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Table of Contents
III. Research Proposal IV. Online Exchange Plan V. Online Exchange Narrative (Guidelines) VI. Sample Lessons VII. Appendix (not included in web site)
VIII. Works Cited
Notes about the Project Since I started teaching The Odyssey by Homer two years ago, I have learned much about the epic poem, the students who study it, and the evolution of oral tradition. By the following exchange, I and the participating teachers strive to create a place where those three elements converge and are celebrated. This year (2000-2001), my northern Indiana freshmen classes will be corresponding with two classes from Vermont. And unlike exchanges in the past, these exchanges will be published to the internet for the edification of all. Communicating on-line through written conversation is the mode, and though it is written, I believe that it preserves the oral tradition in which Homer participated almost two and a half milleniums ago. If you have comments or questions about the exchange, please feel free to e-mail me at: kmcnulty@phm.k12.in.us. Also, if you would like to use the model I am presenting here, please feel free to copy it and use it or share it with someone who will. Classroom Delineation Each classroom will break into several groups of six. Each of these groups will take on a mythological publishing name (team name) and compose their responses to the writing prompts often together. This grouping will make exchanging more efficient in several ways: when students are absent the other members of their group will be able to get the job done, especially if working under a deadline; organizing six electronic documents is easier to handle than twenty eight; and finally, as this will be the first on-line publishing experience for many of these students, it will be less intimidating if they are working cooperatively. These groups might be named as follows, although these names could be changed for the purpose of learning more about significant characters within the narrative: 1. Apollo 2. Artemis 3. Eros 4. Pluto 5. Hecate 6. Juno In weeks when their classroom is not hosting the writing prompt, the groups of the other two clasrooms will respond to the writing of their corresponding group from the hosting school. Therefore, the writing will be exchanged in the following corresponding fashion: Classroom A Classroom B Classroom C 1. Apollo 1. Apollo 1. Apollo 2. Artemis 2. Artemis 2. Artemis 3. Eros 3. Eros 3. Eros 4. Pluto 4. Pluto 4. Pluto 5. Hecate 5. Hecate 5. Hecate 6. Juno 6. Juno 6. Juno With this division, small groups of students will be writing and responding to each other over the course of six weeks, and they will get to know each other as writers as they get to know the poem. Within our classrooms we are creating six writing groups of eighteen who will work together at divining meaning in the poem, in their writing, and in their lives. All student writing will be posted by the teacher in The Odyssey folder as one document with titles and names separating the writing of the various groups. This conference folder will be found on Breadnet, and only teachers will be allowed to access the network. Additionally, teachers who wish to censure student writing for content take that responsibility upon themselves. Timeline The hosting class will choose the writing prompt (or an agreed upon adaptation) and inform the other two teachers of this choice by Monday of that week. By Wednesday of the same week, the hosting teacher will post his/her students' writing in conference folder on Breadnet. By that Friday the other two classes will have responded to the hosting class's writing. This weekly time line must be strictly adhered to if the exchange is to establish the continuity that will make it most successful. What's more, at any given time there are two other teachers planning their classroom and homework activities around the work of the hosting teacher's classroom. Therefore, each teacher must be prompt in publishing their students' writing. Constant communication between the teachers about what is happening in and out of their classrooms will prove beneficial and will add to the flexibility of the exchange. Themes Week I: -Mycaenean Civ. -the Invocation -Family -Coming of Age -Character Catalog -hospitality -oral tradition -Trojan War -Geography -the epic simile -journey narrative -Homer & oral tradition Week II: -Fidelity -the Epic Simile -hospitality -Journey/Adventure Week III: -Journey -Civilization vs. Nature -"Men Are Swine" -Journey to the Underworld Week IV: -Homecoming -Hospitality -Family-reunion -Gods as human faculty (psyche) -Recognition
Week V: -Revenge -Fidelity -Domesti-centric society -Destiny -Patrilineage -Telemakhos coming of age
