you found while researching. For your paragraph, choose a unique R.A.F.T.using the table below.
Role / Audience / Format / ToneAHS Student / Mr. Foster / 3rd Person Paragraph / Professional
RHS Student / Ineffective Teacher / 3rd Person Paragraph / Formal
Famous Author / Critics / Letter or Email / Biting/Aggressive
Journalist / Readers of website/newspaper / News Story / Informative/Engaging
AHS Teacher / Principal / Email / Optimistic/Jovial
Apathetic teen / The world / Social media / Whiny/Ungrateful
Your choice / Your choice / Your choice / Your choice
While your tone may be playful, please remember that one Learning Target is “Grammar.” Regardless of what combination you choose, be sure to exhibit proficiency in both of the learning targets below: grammar and evidence. Below is an exemplar of how to do the fifth R.A.F.T. choice for an expository paragraph about Standards Based Learning. Words that exhibit the Tone are in bold; words that show that Role, Audience, and Format are underlined.
Dear Mrs. Wilson,
I am thrilled to inform you about the many positive aspects of Standards Based Learning. Before I started using this system, I was not confident that I knew what my students knew. I was confident that I was teaching well but not certain that the “8/10” grade that I put on an assignment was an accurate indicator of what my student(s) did or did not actually know. However, there is good news, I do not do that any more, and I am excited about my results. Standards Based Learning involves generating Learning Targets and then making sure assignments directly address those learning targets. Specifically, students are given formative assessments that are like playful practice for the summative assessment at the end of a unit. Also, it insists that students be blessed with helpful, specific feedback about their progress on learning targets. Then, after grading each assignment, as the ambitious teacher, I am rewarded with explicit evidence of what exactly my students know. Specifically, instead of just guessing that “the kids did well on that quiz,” I now have data that tells me, “the kids struggle with grammar.” Fortunately, I am excited and optimistic about this change in my grading. While it takes more work, having clear communication with students about what is expected and how they performed is a joyful and crucial reward. Sincerely,
Aric Foster
Learning Targets / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1Support = Did I use accurate and relevant evidence to support claims and/or counter claims? / I can use an abundance of
evidence that is reliable,
specific, relevant,
unbiased & directly proves
my thesis beyond teacher
expectations. / I can use a supply of
evidence that is respectable,
specific, useful, unbiased
and proves the thesis. I do
this consistently for every
argument/reason. / Some evidence I used is
helpful, relevant, unbiased
and works to prove the
thesis. I am sometimes
inconsistent or inaccurate
with my argument support / I used little to no evidence;
it is unreliable, vague,
irrelevant, biased,
plagiarized and/or doesn’t
directly prove the thesis. I
require teacher help to show
evidence for arguments
Words the text above that
show this Learning Target / 8/10, Learning Target, formative, summative, feedback, evidence, grading, data, perform.
Produce writing that
follows convention:
accurate grammar,
punctuation, & mechanics / I can display an advanced
use of Standard American
English grammar,
punctuation & mechanics. / I can display a sufficient
control over Standard
American English grammar,
punctuation & mechanics. / I can only display an
inconsistent or partial
control over grammar,
punctuation & mechanics. / I have multiple miscues
in grammar, punctuation
& mechanics; my errors
distracted from meaning
Words the text above that
show this Learning Target / Zero grammatical errors. Used one compound sentence: However…
Used one complex sentence: While…
1)What is the difference between “old” and “middle” English and which do you speak?
Actual: Old = 1200, show Beowulf in Old English, we can’t read it. Middle = 1400, influenced by French use in government then Chaucer decided it should be English, readable to use but challenging. Modern = 1600s, Shakespeare; this is what you speak
2)What was the first text that was mass distributed on paper in the English language?
Actual: Bible
3)How were texts circulated before print?
Actual: oral tradition, got exaggerated and forgotten
4)What three major factors influence the change of language?
Actual: Time, technology, Geography/people. The colonists spoke English and long story about how English came to be
5)Is English based on Latin? How?
Actual: Nope, German based
6)List 5 countries that speak English as their primary language (even if English is not the “official” language).
Actual: U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various Caribbean and Pacific island nations; it is also an official language of India, the Philippines, and many sub-Saharan African countries.
