Audio - Middle Ages audio content

Audio available on the site related to the Middle Ages. Most audio can be listened to using a flash-based browser that will allow you to move easily through the recording as well as pause and start when needed.

English Ballads - Karaoke and a Personal Narrative - Period A - 2010

Submitted by scotese on Wed, 2010-11-10 06:54

 There are a couple of main objectives that I have for this lesson.  One, is to convince students that ballads were songs - not poems.  So we listen to a lot of musical versions of the ballads - and we even have one student sing a ballad using Karaoke software.  The other goal that I have is to show students why these ballads are still around - and why they are so powerful: to that end, I interweave my own experience with teaching these ballads - with stories of students, Barbara Allen, and a story about loss and permanence.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


47:33 minutes (43.54 MB)

English Ballads - Karaoke and a Personal Narrative - 2010 - Periiod B

Submitted by scotese on Wed, 2010-11-10 06:59

  There are a couple of main objective that I have for this lesson.  One, is to convince students that ballads were songs - not poems.  So we listen to a lot of musical versions of the ballads - and we even have one student sing a ballad using Karaoke software.  The other goal that I have is to show students why these ballads are still around - and why they are so powerful: to that end, I interweave my own experience with teaching these ballads - with stories of students, Barbara Allen, and a story about loss and permanence.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


43:30 minutes (39.84 MB)

The Wife of Bath's Prologue - A Class Discussion on the Story and Domestic Abuse - Per B - 2010

Submitted by scotese on Sun, 2011-05-29 05:34

It is inconceivable to me that many modern text books have dropped "The Wife of Bath's Prologue."  It is not only a much better piece of work than her tale - it is a watershed text in the history of the English language.  I really believe that she is, as others have said, the first English Feminist Character.  In class, we talk about her prologue - her point of view - and we talk about one of the ideas that is everpresent in her text: domestic abuse.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


37:51 minutes (51.98 MB)
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Boys and their Babies - A Lesson on Women Writers of the Middle Ages - 2010

Submitted by scotese on Sun, 2010-11-21 10:26

 I have never attempted to record this craziness before - this lesson occurs after students read about Women Writers of the Middle Ages, and Virginia Woolfe's "Shakespeare's Sister."  In the lesson, boys are given a harder quiz, must write with their wrong hand, and they have to "take care of a baby," while trying to do their group work by themselves.  At the end of the lesson, we talk about why there were so few women writers in the Middle Ages.  It is a lesson that students remember for a long time.  The handouts associated with this lesson can be found here.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


24:18 minutes (22.25 MB)

The Wife of Bath's Prologue - A Class Discussion on the Story and Domestic Abuse - Per A - 2010

Submitted by scotese on Sun, 2011-05-29 05:25

It is inconceivable to me that many modern text books have dropped "The Wife of Bath's Prologue."  It is not only a much better piece of work than her tale - it is a watershed text in the history of the English language.  I really believe that she is, as others have said, the first English Feminist Character.  In class, we talk about her prologue - her point of view - and we talk about one of the ideas that is everpresent in her text: domestic abuse.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


40:22 minutes (55.43 MB)
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The Wife of Bath's Prologue - A Class Discussion on the Story and Domestic Abuse - Per C - 2010

Submitted by scotese on Sun, 2011-05-29 05:37

 It is inconceivable to me that many modern text books have dropped "The Wife of Bath's Prologue."  It is not only a much better piece of work than her tale - it is a watershed text in the history of the English language.  I really believe that she is, as others have said, the first English Feminist Character.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


40:17 minutes (55.33 MB)
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The Wife of Bath's Prologue - A Class Discussion on the Story and Domestic Abuse - Per D - 2010

Submitted by scotese on Sun, 2011-05-29 05:45

 It is inconceivable to me that many modern text books have dropped "The Wife of Bath's Prologue."  It is not only a much better piece of work than her tale - it is a watershed text in the history of the English language.  I really believe that she is, as others have said, the first English Feminist Character.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


42:23 minutes (58.21 MB)
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A class on English Ballads

Submitted by scotese on Wed, 2008-12-17 10:23

The audio begins with Harry Belafonte singing "Lord Randall."  I want students to see that these ballads are songs - not poems.  We then discuss that ballad, and Edward.  We also have a session of Karaoke Ballads where a students uses a Karaoke program to sing "Greensleeves."  I also tell the story of my wonderful students and the time they surprised me with a rendition of "Barbara Allen."

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


40:23 minutes (18.49 MB)

The Millers Tale - A reading by Joe Scotese - Nov 4, 2010

Submitted by scotese on Wed, 2011-07-27 06:08

My high school English teacher read this story to me - and I hope that one of my students, if they become an English Teacher, will read it to their students.  I remember the profound effect that hearing this tale had on my -- oh my gosh, they laughed at the same low humor that we kick around today.  It gave universality a new meaning.  This is the 2010 reading of Chaucer's "The Miller's Tale."

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


41:39 minutes (57.2 MB)

Chaucer's "The Miller Tale" as read by Joe Scotese - take 2

Submitted by scotese on Mon, 2008-12-08 07:05

My second take on reading Chaucer's "The Miller's Tale."  It is so much fun to have such a receptive audience.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


39:07 minutes (17.91 MB)

Chaucer's "The Miller Tale" as read by Joe Scotese

Submitted by scotese on Mon, 2008-12-08 07:00

My high school English teacher read this story to me - and I hope that one of my students, if they become an English Teacher, will read it to their students.  I remember the profound effect that hearing this tale had on my -- oh my gosh, they laughed at the same low humor that we kick around today.  It gave universality a new meaning.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


38:13 minutes (17.49 MB)

The Prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale: A Class Discussion

Submitted by scotese on Sat, 2010-01-30 07:04

I am amazed that many textbooks now leave this prologue out of their collections (and yet leave her Tale in).  It is, to me, one of the most important pieces of literature in English - and I agree with many critics that the Wife of Bath is the first feminist literary character.  While much of our discussion focuses on what was said in the prologue - much also is said about domestic abuse, how we can prevent it and how we can avoid putting the blame on the victim.  You can find the lyric sheets to the songs we listen to by clicking here.

Full text, downloads, and audio for ALL lessons are made visible and available to users who have earned 50 points.  An uploaded original lesson is one way to earn 2 - 50 points.


28:36 minutes (19.64 MB)