Writing Prompts This is just a sample, not a comprehensive list. Many of these questions can be answered as groups or as individuals within the group. That will be decided at a later date. Also, many of them are just the articulations of ideas/themes, and will need to be adjusted by the teachers as they pose them to their students. Week 1: (Background & History) Create an epithet to go with your name similar to those used by Homer. Then, take opportunity to describe yourself and why you chose this epithet. 100-200 words. Write down a story that has been in your family for generations or that just happened sometime in your time. It must be a family tale. around 500 words. Describe the geography of your town, state, and region so that someone from another place knows what it is like to live where you live. Knowing what you now know about life in Mycenaean Civilization, what do you think it would be like to be a teenager living in that time period? on the Telemachia: (I-IV) Explain the setting and the tone of the first books. What is happening at the house of Odysseus? Why doesn't Telemakhos do something about the suitors? What would you do? Why do you think Telemakhos is counseled to go abroad in search of his father, and should he leave his mother alone? Week 2: (V-VIII) Fidelity is certainly an issue of this poem. How do you view Penelope's faithfulness, and can Odysseus' infidelity be justified? On Paul Muldoon's poem, "Making the Move:" Explain the "bow" metaphor and what the speaker is saying about fidelity. How is the speaker different from Odysseus? What is heroic about this speaker? Take any action, event, or passage from the book and describe it using a simile of your own. (note: teacher should have already covered the epic simile by this point, and with just a few examples, this writing prompt should not be difficult. How has the idea of "hospitality" changed from then until now? How do your parents receive your friends, and how do your friends' parents receive you? Is this important? Why do you think Odysseus wants to leave Kalypso's island? Isn't it like paradise, and couldn't he become immortal? In response to reading the critical essay, "The Refusal of Odysseus" by Jean-Pierre Vernant: Why do you think Odysseus chooses to remain mortal? Why is it so wrong for Odysseus to be aistos? In this poem, is it better to be aistos and alive, or buried with great honor on the battlefield and dead? Is that still true today? Put the idea of aistos in your own words to describe what Vernant is saying about Odysseus. According to Vernant, what is the role of the "career epic hero," and what would staying with Kalypso do to his career? Is that role a choice or destiny?
What do you think it means to be a "hero?" What strikes you as peculiar about the Phaiakian society? Week 3: (IX-XII) Is it possible to feel sorry for Polyphemous? (After discussion, and reading of Ovid's account of Polyphemous' love for Galatea.) Describe the scene in the Cyclops' cave in Book IX. (Teacher then shows excerpt of Coppola's Odysseus) How did F.F.C.'s view of Book IX differ from yours? What did he do right/wrong? How is Odysseus different from his crew? How do you know? How does the Page to Stage presentation of Eudora Welty's story, "Circe" change your view of Book X? What new realizations have you made about Odysseus and his men? Who is Circe, and what do you think she teaches Odysseus about himself? Is she necessary to the story? Explain. Do you think the author treats women fairly in the poem? Do you see the possible origin of any female stereotypes that still exist today? In Book X the issue of fidelity comes up once again. Is Odysseus justified in his relations with Circe? Why/not? With a partner pick two characters from your character catalog and create a five minute dialogue between them on any topic which you may perform in front of the class for extra credit. Give yourself the same opportunity that Odysseus had. Write an account of your journey down into the land of the dead. Now tell the story of who you would talk (and why) and what you would ask them. You may write it in dialogue form if you like. What do you think "the next place" is like? How is it different from Homer's idea of the underworld? Why do you think the character of Elpenor plays such a prominent role in the poem? What do you suppose the sirens' song sounds like, and what may it stand for allegorically? What could the mythical characters of Charybdis and Scylla stand for in real life? How about psychologically? Respond to C.P. Cavafy's Poem entitled, "Ithaka." What is he saying about the idea of "journey?" Week 4: (XIII-XVI) What are Poseiden's reasons for harassing Odysseus, and is he justified? Why doesn't Odysseus recognize his homeland? Why does Odysseus need a "wakeup call" when he gets to Ithaka? How is Odysseus' homecoming different from that of Menelaos? of Nestor? of Agamemnon? Why do you think Telemakhos reacts to his father the way he does when Odysseus first reveals himself to be his father? How do you think you would have reacted? Considering the state of Odysseus' household, has Telemakhos been a good son? Is Odysseus a good father? Week 5: (XVII-XX), (XXI-XXIV) How is the swineherd different from most servants? Explain how you come to know this. Compare him with another such as Melanthius, Melantho, or maybe Eurykleia. Since the Telemachia, can you mark any growth in Telemakhos? Does Penelope's test of the bow seem familiar to you? Have you seen/read of a similar test? What does the bow tell you about the people who try it? Why does Odysseus motion to Telemakhos as he is trying to string the bow? (two reasons) What could a crack of Zeus' thunder mean? Upon finishing Book XXI, describe what you are feeling and try to understand why you feel it. Why do you think it takes the suitors so long to realize who the beggar is? Imagine you were Medon. How would you interpret the words, "fair dealing brings more profit in the end."