We started today class with a kahoot to review our reading of “The Cattle of the Sun God”
After the kahoot, we discussed the question: “How would you feel if you asked someone (you highly trusted) NOT do something, and they did it anyway? What would you do?”
Students gave numerous different answers. A few of the students mentioned feeling betrayed and losing trust in the person meanwhile others said that it all depended on the context of the situation and what the trusted person did.
After this engaging discussion, the class read together, “The Cattle of the Sun God”
Following our reading, the class discussed the following questions: “Eurylochus is also Odysseus' brother in law and shows loyalty to Odysseus; until this point. Why do you think there was a change in his character in "The Cattle of the Sun God"? What reason does Eurylochus give the crew members to justify the betrayal of Tiresias' warning to Odysseus?”
As a class, we agreed that Eurylochus was most likely upset because he was always second in command. He wanted to give orders instead of following them for once, and this situation was the perfect opportunity to do so. To justify the betrayal of Tiresias warning to Odysseus, Eurylochus used their difficult circumstances to appeal to the crew. He described everything the crew has overcome and through the use of pathos, he convinced the crew to betray Odysseus.
Next, we made connections between the Odyssey and our summer reading, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. We discussed how the gods sent signs to the men to not eat the cattle, similar to the omens present in The Alchemist.
After the discussion, we separated into teams and discussed the following questions: What similarities do you see in Eurylochus' speech to the crew in this episode and Odysseus' speech in “Scylla and Charybdis”? In "The Cattle of the Sun God", what does the wrath of the gods say about their involvement amongst mortals?
a) Assess their involvement!
b) What are some of their behaviors/actions at this point of the episode?
What details in lines 920-921 clarify the flashback presented here?”
Students mentioned that the two speeches both talked about honor, fearlessness, and glory. These speeches were meant to make the men seem empowered and not be afraid. When discussing the gods, students talked about how the gods did not directly interact with humans a lot, but they could manipulate nearly everything, and it is through that manipulation that the gods were able to kill and spare whom they wished to.
After this, we had an interesting discussion about whether or not the crew deserved the punishment they received for killing the cattle. Most students agreed that the punishment was too harsh and that eating cattle is not enough to earn death.
In our final discussion, we talked about how Odysseus is becoming more rational than he was in the beginning of the book. In the current moment, Odysseus is taking into consideration the gods and their wishes. He is thinking more rationally and making careful choices.
In this lesson, we discussed a lot of themes present in the Odyssey, such as desperation, honor, loyalty, leadership, and persuasion. This lesson helped capture the humanity of Odysseus’ crew and how they were not perfect and gave into temptation. The lesson helped us better understand not only the imperfections amongst Odysseus’ men, but also amongst ourselves.
For enrichment, the following medias were provided: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48YxUG4Lx_g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVqWcrMPxfY
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nm9HVoGsG3mJaFzEkFBO6sm0oD0n2_-M/view?usp=sharing
No comments:
Post a Comment