Teachers

__Task 1, Books I- IV__ You have been helping your students examine modern and archetypal representations of heroes, and your classes have read "The Power of Myth" and //The Iliad//. You want to develop a lesson that w ill lead students to connect/compare/contrast the hero in //The Iliad// (Achilles) to the only hero they know so far in //The Odyssey// (Telemachos) using "The Power of Myth" and perhaps their modern conceptions of the definition of a hero. Write lesson plans to achieve these objectives. Make sure to include **targets**, **activities**, and **assignments**. Your lesson should be realistic. Remember -- you must develop any handouts you plan on using and post them to your wiki!

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 * Targets:**

Directions: Match the different definitions of a hero to the descriptions of the following characters: Achilles and Telemachos.
 * Activity:**
 * Matching Quiz**

Definitions of a Hero: A. Someone who gives his life for something bigger than himself B. Someone from which something has been taken from him C. He chooses to go or is destined to go on a journey D. Main character who finds or does something beyond normal experience E. Feels there is something lacking in the normal experiences available

Achilles: 1. _ His friend Patroclus and his armor are taken from him. 2. _ He did not have the relationship he wanted to have with his father. 3. _ He went back to the war because of his own will and killed many enemies. 4. _ He went beyond God’s expectations by dining with Priam and holding off the war for 12 days; also anointed Hector’s body. 5. _ He was destined to go on his journey because he did not originally want to go. Telemachos: 1. _ His father was not in his life for his entire childhood. 2. _ Takes a big risk and goes on a dangerous journey to find his father. 3. _ Eventually stood up to his mother’s suitors after many years of them taking advantage of him. 4. _ Chose to go out on a journey to find his missing father. 5. _ His father was taken from him.

Answers: B,E,D,A,C; E,A,D,C,B

**Assignment:** **Video Reflection** Directions: While watching the following video, answer the questions that are asked in it on a separate sheet of paper. Then reflect on which part of the video impacted you the most, as well as how certain parts of the video can relate to Achilles and Telemachos.

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__ Task 2, Books V, VI, and IX __ Your students have just completed Books V, VI, and IX. How would you assess their knowledge of plot and character? You may create a test with an answer key, essay assignment, or project. You must then decide how the assessment will be graded. Test grades are self-explanatory, but essays and projects will require a rubric, which you must post with your assignment.

Test your knowledge of The Odyssey with a couple interactive quizzes!

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__Task 3, Books X-XII__ Design a lesson and activity for your students to complete to help them process the reading. Particularly, how can your students examine the sequence of events and the cause and effect of Odysseus' and his crew's decision making? Keep in mind that Odysseus and his men encounter many different people/monsters during Books X through XII. For this task, your group should create **targets**, **activities**, and **assignments** for your lesson. Consider possibly including more than one activity (group/pair work?) and/or whole class discussion. Include any handouts/organizers, rubrics, discussion questions, and answers that a teacher might need to prepare for the class.

**Targets** : I can understand how the actions of various characters effect the journey of Odysseus and his men. I can understand the concept of Cause and Effect. I can demonstrate my understanding of Cause and Effect by completing a partner worksheet.

Cause and Effec t: Is a concept that demonstrates how actions or events impact a situation to establish, or create different outcomes or results.

Read through the following examples of cause and effect, as seen in //The Odyssey// Book X-XII, to understand the concept of cause and effect.

Examples of Cause and Effect seen in Book X of //The Odyssey//

__Cause 1__: Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag containing all the winds that that he and his crew can return home to Ithaca. Odysseus’ crew doubts that winds are actually in the bag and think that Aeolus gave Odysseus a secret fortune, so they open the bag, which creates a storm and sends the men all back to Aeolia.

__Effect 1__: Aeolus concludes that this happened for a reason and they wish to do harm to Odysseus so he doesn’t help Odysseus again. This results in the crew having to row to the land of the Laestrygonians, and deal with the struggle they face while there.

__Cause 2__: When on Circe’s island, Odysseus’ men are turned into pigs, and Hermes visits Odysseus, informing him that he must eat an herb to protect himself from the drug that turned his men into sheep.

__Effect 2__: Odysseus takes Hermes advise and demands his men be turn back into men. This causes Circe to fall in love with him, which results in their staying on the island for a whole year.

