Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching (SMART)
Spring 2021 (Volume 28, Issue 1)
The articles in this Spring 2021 issue of SMART offer an interesting miscellany of scholarship, beginning with two collaborative project-based pedagogical approaches: one to teaching medieval literature and medievalism using an experimental game project, and the other to teaching digital and manuscript studies as a short course. These two papers are followed by an article on teaching the ninth-century Old Saxon text Heliand, detailing ways in which the author has contextualized this difficult and often alien work in the classroom by linking it with familiar concepts and writings. The next paper offers ways to help students navigate a challenging medieval history couse, getting them to really understand the material and connecting medievalists with colleagues across a broad spectrum of disciplines. Then comes an article on questioning masculinity and sacrifice in Iliad 22 and The Battle of Maldon, by examining ways to analyze and teach this battle poetry so that students can understand how their cultural heritage is shaping them and their decisions. The last paper in this issue deals with the daunting task of teaching the history of the English Language by using comics, which the author has created in the classroom. Many book reviews also accompany this issue. Hopefully, readers will find them useful to supplement their classroom resources or for personal interest.
Please share information on the SMART journal with friends, colleagues, and libraries, alerting them to the wide contribution that this publication makes to Middle Ages and Renaissance pedagogy. We are always interested in new submissions, either individual papers or collections of essays around a theme. If you have a project that you think might be suitable for SMART, please let us know.
CHRISTINA M. HECKMAN Playing the Game: Collaborative Project-Based Learning in the Medieval Literature Classroom
ANYA ADAIR, KATHERINE HINDLEY, AND JOE STADOLNIK Teaching Digital Editing and Manuscript Studies: A Project-Based Short Course Approach
PERRY NEIL HARRISON Teaching the Ninth-Century Heliand in the Twenty-First-Century Classroom
PETER BURKHOLDER Quia difficilia sunt: The Pedagogical Benefits of a Challenging Middle Ages
LAURA BAREFIELD Questioning Masculinity and Sacrifice in Iliad 22 and The Battle of Maldon
PATRICK MURPHY Teaching the History of the English Language with Comics
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JENNY REBECCA RYTTING Book Review: Approaches to Teaching the Middle English Pearl, edited by Jane Beal and Mark Bradshaw Busbee
ROY HAMMERLING Book Review: The Early Eastern Orthodox Church: A History, AD 60–1453, by Stephen Morris
SUSAN KENDRICK Book Review: Shakespeare’s London 1613, by David M. Bergeron
BRIAN J. HARRIES Book Review: The English Lyric Tradition: Reading Poetic Masterpieces of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, by R. James Goldstein
ROBERT GRAYBILL Book Review: Blind Impressions: Methods and Mythologies in Book History, by Joseph A. Dane
CHRIS CRAUN Book Review: Celtic Cosmology and the Otherworld: Mythic Origins, Sovereignty, and Liminality, by Sharon Paice MacLeod
LESLEY COOTE Book Review: The Chivalric Folk Tradition in Sicily: A History of Storytelling, Puppetry, Painted Carts and Other Arts, by Marcella Croce
CARY J. NEDERMAN Book Review: Matilda: Empress Queen Warrior, by Catherine Hanley
LEAH HAUGHT Book Review: Arthur: God and Hero in Avalon, by Christopher R. Fee
YVONNE BRUCE Book Review: The Echo of Odin: Norse Mythology and Human Consciousness, by Edward W. L. Smith
TRAVIS W. JOHNSON Book Review: Reimagining History in Anglo-Norman Prose Chronicles, by John Spence
THOMAS H. CROFTS Book Review: The Works of Gwerful Mechain, edited and translated by Katie Gramich
MEGAN GREGORY Book Review: Teaching the History of the English Language, edited by Colette Moore and Chris C. Palmer
Both spring and fall 2021 issues of SMART are included in the yearly subscription price of $30 for individuals, $35 for libraries and centers, and $40 for subscriptions outside of the United States. Prepayment is required. A subscription form can be printed by clicking on Subscription Information in the left side bar area.
Back issues are available for $20 each (domestic mailing) or $25 each (foreign mailing).
Continuing support for SMART from the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wichita State University makes it possible to provide our readers with quality pedagogical scholarship.