Author Topic: Trogdor the Burninator Lesson Plan (Read 7990 times)

nels6138 · « **on:** April 11, 2011, 09:12:17 AM »

Lesson plan based around the video by Homestarrunner where Strong Bad draws a dragon.
I showed the video once to my kids, passed out the worksheet, showed the video again, then went over the "how to" instructions.

I drew my own Trogdor on the board, which my kids got a kick out of it since I'm not a very good artist, while they all drew on their worksheets. I showed the video a third time to see how we all did.

Then I used the powerpoint to talk about dragons and vocabulary like: spines, tail, wings, scales, horns, feathers, claws, fire, smoke, scary, cute, colors. I showed them the pictures and had them describe the dragon, how was it different from the last dragon, what does this one have that other dragons didn't, etc. On the slide with all the little dragons, I had them do comparisons. This dragon has wings, this dragon does not have wings. This dragon lives in water, that dragon can fly.

I had them draw their own dragons, thinking about whether or not their dragons were going to have spines or wings or breath fire. I called on different students to share their dragons with the class and describe their attributes.

Generally, this lesson went over really well, some of the kids really got into it. Others just couldn't be bothered to do something as fun as draw...but several of the kids drew their favorite Pokemon!

Here's the link to the video, you can also find it by searching Trogdor the Burninator on Youtube, the video is actually titled "Dragon."

Taya · « **Reply #1 on:** April 11, 2011, 09:16:58 AM »

Awesome, I am a fan of Homestar Runner. I never thought about using it in the classroom as it tends to have a strange humour that not everyone gets. Trogdor is pretty straightforward though.

koreanlostinkorea · « **Reply #2 on:** April 18, 2011, 08:45:37 AM »

haha, this is actually a really awesome idea. i just got to a lesson based on instructions and was wondering what the heck i was going to do...i think i might give this a shot. thanks for posting!

zenbone · « **Reply #3 on:** April 18, 2011, 09:25:32 AM »

i used the video and a few still shots of trogdor in my "meet our wild animal" activity. basically our book had a show and tell chapter and i had the kids draw a wild animal one week then "show and tell" their animal the next week. So i included trogdor and other wacky animals to keep them from just drawing actual animals. they laughed.

esti_strydom · « **Reply #4 on:** April 18, 2011, 10:02:27 AM »

Trogdor is legend! Thanks for sharing this. I would never have thought of using it in class.
I think i may use this for summer camp/ or some after school stuff :D

pinklunchboxgirl · « **Reply #5 on:** April 18, 2011, 10:33:42 AM »

EPIK WIN! That is one of the most awesome lessons ever.

CellarDoor · « **Reply #6 on:** April 18, 2011, 10:57:12 AM »

Everybody, everybody! (Sorry, just quoting H*R) I can't wait to look over this lesson in more depth! I've been trying to think of a way to use some good ol' H*R in my classroom, and Trogdor is one of the best options. Thanks for developing and posting this lesson. I hope I can use it soon!

Islander · « **Reply #7 on:** April 18, 2011, 02:22:32 PM »

That video's hilarious! I'm going to use this for my after school class. I think I've grammared the kids out and this will be a fun way to learn.

daninsanam · « **Reply #8 on:** April 18, 2011, 03:01:01 PM »

TROGDOR was a man, I mean.. he was a dragon man...Or maybe he was just a dragon...

Wow, I taught this lesson for after school 2 years ago. Good to see there's some other homestarrunner fans out there.

You should have the kids follow along with the video and "draw an S, draw another S"... just to see the looks on their faces when Strongbad decides that "the S is for sucks!"

Here's some more dragon-related materials if you want to do a dragon lesson. Just vocab for monster body parts, claws & wings and all that badass stuff. I have a My Dragon gap fill similar to the "make a superhero" style worksheets... have to see if I can did that up too.

danitravels · « **Reply #9 on:** April 18, 2011, 03:25:17 PM »

Instead of having the kids draw their own dragon, we're drawing a character and they're telling me how to draw what they drew... we'll see how that goes.

They liked the drawing part though! Lots of little Trogdors burninating up their classmates. :)

glitterstarbeau · « **Reply #10 on:** April 21, 2011, 11:16:05 AM »

Doing it today. Totally added random crap. I'm not saying you should use it, but I added in some vocab slides and a link to the video.

swayze1313 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 22, 2011, 07:21:38 AM »

Thanks very much for the lesson idea! The video went over very well! I did this yesterday and I found that the powerpoint didn't go over too well with my students because many of them don't know a lot of the body parts, so I've streamlined it a bit and added a few "cooler" dragons that work better with my all-boys school. Also added a slide at the end that I leave up while they're drawing with ideas for them to draw and also helps them when I ask them to describe their creation.

Pin · « **Reply #12 on:** April 22, 2011, 07:35:37 AM »

AHHHH! This video brings back a lot of memories!

Kudos to you for converting Homestarrunner into English education. It's a really creative idea! :>

aldalpre · « **Reply #13 on:** April 22, 2011, 07:51:50 AM »

Nice! This is definitely going in my "for Summer camp" file. Thanks!

Andyroo · « **Reply #14 on:** April 22, 2011, 08:09:38 AM »

Quote from: swayze1313 on April 22, 2011, 07:21:38 AM

Thanks very much for the lesson idea! The video went over very well! I did this yesterday and I found that the powerpoint didn't go over too well with my students because many of them don't know a lot of the body parts, so I've streamlined it a bit and added a few "cooler" dragons that work better with my all-boys school. Also added a slide at the end that I leave up while they're drawing with ideas for them to draw and also helps them when I ask them to describe their creation.

Nice powerpoint. The one thing I changed is slide 12 which I changed from "spines" to spikes. Spine would also work.

Just pointing it out because I often miss things like that (a fresh pair of eyes are gold) and once had a co teacher point out one of my mistakes on a PPT I made ... embarrassing :)

Florence7 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 22, 2011, 08:42:03 AM »

Yep! AFternoon Classes for sure. Thanks!

atomook · « **Reply #16 on:** April 22, 2011, 08:49:14 AM »

This is soooooooooooo sweet! Nice work in spreading the awe that is Trogdor!

Taya · « **Reply #17 on:** April 22, 2011, 08:50:58 AM »

Quote from: Andyroo on April 22, 2011, 08:09:38 AM

Quote from: swayze1313 on April 22, 2011, 07:21:38 AM
Thanks very much for the lesson idea! The video went over very well! I did this yesterday and I found that the powerpoint didn't go over too well with my students because many of them don't know a lot of the body parts, so I've streamlined it a bit and added a few "cooler" dragons that work better with my all-boys school. Also added a slide at the end that I leave up while they're drawing with ideas for them to draw and also helps them when I ask them to describe their creation.

Nice powerpoint. The one thing I changed is slide 12 which I changed from "spines" to spikes. Spine would also work.

Just pointing it out because I often miss things like that (a fresh pair of eyes are gold) and once had a co teacher point out one of my mistakes on a PPT I made ... embarrassing :)

I would keep it as "spines." Spikes can work but it's a general word for all spiky things. Spines is the correct term in this case.

daninsanam · « **Reply #18 on:** May 31, 2011, 12:46:25 PM »

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/practise-listening/spot-the-dragon

An awesome "spot the dragon game" from the BBC that uses the same vocab as the earlier posts.

CellarDoor · « **Reply #19 on:** April 18, 2012, 09:25:14 AM »

Thought I'd give this fun lesson a "bump" in case there are any more fans of H*R out there who missed the concept and materials last year. :)