Access Point Number | Access Point Title |
ELA.9.R.1.AP.4 | Explain characters, structures and themes of epic poetry. |
Name | Description |
The Odyssey: Lesson Two: City-States, Democracy and Republicanism | This lesson is #2 in an ELA/Civics Integrated Text Unit designed to support students with the integration of civics into the ELA classroom through the reading and study of Homer’s The Odyssey. After reading excerpts from Part 1 of The Odyssey, students will complete a research activity and include information in their writing plan for a comparative analysis of democracy in Ancient Greece and republicanism in the United States. |
The Odyssey: Lesson #1: Epic Heroes in Greece and America | This is lesson 1 in a series of integrated civics lessons for the text The Odyssey by Homer. After reading and discussing Book One of The Odyssey, students will analyze how Odysseus fits the description of an epic hero by creating a trading card. Additionally, students will research one of the Founders of the United States to create a trading card as they determine and analyze how he fits the description of an epic hero. |
The Odyssey: Lesson Three: The Legacy of Leadership | This lesson is #3 in an ELA/Civics Integrated Text Unit designed to support students with the integration of civics into the ELA classroom through the reading and study of Homer’s The Odyssey. This lesson should take place after students have read excerpts from Part 2 of The Odyssey. Students will use knowledge from lessons one and two as well as information from Article II of the United States Constitution to identify and explain the different presidential responsibilities such as receiving foreign heads of state. They will then create a “White House Press Briefing” outlining the U.S. President’s events of the day which includes a visit from a foreign head of state- Odysseus-who has come to the United States to learn more about how the United States borrowed from Greece when creating a constitutional republic. |
What Does Epic Poetry Tell Us About The United States Government? | After discussing the universal theme of “the struggle for equality,” in an epic, students will compare the theme to American government and The Declaration of Independence. This lesson is to be used before, during, or after reading and studying at least one Epic such as “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” “The Odyssey,” “Antigone,” “Beowulf,” “The Iliad,” and/or “The Aeneid,” and is one part of a complete text unit. In this lesson, students will complete a chart with examples and textual support from an epic to outline examples of the theme of “the struggle for equality” as well as examples and textual support from The Declaration of Independence. |