Unit:The Odyssey
Grade:9-10

Day 1:  Intro Day

Goals:
• The student will develop a good, working understanding of the meaning of the term "epic"-- what it is, what it implies, what it means, how we use the term today, how to identifu/classify a work as epic, etc.
• The student will know who Homer is and his importance and influence on literary history.
• The student will think critically about literature and its function in history, culture and personal experience.
• The student will assume responsibility for assigned tasks while working cooperatively towards group goals.

Materials:
• overhead projector
• transparency of Homer Simpson
• Copies of various comic books (Superman, X-Men, Batman, etc.)
• handout on epic elements
• copies of first 359 lines of Virgil's Aenied

Proceducres:

Lecture--(10 min.) Introduction to homer and The Odyssey

1. Who is Homer? (insert gratuitous use of overhead here-- this is NOT the Homer that we are going to talk about...)
2. Oral tradition
3. Creation of The Iliad and The Odyssey
4. Epic poetry

Hand-out-- Worksheet on the elements of epic.

Discuss--(20 min.) common characterisitcs of the epic... go through worksheet explaining and talking about each...
Brainstrom ideas concerning epics we know of today-- movies, books, literature, music (e.g.-- "Braveheart," "Star Wars," Tolkein, Arthurian legend, Tolstoy's War and Peace, etc.)
Questions: How many of these elements does a work need to have in order to qualify it as an epic? All? One or two? Are some elements more important than others? How can we dicide if a work is truly epic?

Activity--(20 min.) Get into assigned small groups (3-4 in each group). Hand each group a comic book. Have the students go through their comic and read various episodes. Then, ask them to identify and locate whatever epic elements they can find in the time allotted and have them fill-in the worksheet.

Presentation--(5 min.) Ask for a couple of volunteers to get up and present their group's findings to the class. Have them relate and episode and the various epic techniques that they found in it. Ask the class for input as to any others that might be found (if any were overlooked).

Closure--(5 min.) Collect papers, to be returned Day 2."We haven't begun reading The Odyssey yet, but when we do, I expect you to loo out for these epic elements as you read... they are something you are expected to know, recognize and understand..." Hand-out copies of excerpt from the Aeneid.

Assign the first 359 lines of excerpt from the Aenied.

Return to Home       Return to Teaching Stuff