3 RL SP: Odyssey: Homer’s Invocation
Aim: How does Homer's invocation establish tone for the beginning of the Odyssey?
After finishing the poem anthology project and learning about poems, we will be starting on the Odyssey. Ms. Peterson addresses that this is the starting point of where things are going to change and begin to get harder to prepare us for sophomore year. We usually do most of our work in class, but the Odyssey is structured differently. Ms. Peterson also reminds us of how teachers are going to give you a syllabus and not remind you of homework that is due anymore. Now it is our responsibility to check syllabus regularly. Today’s lessons include homework which is reading and taking notes. A majority of it is reading stuff asynchronously because it’s our responsibility as students to be prepared.
Do Now: CLASS DISCUSSION
How do you become inspired? Where does it originate?
Some of my classmates' answers are as follows:
Sophia said inspiration comes from the people around you.
Bernice said inspiration comes from personal experience.
Joanne said inspiration comes from music, books, literature or art.
I think inspiration comes from people you idolize or people around you.
Then, Ms. Peterson points out that everyone draws inspiration from different places or people.
After discussing the do now, we have to make a new team name inspired by the Odyssey. My team's old name was The Spirits which was inspired by the Alchemist and has now changed to The Wind Walkers.
We then moved on to talk about the nine muses and how they served as an inspiration for writers and artists and watched a YouTube video discussing how they were inspirational goddesses. Here is the link https://youtu.be/ORKCWfbrY8k.
Next, we conversed about the invocation of the muse. What is an invocation? Look it up. When I used my device to look up the work “invoke”, the definition I got was “to cite or appeal to (someone or something) as an authority for an action or in support of an argument”.
Group Discussion
As a class, we read Homer’s Invocation, lines 1-17 and discuss the three following questions.
What is your opinion of Odysseus so far after hearing Homer's invocation to the muses and learning about the Trojan War? Oscar says he’s being smart and courageous.
How does Homer maintain the audience’s interest in the story, knowing that the audience is aware of the outcome from the very beginning? Homer maintained the audience's attention by using poetic language and metrical phrases.
What does the invocation of the Muse in the opening lines clarify about Odysseus’ culpability (responsibility for a fault or wrong; blame) during his voyage home? Wilson Wang says he tries to save his men but the men didn’t come back bc of foolishness. His men only perished because they ate the cattle of the sun god. Joanne says it’s making reference to lord helios and the god of thunder and it's like a teaser in the invocation because it is also revealed that his men's foolishness led to their demise.
We did an anticipation guide at the end of the lesson to input our opinions on various quotes. At the end of the google form, we had to write a paragraph stating what we strongly opinionated against and I disagree with the leaders being responsible for the people they supervise, because although that should be true, most people will disobey or rebel against the rules and cause chaos.
4 RL SP: Odyssey: Sailing from Troy & Lotus Eaters
Aim: How does “Sailing From Troy” and “The Lotus Eaters” (Book IX) establish Odysseus’ role as a leader?
This cycle, we had to fit two lessons into one cycle to speed up the pace.
Do Now: Consider the fact that Odysseus has been trying to return to
his home in Ithaca for 10 years. Imagine being away from your home for that long.
1) What would you miss the most and why?
Well, I would miss my family the most because they’ve been around me since I was born and I love them.
2) Why do we have sayings like the ones below?
We have sayings like that because although there can always be a place similar to home, there's no place that can replace it.
Some of my classmates' answers are as follows:
Lixiang said he will miss his family the most and that most people will miss family the most because you can never replace the original family and there’s only one family you can have and that’s at home.
Tempestt will miss his family but besides that he would miss being able to shower and having a bed. He said that there’s a saying that “home is where the heart is” and how family is the home and you don’t really need a house to call it home.
Natalie will miss her bed the most.
Alma would miss her family and miss having the feeling that she’s surrounded by ppl she loves.
Characterization
The method by which an author creates the personality and appearance of their character.
Direct Characterization: The author makes direct statements about the character (can be revealed through a narrator or through another character in the story). The author TELLS the reader what they want them to know.
Indirect Characterization: indirectly stated from character's actions, choices they make, dialogue/relationships with others, thoughts, feelings. The author SHOWS the reader what they want them to know.
We can use the STEAL method for Indirect Characterization.
■ Speech
■ Thoughts
■ Effect on others toward the
character.
■ Actions
■ Looks
For a more specific view on STEAL, here is the following:
■ SPEECH - What does the character say?
How does the character speak?
■ THOUGHTS - What is revealed through the character’s private thoughts and
feelings?
■ EFFECTS - What is revealed through the character’s
effect on other people?
How do other characters feel or behave in reaction to the character?
■ ACTIONS - What does the character do?
How does the character behave?
■ LOOKS - What does the character look like? How does the character dress?
Then, we watch a YouTube video explaining characterization using the Disney movie, Frozen. Here is the link https://youtu.be/-ZnD0AGqQ7I.
We continue to read “Sailing from Troy” lines 18-69 and answer the question:
Keep in mind that the Odyssey is the account of Odysseus' ten year journey back home to Ithaca. He misses his family and home; therefore, we will often find connections to this throughout the poem.
Identify lines in which Odysseus talks about his home in Ithaca.
➢ How does he feel about it? (Specific lines/evidence that describe these feelings)
However, we did not have enough time to finish answering the question and finish the lesson. Ms. Peterson also informs us that unlike the English language, where the letter e is not pronounced at the end of a word, it should be pronounced in the Greek language.
We were supposed to read “Lotus Eaters” lines 70-105 and answer the following questions :
What kind of world do you think the Lotus Eaters live in? ➢ Describe the type of lifestyle it is?
What do you think Homer is implying about this lifestyle/world?
How does The Odyssey characterize the land of the Lotus-eaters as a veritable
(real or genuine) paradise? And, why, then, is this land seen by Odysseus and others as negative, and something from which to escape? What do you think is wrong with such a place, if anything?
Consider the kind of leader Odysseus appears to be in "Sailing from Troy."
➢ How do his leadership abilities compare to how he is in "The Lotus Eaters?"
➢ Has your opinion of him changed? Why/Why not?
➢ Why do you think these events are important to understanding Odysseus' character?
In your notes, create a group list of the key events in "The Lotus Eaters."
Reflection
This cycle I learned more about the Odyssey and Greek mythology. My knowledge of more terms has expanded as well as knowing more about where poets get inspiration from and how people get inspired. I read more about the Odyssey by reading Homer’s Invocation and etc. I also learned more about characterization which is very important in literature. I renewed my knowledge of the STEAL method as well as characterization itself. I learned all of this to prepare myself for sophomore year, and just to have more knowledge of Greek mythology and literature techniques. I will use what I have learned in the future when I’m in my senior year of high school or when I’m in my first year of college. This will help me understand more passages and annotate better.
No comments:
Post a Comment