Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Marcia Williams

All of these represent quite different types of skaters, similar to how Chaucer wrote about quite different types of pilgrims. Seeing me skate was like watching a cross between a daddy-long-legs trying to climb a plate glass window and an orangutan trying to break dance.”ĭavid Mike also writes about other skating rink characters, such as the Damsel in Distress, The Skate Ninja, The Testosteroller, The Wall Clingers, and The Most Popular Girl in School. The What-were-you-thinking-putting-on-those-skates-you-should-have-stayed-home-and-played-Dungeons-and-Dragons-with-your-friends-guy… “That would be me. Once he pulled up beside the kid as if he was in the race car scene from Grease, the Roller Bully would look directly into the victim’s eyes, snatch the loose item, and spin to skate in reverse so as not to break eye contact.” The Roller Bully… “This guy usually would seek out people with hats or other removable articles of clothing. This recollection reminded me of Chaucer’s tales and the variety of pilgrims involved. While at the rink, Mike notices and records a variety of skaters. As I was preparing to teach The Canterbury Tales, Mike’s essay crossed my mind as I remembered how it told of taking a pilgrimage of sorts to a roller-skating rink back in his youth. His short memoir titled, “Roller Skating Fiasco,” is one that I used as a mentor text for a characterization mini-lesson a few years ago in my middle school ELA classes.

Find out more about his book, Dishonor: One Soldier’s Journey from Desertion to Redemption at this link. This is an essay written by an online friend of mine, David Mike, whom I met when we both were more active contributors on. “Roller Skating Fiasco,” a memoir by author David Mike Pick a card, any card! Students chose “blindly” from these cards and then did some quick research to present their “One-Minute Middle Ages” talks. Kids seemed to like the informal nature of it, and it broadened their knowledge of the medieval ages. I will definitely use this activity again. I allowed students to use Wikipedia for the sleuthing needed for these informal mini-presentations I feel Wikipedia is sufficient for introductory research. I liked how the videos introduced these topics, and then the students delved deeper into them in these short talks. Nearly all of the topics were mentioned in both videos listed above. Topics included the Black Death, chivalry, Boccacio’s Decameron, alchemy, the Hundred Years War, and others. On each card was a topic for them to quickly research online and then present to the class in a brief presentation.

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Marcia Williams