There is no better way to "learn"  literature than an immersion experience. Students not only read and discuss the oldest work in English Literature....they relive the adventure, they take part in the decision-making, they face the challenges and this they experience as a team. I am very excited to hold this unique class which combines literature, history and the Three Pillars of Adventure!

A two-hour, 12 week immersion literature class with a certified teacher (who is super enthusiastic about this new approach toward literature/history) for $16/lesson - roughly $8/hour - quite a value!


WHAT IS BEOWULF?
BEOWULF is THE LONGEST Old English poem to survive from Anglo-Saxon England. The only extant manuscript dates from around A.D. 1000. Although the original text was written between A.D. 650 and 850, the core tale is considerably older. Set in Migration Age (A.D. 400-600) Scandinavia, the epic inherits a hoard of Germanic legend, oral tradition, and vague historical reference. Most likely it began as an oral account, later edited by an Anglian noble or churchman. A heroic tale reinforced by Christian morals, Beowulf bridges Britain's barbaric ancestry with its literate Anglo-Saxon future.
The epic is simple. In his youth a Geatish hero named Beowulf travels to the court of King Hrothgar of Denmark. There he defeats a demon-troll called Grendel, and then Grendel's Dam. Beowulf receives great rewards from Hrothgar and - once he has returned home - from his lord, eventually becoming king of the Geats. The last third of the poem describes Beowulf's old age, when he goes forth to defend his people from a rampaging dragon. Beowulf kills the wyrm (dragon), but dies from his wounds. The epic ends with omens of disaster for the Geatish people. Woven into this story of heroism are references to semi-historic rulers and realms, Germanic custom and legend, and early feudal practices.

Each class will begin with a short presentation which will include the text of Beowulf relevant to that day's adventure as well as primary and secondary documents for consideration during the session. (The student will have access to summaries, guiding questions, and other resources through the Outschool class page.) Students will arrive at the class having read the relevant section in Beowulf, I as the GM (Game Master) will introduce the setting for the day's adventure, then the students will explore, role play, and take on any threats. This is not really acting, as if from a script - this Literature/History Immersion role playing whereby the students know the basic plot of the story yet can think creatively, act boldly and work cooperatively to solve problems and possible solve them better than Beowulf. In this case the process it similar to the popular "Choose Your Own Adventure" but even more open-ended since the only limits for action are the rules of the game and the context of the time period. Despite the freedom to explore, the nature of their player character, the non-player character's role and the setting will surprising have them follow similar solutions to the problems presented. 

Role-playing through literature will be a very memorable experience, more so than passively watching a movie or merely reading. The level of empathy and understanding gained will make the epic of Beowulf come alive for the student. 

Students are encouraged to read ahead of the class so that they may better enjoin in the Three Pillars of Adventure inherent in all role playing games (RPGs). 

ALL students MUST have a Roll20 account (free) in order to fully participate in the class. 

This class begins on 28 December - meets once per week for 1.5 hrs.

(14 Dec) Class One - Introduction to the Course - discussion of Epic, Hero Cycle, and D&D Immersion Experience concept.
(21 Dec)  - "Session Zero" - character creation on Roll20, orientation to basic style of role play and setting.
(28 Dec)  - Session One: The Wrath of Grendel
(4 Jan)  - Session Two: The Coming of Beowulf
(11 Jan) - Session Three: The Battle of Grendel
(18 Jan)  - Session Three Continued
(25 Jan)  - Session Four: The Battle With Grendel's Mother
(1 Feb)  - Session Four: Continued
(8 Feb)  - Session Five: The Last Battle
(15 Feb)  - Session Five: Continued
(22 Feb)  - Session Six: The Spoils & The Farewell
(1 March)  - Session Seven: Loose ends & Conclusions

We will be using Dungeon & Dragons 5E for our game mechanics since it is the most popular and widely-known RPG system. (Basic Rules and character sheet are attached). Students do not need experience with D&D since we will be learning the rules as we go along. Our "Session Zero" will handle most questions and procedures, feel free to send a message for any further questions. 

IMPORTANT: We are only using the D&D 5E mechanics and rules, students will NOT have the choice of choosing any race or any class. (There were no Tiefling Wizards amongst the Geats!) 
Thus, ALL players are HUMAN characters and may be Barbarians, Fighters, Rangers, Rogues, Druids, Clerics, Sorcerers or Warlocks. ALL players will start at level 1 and will generally advance together based upon gaining experience points through creative thinking, collaboration, teamwork and role playing.....as well as combat. (Please review the attached D&D Basic Rules)

Some scholars speculate that the epic poem Beowulf , which exists in a single manuscript dating to roughly 1050AD, is
actually a transcription of a multi-night oral performance, crafted piecemeal between the 8th and early 11th centuries, by a variety of performers, each one altering on the fly. If so, it was a collaboration between many voices, over many years, and those voices mattered, the poem being altered by every poet and performer who encountered it. A poem with a history this long is a poem in which everything imaginable has happened, whether by improvisation, or by aggressive editing. We don’t know all the twists and turns the Beowulf poem took in the years before it was written down, and in the thousand years since, it has continued to change, through translator’s choices. Sometimes, when I think about Beowulf, I like to imagine a version, told in say, the year 775, an elderly embroiderer in the women’s wing of a castle changing events to suit her listeners, ending the story early, as her audience bites their threads and ties their knots. Did Beowulf always win his battle with Grendel’s mother? Maybe in The Embroiderer’s Version, Grendel’s mother ended the battle kneeling on Beowulf’s chest, her needle sticking into his heart. Playing a game like this one is, in some ways, similar to the path I took when turning this epic into a role-playing game experience.  Your path as a player is constructed of encounters, each one with many possibilities – just as my creator’s path through each Old English translation and each D&D module offered possibilities that would ultimately change the resonance, scope, and meaning of the entire story. It’s possible to think about Beowulf simply, as a fixed text, heroes and monsters, brave deeds, but to think of it that way neglects the wide range of possibilities inherent within it. Through a text like
Beowulf , we can get a sense of shifting understandings about the key elements of our own society – after all, heroes, adversaries, and notions of “good kings” are fundamental parts of society to this day, albeit slightly recast. Beowulf: D&D Immersion Experience offers the opportunity to analyze the ways that someone looking to gain status might frame his adventures, and to equip oneself to discern moralities, weigh loyalties, and battle strategically. It’s possible to linger under the mere with Grendel’s mother, to consider what might motivate a monster to attack a hall with the multi-year tenacity displayed by Grendel, and to investigate what sort of invasion might make a dragon so angry that they set the world on fire. This is great stuff!!!!!

Other D&D Immersion Experiences I am presently working on are: ARTHURIAN LEGENDS, SHERLOCK HOLMES, SINBAD the SAILOR, TREASURE ISLAND, GENGHIS KHAN to name but a few!!! I truly believe that this is an outstanding way by which for students to not just "learn" but to intimately KNOW what the authors intended as well as to truly understand the contextualization of the epics or novels.

THIS class will NOT meet on 25 November (U.S. Thanksgiving).