__Cause 3__: Before his departure from the Circe’s island, Odysseus asks her which route to take back to Ithaca. She replies he must sail to Hades and speak to Tiresias.

__Effect 3__: Odysseus does as Circe says and learns while in the underworld that he will return home, but he must not touch the sun gods sheep, or there will be more suffering and loss of his crew, which we see in late chapters does occur because Odysseus’ men disobey the warning.

Examples of Cause and Effect seen in Book XI of //The Odyssey//

__Causes__: 1.Odysseus promised to give a sacriﬁce to the dead when he returned to Ithaca by saying, “I poured out the drink-offering for All Souls, ﬁrst with honey and milk, then with ﬁne wine, and the third time with water, and I sprinkled white barley-meal over it. Earnestly, I prayed to the empty shells of the dead, and promised that when I came to Ithaca, I would sacriﬁce to them in my own house a farrow cow, the best I had, and heap ﬁne things on the blazing pile; to Teiresias alone in a different place I would dedicate the best black ram among my ﬂocks” (124). Odysseus needed to go to Hades to see Teiresias, so when he got there he promised to give the souls a  sacriﬁce when he returned back home to Ithaca.

2.Teiresias appears to Odysseus and says, “Then came the soul of Theban Teiresias, holding a golden rod. He knew me and said, ʻWhat brings you here, unhappy man, away from the light of the sun, to visit this unpleasing place of the dead? Move back from the pit, hold off your sharp sword, that I may drink of the blood and tell you the truthʼ” (125). Odysseus needed Teiresias to show up because Odysseus needed to hear about the rest of his journey back to Ithaca.

3.Odysseus sees his motherʼs ghost and had no idea that she had passed away. Odysseus is very surprised and upset to see his mother and wants to ﬁnd out how she died. After Odysseus explains to his mother why he is in Hades, Odysseus asks his mother about her death; “But do tell me, really and truly, what was the cause of your death? how did you die? Was it a long disease? or did Artemis Archeress kill you with her gentle shafts? And tell me about my father and the son I left behind me: do they still hold my honours and my possessions, or have they passed to some other man because people think I will never return? And tell me of my own wedded wife, what she thinks and what she means to do. Does she remain with the boy, and keep all safe, or has she already married the best man who offered?” (127). Odysseus is concerned about his mother, and his family back home.

__Effects__: 1. Because of the promised sacriﬁce from Odysseus, many dead souls in Hades started coming up to speak with the king of Ithaca. Odysseus learns many things and gets advice from the souls. Odysseus runs into Teiresias and his mother, the two souls who are most important.

2.Teiresias, the man Odysseus needed to see, eventually arrived to meet with Odysseus. Teiresias tells Odysseus that his journey is not going to be easy and that the gods are going to make it hard on him. The prophet tells Odysseus about the cattle and sheep of Helios, and how the crew must not harm the cattle and sheep. If they do, the crew and ship will be destroyed and Odysseus will return home late,

miserable, and alone. Teiresias continues to tell Odysseus about the suitors in his house, and how Odysseus will go about killing them all. Odysseus needs to make a sacriﬁce to Poseidon of a ram, a boar, and a bull. Then upon his return home, he must make a sacriﬁce to the gods. Lastly, Teiresias tells Odysseus that he will die at sea peacefully with everyone around him and happy.

3.Odysseus gets the pleasure of seeing his mother, but quickly gets the sad truth about why she died. Odysseusʼ mother tells him about how she died because she was so upset about her son not returning. She missed him so much, she just gave up. She tells Odysseus that Penelope is still waiting for him, but she is very upset. Odysseus tries to hug his mother before she leaves, but since she is just a ghost, he was not able to touch her.

Why it matters: 1.Odysseus got to see his mother and Teiresias, among many other souls. Each of the souls have interesting things to tell Odysseus.

2.Through Teiresias, Odysseus learns about the rest of his journey home and what is going to happen and what could happen to his crew. This advise will turn out to be very helpful for Odysseus. Teiresias also tells Odysseus about the suitors, which gives Odysseus more drive to get home.

