Odysseus






DECEMBER 11TH
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
FOR
9TH GRADE ENGLISH


Good morning, everyone! I hope you had a restful and fun-filled weekend. Just one more week and then finals!

Monday, December 11th:

Today your Trojan War open book test is due.

We will climb into our boats and sail off again in search of the witch Circe’s island; then we’ll go to the Land of the Dead to find the blind prophet Tereisias to learn the best way to get back to Ithaca (Odysseus’s home); then back to Circe for some last minute instructions. If we have time we will sail past the lovely to listen to but oh so ugly to look at Sirens!


Tuesday, December 12th:

Today is the last day to turn in late work. After today no more late work or corrections will be accepted.

Today your ten sentences using your new vocabulary words from pages 40 - 49 are due; remember, five of the sentences must use adverbial clauses and the other five must use adjective clauses.

We will climb back onto our ships and set sail for the dreaded Charybdis and Scylla - let’s see if the Witch Circe was right in telling us how to avoid the two monsters. Then if we make it safely past the sea monster and the whirlpool, we will lay anchor off the island of Helios, the sun god. Then, after our ship gets blasted by Zeus for our eating of Helios’s “cattle and sheep who never die” - unless they’re eaten by Odysseus’s hungry men - we will be lost at sea for twenty days until we get washed ashore on the island of Ogygia, home of the lovely nymph, Calypso (Vanessa Williams). Did you get that we’ve made a full circle?


Wednesday, December 13th:

Today we will return to the Court of Alcinous - where actually we’ve been all along because the story is told in flashback - and from there - finally! - we will set sail for Ithaca! (King Alcinous will take pity on us and give us a magic ship to take us home.) After stepping foot on our native soil for the first time in twenty years, we will go to the hut of the swine herder where we will meet Telemachus, whom we last saw as a new born baby and who is now a man. Then we will see our beloved and faithful dog, Argos, before we enter the great hall of Odysseus’s home.




Thursday, December 14th:

We will return to Ithaca where we will watch as Penelope fails to recognize Odysseus; however, Odysseus’s old nanny does! Then Penelope will devise an almost impossible contest to determine who will win her hand in marriage.....well, let’s see if Odysseus or some other suitor can string Odysseus’ bow and shoot an arrow through twelve ax handle rings to hit a bulls-eye.

Friday, December 15th:

Your notebook is due today at the beginning of class. And no, you will not have time to put it together in class.

Finally, we will see the suitors and the disloyal maids get their just desserts!

And there remains one last test for poor Odysseus set forth by the even wilier Penelope. Let’s see if he passes it and the two of them can be united for an eternity!