Lesson 1

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • “Greece and the Theater,” from The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus, Robert Fagles, Penguin Random House, 1982
  • “How Greek Drama Saved the City,” Daniel Mendelsohn, The Wylie Agency, 2016
  • “Sophocles,” Mark Cartwright, World History Encyclopedia, 2013
  • “Women in Classical Greece,” Collette Hemingway, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014

• • “Antigone: Additional Background Information,” Dr. David Steiner, Odell Education HSLP, 2020

• • “Antigone Trailer,” Theatre Royal Stratford East, Theatre Royal Stratford East, 2015

Materials

Tools

• Antigone: Culminating Task Checklist

• Antigone: Additional Background Information

• Antigone: Anticipation Guide

• Culminating Task Progress Tracker

• Antigone: Jigsaw Handout

• Antigone: Unit Text List

Reference Guides

• Academic Discussion Reference Guide
• Literacy Toolbox Reference Guide
• Theme Reference Guide

Question Sets

• Antigone: Section 1 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Antigone: Culminating Task Checklist

• Antigone: Anticipation Guide

• Culminating Task Progress Tracker

• Antigone: Section 1 Question Set

Activity 1: Write – Discuss

We will discuss the unit’s Central Question and reflect on its significance by completing a quick-write in our Learning Logs. Additionally, we will use an Anticipation Guide to discuss our views on issues that will surface in Antigone.

Step 1

Review the Central Question of the unit:

To whom or what do we owe our loyalty?

Use the guiding questions below to guide a discussion with a partner or small group:

1. What is the Central Question asking?

2. What might you already know in relation to the Central Question?

3. What about the question piques your curiosity?

4. How do you think this question relates to the texts or topic of the unit?

5. If you were to provide an answer to the Central Question today, what would it be?

Step 2

In your Learning Log, write a response to Question 5. You will return to this initial response in later lessons to examine how your understanding of the Central Question has evolved.

Step 3

Read and follow the directions on the Antigone Anticipation Guide. You will read each statement and complete only the left-hand side "Beginning of Unit." You will return to this guide at the end of the unit to see how your agreement or disagreement has evolved.

Compare your answers with a partner or in a small group. Discuss your level of agreement.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write – View

We will view a trailer for Antigone to introduce the play. We will read and analyze the Culminating Task and identify the specific knowledge and skills we will need to succeed on the Culminating Task.

Step 1

Watch the video trailer for a production of Antigone.

Be prepared to share an answer with the class based on the following question:

1. Based on the trailer, what piqued your interest about Antigone?

Follow your teacher’s instructions to share your observations about the trailer with the class.

Step 2

Read and take notes on the Unit Overview, Culminating Task Checklist, and Culminating Task Progress Tracker. Determine what skills and knowledge you need to succeed on the Culminating Task. In a small group, discuss and respond to the questions on Part 1 of your Culminating Task Progress Tracker:

1. What is the focus of the Culminating Task?

2. What does the task ask you to do?

3. What questions do you have about the Culminating Task?

4. What do you need to understand to succeed on the Culminating Task?

5. What skills do you need to build in the unit to succeed on the Culminating Task?

6. What habits do you need to practice in the unit to succeed on the Culminating Task?

Step 3

Use the Culminating Task Progress Tracker to determine what you need to do to succeed on the Culminating Task. For each skill identified, assess how prepared you are.

Activity 3: Read

We will review the Unit Text List to familiarize ourselves with the texts we will analyze and discuss throughout the unit.

Step 1

Access and review the Unit Text List. Note the information that is included about each text. These texts are also listed in the activities in which they appear, under the Materials and Texts tabs. Each text has an icon by it; these indicate where the text is located, which corresponds to the Location column in the Unit Text List.

Text locations:

• Tradebook: These texts are full-length novels or nonfiction books you will most likely have copies of.

• Digital Access: You can find these texts online. Use the information provided in the Unit Text List or on the Texts tab for the activity to conduct a web search for the resource. Digital Access resources include online articles, videos, podcasts, and other web sources.

• PDF Texts: These are formatted PDFs of texts that are available for download on the Materials tab.

• CD/DVD: This material is available on a CD or DVD. These materials might also be available through online content providers.

Step 2

Review the Independent Reading Text Options. Here, you will find suggested options for independent reading related to the unit.

Activity 4: Read – Write – Discuss

In jigsaw groups, we will build background knowledge of the play regarding Sophocles, Greek theater, and cultural traditions of the period.

Step 1

In order to build background knowledge that will support your understanding when reading the play, we will engage in a jigsaw activity to learn about ancient Greece. In this jigsaw, you will first work with your expert group (e.g., Expert Group A, Expert Group B, Expert Group C, Expert Group D, or Expert Group E). As you read and analyze your assigned section of the text, you become an expert in that section.

In the next lesson, you will form home groups made up of experts from each expert group. In your home group, you will share your analysis of the assigned section from your expert group in a jigsaw discussion.

Get into your expert groups as assigned by your teacher.

Step 2

Review the following topics for the Antigone jigsaw:

• city-states in fifth-century Greece

• the theater in ancient Greece

• Sophocles

• gender roles in ancient Greece

• death and burial in ancient Greece

In your expert groups, access the Antigone Jigsaw Handout and read the information resources provided to answer the questions listed for your topic. If there are any questions that you were unable to answer, ask your teacher for additional sources of reliable information.

In your Learning Log, keep notes on the responses to your topic’s questions and discuss the important details and facts that fully answer the questions.

With your expert group, discuss the responses to your questions and develop concise and accurate responses to the questions for your topic.

Activity 5: Write – Discuss

In jigsaw groups, we will build background knowledge of the play regarding Sophocles, Greek theater, and cultural traditions of the period.

Step 1

Join your home group.

In your home group, discuss your responses to the questions for the topic you analyzed. Use the notes from your Learning Log to help explain your responses.

Take notes for the topics you did not analyze as an expert and ask clarifying questions of the expert, or your teacher, if there is a response you do not understand.

Step 2

Respond to the following reflection question in your Learning Log:

1. How do the responses of the other text sections impact your understanding of ancient Greece?

Discuss your response with your home group.

Activity 6: Write

For homework, we will review the information and discussion covered in the lesson. Then, we will consider how the Central Question might have been interpreted by the ancient Greeks.

For homework, write down any conclusions you have reached in your Learning Log about the ancient Greeks based on the information your home group provided on each topic during the jigsaw. Answer the following questions:

1. How might the ancient Greeks answer the Central Question: To whom or what do we owe our loyalty?

Also, access the Theme Reference Guide and read the What, When, and Why sections, as well as The Process: Identifying Themes section, taking note of what themes are and how to identify them. Also, read the Thematic Ideas and Expressing Themes sections. You will be drawing on this information in the next lesson as you discuss thematic ideas in Antigone.