Week 5 Syllabus: May 4
WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD LOVE STORY? It is not a stretch to say that Homer’s Odyssey is one of the earliest, written love stories. The Trojan War is over Helen, who is famously known as “the face who launched a thousand ships.” The back-story to the conflict occurs at a wedding celebration, and is sparked by Paris’s deciding which is the most beautiful goddess—Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite (called the “Judgement of Paris,” it determines which sides the Greek gods and goddesses allign, Greek or Trojan). Odysseus’s chief aim is to return home to his wife, family and kingdom. This week we will finish revising our Odyssey paragraphs, discuss the Greek view of love, and transition to Shakespeare tragic love story, the play Romeo and Juliet.
MONDAY: GREY DAY/OFFICE HOURS
Today is a grey day, and you can meet with me during Zoom office hours 12:50 and 1:50 pm. Check Canvas for the link to Zoom.
TUESDAY: BLUE DAY
Starting with a Zoom meeting. In the even New Trier’s Canvas page is down, 2nd period can access our Zoom via this link here.
We will finish reviewing paragraphs written about Odysseus and Penelope’s bed.
Then having a class-wide discussion about evidence that illustrates that Homer’s epic poem is , indeed, a love story.
HW: Compiling 6-8 pictures of annotations. These should illustrate your best insights into the poem’s meaning. While you do have annotations through the first half of the next, you might have to choose passages in the later half to re-annotate. Choose passages that reflect your dialogue with the text about meaning, and submit these to Canvas as a pdf no later than one week from today.
WEDNESDAY: GREEN DAY
No class today.
THURSDAY: BLUE DAY
Starting with a Zoom meeting. Check the syllabus on Canvas for a link. First period begins at 10:10, and second period at 11:20.
Introduction to reading Shakespeare. We will watch a short, 8 minute modern telling of Romeo and Juliet. I will lecture about how to approach and read the play, along with providing some tips on how to manage the Elizabethan phrasing and wording. We will close class with a video overview of the play.
HW: Complete the Odyssey annotation assignment, posting the pdf including your pictures to Canvas.
FRIDAY: GREEN DAY
Continue exploring some of the Romeo & Juliet resources I’ve posted so far, especially the Folger Library site which has both the audio and the text for Shakespeare’s tragic play.