Tag Archives: epic

Introducing the Epic, the Memoir, and the First Draft

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First and sixth periods practiced taking notes (and we debriefed the process at the end of the period) for the memoir. We’ll begin writing it in earnest tomorrow.

Second and fourth periods finished up the unit on short stories and writing about literature. We began the unit on the Odyssey. We’re already behind and I didn’t want to get further behind, so I skipped three units that we’ll return to later. (We skipped Mockingbird because of inadequate copies in the library: another class is using them!)

Seventh period began working on a first draft. We went over some guidelines for a first draft in an effort to decrease worries about the “rightness” of an initial draft and thereby increase the quality of writing.

Homework
  • First and sixth periods: do some free writing about the memoir topic (it must be connected to reading or writing, but that is the only requirement.
  • Second and fourth period:
    • complete notes begun in class by reading pages 1025-1031 and taking notes;
    • complete and turn in the final essay by Thursday (note: this a day later than initially stated).
  • Seventh period: none.

Describing Someone and the Cyclops

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First, fourth, and sixth periods worked on poetry, specifically Jacqueline Woodson’s “Describe Someone.” We practiced as a class revising lines to add alliteration and consonance. Students will be doing the same to their own poems for homework.

Second period went over the Cyclops episode in the Odyssey.

Homework
  • First period:
    • read “Summer Sky”;
    • answer questions on pages 227-229 in workbook.
  • Second period:
    • semi-long term assignments (part of reader response journals for Odyssey):
      • a poem from the cyclop’s point of view;
      • read page 809 then work on the question of hospitality as it’s presented throughout the Odyssey;
    • for Monday: read “The Witches’ Circle”
  • Fourth and sixth periods: work on adding consonance and alliteration to your poem.

Works Cited

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First period completed a second round of MAP testing. We were unable to do anything else today.

Second period began the Odyssey. We looked at elements of the epic form and discussed the background to the Odyssey.

Fourth and sixth periods worked on creating “Works Cited” pages.

Homework
  • First period: none
  • Second period:
    • vocabulary work;
    • study for quiz.
  • Fourth period: create “Works Cited” page for research project (project due Monday 8 December).
  • Sixth period: none.