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Lesson 1

We will study Book 5 and closely read Athena’s speech, focusing on the role of gods in The Odyssey. We will analyze and discuss how the gods interfere with Odysseus’s journey home. In addition, we will discuss the role of fate.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I evaluate details read to determine key ideas in Book 5 of The Odyssey?

  • Can I discuss and write about the explicit or implicit meanings in Book 5 of The Odyssey?

  • Can I analyze how themes are developed through characterization and plot in Book 5 of The Odyssey?

  • Can I analyze how Homer develops complex yet believable characters in Book 5 of The Odyssey?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Odyssey, Homer, translated by Robert Fagles, Penguin Publishing Group, 1996

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read

We will review the Section Diagnostic and consider what we will need to know and be able to do in order to succeed.

Step 1

Review your Section 1 Diagnostic. Think about the following in preparation for the Section 2 Diagnostic.

  1. What do you want to improve?

  2. What skill will you work on throughout this section?

Step 2

Access the Section 2 Diagnostic Checklist and read the task you will be responding to.

Engage in a student-guided Socratic Seminar in which you and your peers discuss the following questions:

  1. Who or what has the most power in The Odyssey? How do you know, and what evidence supports your conclusion?

While participating in the seminar, be sure to pose new questions, support your responses to your classmates’ questions with textual evidence, drawing on The Odyssey and supplemental texts from the unit, and develop a more critical understanding of the themes and ideas found in the epic poem.

Step 3

You might be wondering what a Socratic Seminar is and why we conduct them.

A Socratic Seminar is a student-led dialogue in which participants use open-ended questions to gain a deeper and more robust understanding of the ideas and values in a text or the connections across multiple texts. The purpose of a seminar is not to argue for a particular view or interpretation, but to ask questions, posit your own thinking, listen to others' responses, and expand your views of the texts and topics. Each participant's voice is equal, and there are no experts.

Before the Section 2 Diagnostic, you will spend time reviewing your Learning Log and looking over your Character Note-Taking Tools.

Activity 2: Discuss – Read

We will read Book 5, focusing on the roles the gods play in determining Odysseus’s fate.

Step 1

Read Book 5, Lines 1-308, on pages 152-161. Use the questions below to guide your reading and be sure to use evidence from the text to support your thinking:

  1. Describe the power that both Calypso and Zeus wield. How is their power similar to one another? How is it different?

  2. How does Calypso’s power impact her enactment of xenia with Odysseus? How well does she follow the rules?

With a partner, discuss the guiding questions and take notes in your Learning Log.

Step 2

Discuss the following question as a whole class:

  1. Who has power in the situation between Calypso, Zeus, and Odysseus and how do they wield their power? Use evidence from the text to support your thinking.

Add notes to your Learning Log to record any information that might help you prepare for the Socratic Seminar.

Activity 3: Discuss – Read – Write

We will study Athena’s speech in the beginning of Book 5, focusing on the power she yields as a god.

Step 1

Reread the beginning of Book 5, Lines 1-128. Use the following questions to guide your reading:

  1. What does Athena want? What reasoning does she use to support her argument?

  2. Who demonstrates power in this scene? In which ways?

Share your thoughts with a partner. As you share, consider if you think you should add any additional notes to your Character Note-Taking Tool for Athena.

Step 2

Individually, use the Attending to Details Tool to answer the following guiding question:

  1. Who or what yields the most power in this scene?

Use the tool in the following way:

  1. Write down the guiding question. Read the text, paying attention to details that relate to the guiding question. Depending on how long the section of text is, you might find several examples. Use the Attend to Details row to write down the details that most strongly relate to the guiding question.

  2. Make connections between the details you recorded and the guiding question in the Think About the Details row. This is often the "reasoning" that is asked for when you make an observation or claim, and then use evidence to support it. It makes your thinking visible to others and helps you remember what that thinking was if you come back to this later.

  3. In the Express Your Understanding row, write new connections, observations, ideas, or questions that result from reading and analyzing the text.

Step 3

Turn to a partner and share your ideas.

As a class, discuss the different ways the questions have been answered. Be sure to share your evidence when you state who or what yields the most power.

Activity 4: Read – Discuss – Write

For homework, we will read Books 6 and 7 and continue to add words to our Vocabulary Journal.

For homework, read Book 6 and 7. Use the following questions to guide your reading and annotate key evidence that supports your thinking:

  1. How does Calypso succeed or fail at treating Odysseus as an honored guest according to the laws of xenia?

  2. Who has the most power in Calypso and Odysseus’s relationship. Why?

  3. In what ways do the Phaeacian people honor the concept of xenia when receiving Odysseus as a guest?

  4. How would you characterize Nausicaa? How does her dialogue and word choice support your thinking? Consider 6.53-72 and 6.280-310 in your response.

  5. In these interactions, who has the power and why? In what ways does Nausicaa demonstrate xenia when she meets Odysseus?

  6. Consider the point of view of Book 6. What do we know that Nausicaa does not? What do we know that King Alcinous does not? What do we know that the Phaeacian people do not? What impact does this dramatic irony have for you as a reader?

  7. Consider the point of view of Book 7. Why is Alcinous so interested in Odysseus’s tales? Explain your thinking?

  8. How does Odysseus’s word choice while telling his stories reinforce Alcinous’s admiration for him? Consider 7.280-300 and 6.320-341 in your response.

  9. In what ways do the gods meddle in Books 6 and 7? Do you think it is for the better? Why or why not? Explain your answer using evidence from the text.

Continue to record new or interesting words you encounter in your Vocabulary Journal.