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Lesson 4

We will continue to develop our essays for the Culminating Task by creating an outline and draft.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I develop my Culminating Task draft into a focused, structured, and coherent piece of writing by using an organizing structure appropriate to purpose, topic, and context?

  • Can I develop my Culminating Task draft into a focused, structured, and coherent piece of writing by developing an engaging idea reflecting depth of thought with specific details, examples, and commentary?

  • Can I compose my expository essays using genre characteristics and craft?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Odyssey, Homer, translated by Robert Fagles, Penguin Publishing Group, 1996
  • Unit Reader
    • “A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey,” Emily Wilson, The New Yorker, December 8, 2017
    • “Ancient Greek Wisdom for Today’s Leadership Crisis,” Emily Anhalt, The Conversation, October 15, 2017
    • “Hero,” from the introduction to The Odyssey (pp. 37–41), Bernard Knox, Penguin Publishing Group, 1996
    • “Odysseus the Foreigner,” Joshua R. Hall, Ancient World Magazine, June 22, 2018
    • “The Odyssey,” from the introduction to The Odyssey (pp. 8–11), Bernard Knox, Penguin Publishing Group, 1996
    • “Women and Men,” from the introduction to The Odyssey (pp. 49–58), Bernard Knox, Penguin Publishing Group, 1996
  • Digital Access
    • “What Is Xenia?,” Greek Comix, YouTube
    • “What Makes a Homeric Hero?,” Greek Comix, YouTube
    • “What Role Do the Gods Play in The Iliad and The Odyssey?,” Barry Powell, YouTube, Oxford University Press, June 30, 2014

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Write

We will organize our ideas and make an outline or plan for the essay.

Using the introductory paragraph with the thesis statement, along with your gathered evidence, organize the essay and evidence. Make a general plan, sequence, or outline of ideas that will be a roadmap for the essay to develop the main idea of the thesis statement. To do so, work from the Organizing Evidence Tool you previously developed. Think about the order you want to sequence your supporting claims in, and number those claims in that order.

Consider the points you want to make in response to the Culminating Task question regarding the way in which Homer depicts power in The Odyssey. Remind yourself of the expectations, which can help you organize sections of your essay:

  • Present and develop supporting claims about your ideas.

  • Provide context about your ideas, including information from the anchor and supplemental texts.

  • Explain how the evidence and ideas from texts develop and support your claim.

  • Explain connections or comparisons between the claims and evidence and how they are representative of the way that Homer represents power.

Activity 2: Write

We will begin creating a rough draft of our expository essay in response to the Culminating Task.

Begin drafting body paragraphs using the plan or outline and supporting claims you have developed. The expectations of the task can be incorporated into your essay as separate paragraphs.

Activity 3: Write

For homework, we will finish drafting our essays, using our plans and Organizing Evidence Tools to build paragraphs that respond to the expectations of the task. We will think about how to incorporate evidence in those paragraphs and connect their claims and ideas.

For homework, finish drafting your essay, using your plan and Organizing Evidence Tool to build paragraphs that respond to the expectations of the task.

As you draft, think about how to incorporate evidence in those paragraphs, through quotes or paraphrasing, and how to include citations for the sources of the evidence.

Think also about how to transition between paragraphs and connect the claims and ideas you present.

As you draft the final paragraph of your essay, think about how you can return to your thesis and opening ideas, so that your essay is a unified whole.