King Arthur & Sir Gawain Comparison Lesson
Small Group Activities for Le Morte d'Arthur and the Green Knight
Nov 4, 2008
In order to motivate many students to read Le Morte d'Arthur and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, they need to be able to identify with the characters from the story. Reading the stories is not enough. There needs to be good discussion.
Anticipatory Set to Create Empathy for Characters
Put students in a small group. Have the following on small sheets of paper for the students to discuss:
- Have you ever done or said something that you later regretted? If so, what did you do and why did you later regret it? If given a second chance, would you behave differently?
Bring small groups back as a class. Students who are comfortable can share what they discussed in the small groups. Then, tell the students that some of the main characters in the stories they are about to read about also acted in ways that they later regretted.
Small Group Activities
After students have read the two stories, students can complete the following activities in small groups of three-to-four students. The activities can be done on separate days or as a large packet of activities. For each activity, the group should designate a different "secretary" to keep notes of the discussions.
Activity1 -- Basic questions for the stories
- Who are the main characters in each story?
- In each story, how are the main characters connected?
- What is the setting of each story?
- What are the main conflicts?
- What is the climax of each story?
- What is the resolution of each story?
Activity 2 -- Basics elements of romance
Students need to review elements of romance: noble, idealized heroes, gallant love, adventure, code of honor, daring deeds, faraway settings and fantastic events. Then, students need to try to find examples of each element in both stories.
Activity 3 -- Debate which is the better romance story
Find groups that think that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the best romance and groups that think Le Morte d'Arthur is the best romance. They may use their elements of romance information to debate.
Activity 4 -- Compare and contrast main characters
Discuss techniques used to reveal Lancelot's and Gawain's personalities during their combats. Make sure students discuss the characters' strong emotions. In addition, discuss if each character was given a second chance to resolve the conflict if he might act differently.
Activity 5 -- Write it in modern day language
Choose an important scene from either story. Write it in modern day language using school appropriate slang. Then, organize props and costumes to perform the scene for the class.
Assessing Group Activities
Notes from each group should be turned into the teacher. In addition, activities can be assessed using a rubric. Criteria for the rubric could be teamwork, completeness, content of answers and creativity.
These are five activities that can breathe some life into the dusty tales. Once students dig into the events and characters in the stories, they might find that the characters are more like them then they thought. The best part is that the students work in groups to make this discovery.
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