7)How is technology affecting American-English usage today?
Actual: New words like tweet, selfie, and social media. Slang with acronyms. Changing nouns verbs. “OMG, this is such a stupid question. It’s for English Newbs. WTF! I can’t believe we have to Google this. I am going to instragram a selfie.
8)What is considered the first story ever written in the English language and who was the author?
Actual: Beowulf, author unknown
9)What does Anglo-Saxon mean?
Actual: Two tribes, Angles and Saxons, invaded and ruled England. Used to refer to ancient English culture, English speaking people now, WASP
10)Describe the religion of the Vikings of medieval Europe. What does pagan mean?
Actual: Drank a lot and were vicious savages AND believed in Fate (wheel of fortune) and honor in life is more important that life itself. Pagan: non Christian earthy religion.
After this assignment is given and explained, give students the fun narrative lecture of our language. On their writing minutes, they keep track of things that they already knew and things they didn’t know. Then, after the lecture, share things they did and did not know before the lecture. Then, they can begin writing as they should have plenty of ammunition to write.
Etymology lecture:
Many factors that make it evolve: physical space = geography/people, time = centuries not days, technology = especially in the past few decades,
Physical space = NOT Latin based. Latin languages are Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French. Rome was conquering and made all these languages. In now Germany, there were nomadic tribes that got conquered and stole Rome’s ideas of roads, democracy and language. Our language is Germanic; closer to Finnish and Swedish than Latin. However, lots was stolen from Latin. Us = English speakers. Traveled to England. On the way we stole words from French: champagne, cavalier, beautiful. Got to England = isolation made it change further. Some of us went to island of Ireland and language changed even more. This was happening over centuries. Then we went to America = another large physical space and island. We met Native Americans = quash, corn, canoe. Then Africans = voodoo. Then Mexicans = California, Colorado, foods. Then we started separating by regions = southern accent, Boston (lots of Irish-pahk the cah at hahvahdyahd), New York (lots of Italians-gesticulation, sarcasm and loud), Midwestern accent, even a UP accent (lots of Swedish settled there). Pop = soda, soft drink and coke. Even west-east side of Michigan = sliding glass door vs. door wall. This space conglomerate explains our numerous synonyms: pork, pig, swine, hog and bucket/pail and crazy spellings (knight and beautiful).
Time = all this happened over centuries
Technology = as we traveled more easily over greater distances, we interacted and mixed with different languages. We learned names of things we have not heard of. Also, with the printing press, language proliferated more quickly. In the past few decades, internet has changed out language. IM/texting speak out loud (OMG, WTF, LOL), nouns into verbs = fax, email, google and changes how we communicate (texting more frequent than calling). How will it affect it in the future?
Different time periods where our language changed severally. We will do a webquest later on this, but here are important periods and major authors:
a) Beowulf = 1100s actually, but close to 1200s Old English
b) Canterbury Tales = 1400s Middle English
c) Shakespeare = 1600s antique form of modern English
d) Frankenstein = 1797-1851 = 1800s older British form of modern English
Guess the difference between British and American Literature. Guess ______Last year American, this year British Guess ______. Authors is the answer.
Lesson plan on “due date” for peer editing:
1)Students that did not do the assignment go to the library and do it NOW.
2)Students that did do the assignment do peer editing as follows:
- Students hide or delete their specific RAFT roles for their own work. Then, they trade RAFTS. Then, the partner has to figure out what RAFT the other student wrote; the partner hast to identify the role, audience, format and tone. Partners double check responses.
- Ways that the assignment addresses the learning target of “evidence/support.” In other words, highlight specific references to the information that we speed-googled and discussed in the library that the author used in his/her RAFT.
- All grammatical errors and suggestions for how to fix them; any advanced grammatical techniques: dashes, compound-complex sentences, etc. to demonstrate proficiency in the learning target of “grammar”
- Content items (Beowulf and etymology) in the partner’s RAFT that the editor wrote about in her/his RAFT
- Content items (Beowulf and etymology) in the partner’s RAFT that the editor DID NOT write about in her/his RAFT
- All commas and places where commas should be. Then discuss if it goes there or not.
3)The assignment is due the next school day for all students.
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