? (Fitz. 421) "Fire and Brimstone." Where have you seen that before? What do you think is significant about it? Is Telemakhos' treatment of the female servants just? Does the Coppola movie capture the contest as you think it was told by Homer? Do you get the same feelings from watching the movie as you did when you read that chapter of the book? What is the significance of the bedroom and the olive tree in its middle? Why does Odysseus play games with his father? How is the idea of "recognition" important starting with the very minute Odysseus returns to Ithaka? The final scene: How does this vision of fathers and sons provide the story with a moral? Final Comments On-line exchanges, whether successful or unsuccessful, always make for interesting writing activity. Some would say that this is only a good thing, but having taken part in a couple of poor long-distance exchanges, I know what it is like to leave students with the feeling of being let down. To prevent this exchange from being a similar experience, it is necessary that each teacher be not only familiar with Caroline Eisner's document, "A Guide To Computer Conferences" (Appendix A), but that each teacher maintain a certain flexibility combined with a commitment to "getting the job done." As we unite our classes in striving to improve the quality of education in our classrooms, we are becoming interdependent, and that always calls for change, diversity, and adaptability. Therefore, I wish the final words of this exchange narrative to state that this is a working plan that will be subject to many changes. And though it may go a long way in determining the exchange's success, it does not go nearly as far as the efforts of the people involved. The people will make it work.
lesson plan DATE: (Book XX of The Odyssey) Duration: 2-3 hours, classes GOAL: The students will "recreate the experience of the story." PREP: -Photo-copied handouts of "Circe" by Eudora Welty. -a unique object that is open to interpretation for students'journal topic (a picture, statue, device, an enigma) INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVE: The students will demonstrate:
as they interpret the Welty story through performance. JOURNAL TOPIC: Look at the object on the teacher's desk. Describe what you think about it in standard length requirement of journal. TASK ANALYSIS OF LEARNING: 1. Open Discussion: teacher elicits readings of journals to reveal the diversity of perspective within classroom 2. Silent Reading: students will have read Book X the night before and will be required to read this story in class 3. Return to Discussion: after the story is read, characters and events are listed on the board and discussed 4. Cooperative Learning- A. Teacher stages the story with students as performers within it in an open space suitable for physical performance B. Students take over the directing of the story to enact it C. Teacher's Choice: Allow the students to continue as a whole,or have them break into their groups and finish the story 5. Performance- interpretation through the act of doing/being ACTIVITY TO DEMONSTRATE LEARNING: 1. Students will be able to realize diversity in perspective. 2. Students will discuss the similarities and differences between the male and female telling of the episode. 3. Students will "recreate the experience of the story" by physically performing it in an open space 4. Students will write and discuss the different interpretations that occurred to them during and after the exercise CLOSURE: 1. Discussion of both texts and the gender issues found therein 2. Writing a short individual response to the activity to be posted on line in the Odyssey conference
lesson plan
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVE: The students will demonstrate
as they create content rich C.D.'s that allow them to imaginatively represent their knowledge/understanding of the poem and judge the work of their fellow students JOURNAL TOPIC: What is your favorite kind of music,and who are some of your favorite bands? Why? TASK ANALYSIS OF LEARNING: 1. cooperative learning- projects are to be completed by groups with equal participation by all. Students will be grading team members according to ther degree of participation. 2. active participation- upon completing the project groups will present work to class. Each member will be responsible for presenting some part of the project. 3. peer grading-students grade the work of other groups based on their presentation before the class 4. Teacher Modeling-teacher will create a C.D. project of his own to present to the students. Grading is optional. ACTIVITY TO DEMONSTRATE LEARNING: (INTRO) Point out to the class: "You are the manager for a dynamic new singing group. You have five (5) tasks to complete." Student Instructions: 1. Choose an appropriate name for your group. The name must have some reference to The Odyssey. 2. Compile a list of ten (10) songs to be included on your group's latest CD. All song titles must have some reference to a person, place, thing, theme, or conflict in The Odyssey. 3. Design a CD cover and borrow a C.D. case from a sibling to use for your project. The front cover must include the name of the group, feature a title, present one song title, and have an appropriate illustration, graphic, or picture. On the back of the cover, list the ten songs included on the CD. Put the copyright symbol ? with the year 1998 and your names as the producers of the CD. 4. Write the lyrics of the first release from the CD. You may write them in a circle to resemble an actual disk if you prefer. 5. Write the title of the song and at least three verses of 4 to 8 lines. You may include more verses for extra credit.
