Today we discussed parts of speech, antecedents, and some brief background on The Odyssey. Tomorrow we will start our WordSkills Unit 2 vocabulary.
- Parts of speech review. Students located nouns, pronouns, and any antecedents in the first 2 sentences of The Odyssey. Absent students should download and complete this handout: Nouns Review Odyssey.
- Background of Odyssey. This was a very brief discussion. The main point is that The Odyssey is actually a Part II. The Iliad is Part I. So, while we are not reading The Iliad in class, we do need to consider its events in order to correctly interpret the characters and plot of The Odyssey. The Iliad is the story of the Trojan War, in which Odysseus was a war hero. Having won the war, Odysseus tries to make his way home in The Odyssey. Therefore, we need to consider Odysseus as we would any war veteran. He has many of the same problems: his wife and son do not know him anymore, his wife may have been approached by other men to remarry, his son has no father, he may still act like he is in war (by acting hyper-macho), and more than likely he suffers from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), which is common among soldiers today coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In some classes we started watching this great clip from The Simpsons:
http://www.wtso.net/movie/62-The_Simpsons_1314_Tales_from_the_Public_.html
(Watch 2:00 – 8:50)
HW: Read “Tell the Story” (p. 651) and bring book tomorrow.
ALEXA GARVOILLE 