3.Odysseus hears about his family from his mother. Odysseus is anxious to get home and see his wife and son. He is also ready to get rid of the suitors.

Examples of Cause and Effect seen in Book XII of The Odyssey

1. __Cause:__ Circe tells Odysseus to plug his mens’ ears with beeswax in order to block out the sounds of the Sirens’ songs, while he is the only one to hear the songs that divulge the future. Also, the men are to bind Odysseus to the ship and not let him go regardless of how much he begs to be released to the seductive sounds of the Sirens’ songs. __Effect:__ Odysseus and his men are able to escape the songs of the Sirens, as well as to continue on in their journey with Odysseus knowing the future.

2. __Cause:__ When Eurylochus convinces Odysseus’ men to ignore the rule, to not slaughter any of the Sun’s cattle, Eurylochus and the Odysseus’ men go out when Odysseus is asleep and kill the cattle of the Sun anyways. __Effect:__ The Sun God finds out what the men have done and in response asks Zeus for Odysseus and his men to be punished. As punishment for what Eurylochus and the men had done, Zeus creates a storm that wipes out all of Odysseus’ men, as well as their ship. Resulting from the storm, as predicted, Odysseus is the only survivor.

**Activity: With a partner, come up with your own definition of cause and effect.**

**Assignment**

**Directions:**

To demonstrate your understanding of the concept of cause and effect, work with a partner to create a list of causes and effects seen throughout //The Odyssey.// Have at least three causes and three effects. Explain how each of the causes results in the corresponding effect.

Cause 1:

Effect 1:

Explanation:

Cause 2:

Effect 2:

Explanation:

Cause 3:

Effect 3:

Explanation:

__ Task 4, Books XVI-XXIV __ An irate parent has sent you, an Honors English 10 teacher, an e-mail expressing some concern over the relevancy of students spending time reading this ancient epic, // The Odyssey //. Basically, the parent feels students shouldn’t be wasting precious class time studying a boring, out-dated, and irrelevant story. You have set up a time to meet with the parent and discuss the issue. As a lover of ancient literature, you want to be fully prepared to defend teaching “the greatest tale of all time.” What are your points going to be? Why is // The Odyssey // still relevant? How are you going to persuade this skeptical parent? Feel free to incorporate thoughts from “The Power of Myth” article, modern representations of the heroic cycle, and any points which would help to make your argument strong. You will want to post any notes or presentation materials you prepare for the meeting as well as a transcript of the conversation, or, even better, audio or video clips of the meeting. Keep // The Odyssey // in the curriculum!

__Conversation With Parent __ **Teacher:** Hello. How are you? **Parent:** I'm good. How are you? **Teacher:** I'm fine. Now, would you like to discuss your concern with studying //The Odyssey//?**Parent:** Yes, I feel that my student is wasting valuable time in class reading a pointless and outdated story that has no use in modern day. There are better things that the students could do.**Teacher:** I understand why you have those feelings, but I also think that there are lessons in //The Odyssey// that are very important and can teach all of us a lot. It has a timeless message.**Parent**: I just don't see how it's relavant to today.**Teacher:** Well I made a short power point to help show you how it is helpful. First off, we can see that the story centers around problems of the heart. These are some of the characters that come in conflict over problems like love that still happen all the time today and can even be seen in modern literature.**Parent:** Ok, I'll give you that part of the plot. But I still think it's boring and outdated.Teacher: Yes, and if you'll look at the next slide you'll see that scholars today are still studying Homer's poems and words. The way in which the words are written is exciting and meant to be listened to and enjoyed.**Parent:** Well, I still think there are more modern stories that have a stronger message to give.**Teacher:** And that takes us to my next slide. Homer wrote about things still important today as they were in his time. As you can see, he writes his characters just as complex as some of the characters we see today. He makes them suffer through the same trials we go through today like death. This book really causes the reader to think and feel along with the characters. I still think it's an important book to read today.**Parent:** Maybe you are right. I feel like I understand the book much better now. Thank you for taking the time to go through this demonstration.**Teacher:** I'm glad I could help. **Teacher:** Also, I have attached an article that further explains the benefits of reading the classics such as the Odyssey. You may also want to show this to your child as it may spark a new found interest in the classics for him or her. [|Classics Article]