CLOSURE: 1. Students present their C.D. to class as a group and explain their work 2. C.D.'s are hung on classroom wall for display and closer observation 3. Students will mail their C.D.'s to the other two participating classrooms. For Extra Credit: 1. Write the lyrics to more than one song. 2. Record/perform the song for which students wrote the lyrics 3. Make a music video of the song 4. Put lyrics into and already published song (a familiar melody) and record/perform it 5. Translate song titles and lyrics into Greek and teaching the class the language for a day
HANDOUT Mr.McNulty's Class Cooperative Assignment The Odyssey by Homer You are the managers for a dynamic new singing group. You have five (5) tasks to complete. 1. Choose an appropriate name for your group. The name must have some reference to The Odyssey. 2. Compile a list of ten (10) songs to be included on your group's latest CD. All song titles must have some reference to a person, place, thing, theme, or conflict in The Odyssey. 3. Design a CD cover and borrow a C.D. case from a sibling to use for your project. The front cover must include the name of the group, feature a title, present one song title, and have an appropriate illustration, graphic, or picture. On the back of the cover, list the ten songs included on the CD. Put the copyright symbol ? with the year 1998 and your names as the producers of the CD. 4. Write the lyrics of the first release from the CD. You may write them in a circle to resemble an actual disk if you prefer. 5. Write the title of the song and at least three verses of 4 to 8 lines. You may include more verses for extra credit. Research Proposal: Fall, 1998 by Kevin T. McNulty, researcher. Teacher-Researcher Goal: To discover the ideal means of teaching The Odyssey which will provide an academically rewarding experience year after year Questions: By increasing the size of a student's audience, does a teacher raise a student writer's level of concern? Can this move be proven and measured? How will rural Midwestern students interact with students of other schools in other states as they write about The Odyssey? (what kinds of cultural exchanges will occur?) How will all students of the exchange choose to relate the events of the book to their lives in the late twentieth century? Means of Research: On-line writing exchange by a geographically diverse set of classrooms Breadnet Participating Teachers (Prospective): Kevin McNulty, Penn High School, Mishawaka, Indiana William Cook, , Framingham, Massachusetts Chris Onken, Brunswick School, Greenwich, Connecticut Method of Research: Collect writing samples from the beginning and throughout the project, and by comparing them to the final writing projects, work to determine student: growth as writers, enthusiasm by participation, knowledge of the poem. Interview and ask them questions related to the three posed in the Questions section of this proposal Measurement/Analysis: (Electronic) Portfolio Assessment Interviews
Works Cited Edgar, Christopher, Susan Nelson Wood. Ed. The Nearness of You. New York: Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 1996. Cavafy, C.P. "Ithaka." Finley, M.I. The World of Odysseus. Great Brittain: Richard Clay Co., 1954. Goswami, Dixie, Peter R. Stillman. Ed. Reclaiming the Classroom: Teacher Research as an Agency for Change. Portsmouth: Boynton Cook Publishers, 1987. Grimal, Peter. The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology. London: Penguin House, 1951. Homer. The Odyssey, Translated by Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Doubleday, 1961. Muldoon, Paul. "Making the Move." The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry Ed. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair. New York: Norton, 1988. Ovid. Metamorphoses. Translated by A.D. Melville. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. Press, Barry. "Page to Stage Semnar" 12 July 1998. Vernant, Jean-Pierre. "The Refusal of Odysseus." Reading the Odyssey: Selected Interpretive Essays. Ed. Seth L. Schein. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996. Welty, Eudora. "Circe" The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. Orlando: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1963. d. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair. New York: Norton, 1988. |
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