Think Aloud

EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #4 of 10 Grade/ Content Area Lesson Title Grade 9/ English Language Arts The Odyssey Book One — Read ...
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EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #4 of 10

Grade/ Content Area Lesson Title

Grade 9/ English Language Arts The Odyssey Book One — Read Aloud/Think Aloud 2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.

NCTE Standards:

Context of the Lesson

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics). This is the third lesson in a unit on Homer’s The Odyssey, and the first lesson of textual reading. Plans to differentiate instruction: This lesson contains reading aloud, reading silently, and graphic organizers. This will appeal to multiple types of learners. Accommodations and modifications: If students have trouble reading silently for the second portion of this lesson they may read quietly in small groups.

Opportunities to Learn

Environment factors: For the reading aloud portion of this lesson students’ desks will be arranged in a circle to facilitate questioning and discussion. For the second portion where students are reading Book Two on their own they will be at their individual desks and I will be walking through to answer any questions they have. Materials: • Book One of The Odyssey • graphic organizer packet

Objectives

Laura Clayman

Students will develop the skills and confidence to read Book One – and beyond - of Homer’s Odyssey.

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EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #4 of 10 Opening: I will open the class by reviewing what we have learned in our pre-reading, and reminding the students that although the language may at first be difficult to understand, and the number of characters and places overwhelming, if we use the skills we’ve learned and the graphic organizers we will not only be able to read and comprehend The Odyssey, but be able to appreciate more than we would otherwise be able to. Instructional Procedures

Engagement: The bulk of the lesson will be spent reading Book One of The Odyssey aloud, and stopping frequently to clarify the narrative and help fill in graphic organizers. We will also practice questioning and directed note-taking techniques. Closure: Students will use the techniques they learned in this lesson and apply them to Book Two, which they will read silently in class. They will have to develop their own read to understand questions, and be sure to fill in their graphic organizers as they read.

Assessment

Laura Clayman

Students will be assessed on the answers they give during the reading of Book One, and on the questions they form during their reading of Book Two.

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Lesson  4   Reading Guides Homer invokes a ______________ to help him tell the story of ______________. The story of Odysseus begins with the goddess ___________ appealing to __________ to help Odysseus. Odysseus departs ___________ after fighting in the Trojan War for ________ years and is trying to find his way home. While he has been gone his son, ________________ and wife, ______________ have been ____________ by suitors. Taking Athena’s advice, ___________________ travels to _____________ for word of his father.

Meanwhile, on ______________, the evil suitors plot to kill

___________________.

77 Invocation to the Muse; survey of Odysseus' condition in the 10th year of his wanderings. "The whole of the action and most of the principal persons are introduced in the first few hundred lines." (D. Page) What is missing from the poem (the opening lines)? How does it define Odysseus? Why is Poseidon angry? As you read on, ask whether the action goes as the proem says it will. 78-80 Council of the gods on Olympus. What types of gods does Homer present? How do they match your expectations? Why is Aegisthus singled out by Zeus? What kind of system of morality does Zeus invoke? Why is Athena so concerned with Odysseus? Why is Zeus so surprised with her plea? In the line ending her speech, the words "dead set against," odusso, puns on the hero's name Are the concerns and behavior of the gods any different here than in the Iliad? 81-86 Athena goes disguised to Ithaca to see Telemachus and persuade him to seek news of his father. What is happening in Ithaca? What kind of person is Telemachus? How old is he? What does he need? Why does Athena mention Orestes to him? Is her story about him complete? And why start in Ithaca, not with Odysseus? Note the concern with hospitality, which will be a key theme throughout the epic. 88-9 Penelope is upset at the song of a bard who tells of the sufferings of the heroes. Telemachus replies that Zeus, not the bard, is to blame. Zeus earlier blamed humans for

Lesson  4   their sufferings. As you read the rest of the epic, think about whether Zeus or Telemachus is correct. http://www.temple.edu/classics/odysseyho/index.html

EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #5 of 10

Grade/ Content Area Lesson Title

Grade 9/ English Language Arts Seeing Through Yourself 2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.

NCTE Standards:

6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts. 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities. 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Context of the Lesson

This lesson is part of a unit on Homer’s The Odyssey. It takes place after students have read Book 9, which contains the episode of Odysseus’ encounter with the Cyclops. Plans to differentiate instruction: This lesson includes reading of Homer’s The Odyssey, reading of a scientific article, a writing assignment, and the potential for a visual component for that same assignment. This will appeal to multiple types of learners. Accommodations and modifications:

Opportunities to Learn

While the relevant Book of The Odyssey will be read at home, the scientific article will be read aloud. All instructions for the assignment will be written on the board, handed out to students, and read aloud. Environment factors: For the reading and discussion portion of the lesson, desks will be arranged in a large classroom circle, to encourage participation. For individual writing for the assignment desks will be arranged in groups to facilitate writing and peer reviewing.

Laura Clayman

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EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #5 of 10 Materials: • copies of The Odyssey • copies of “Seeing Through Yourself: The Fundamental Reason For Binocular Vision” • Cyclops assignment sheet Objectives

Students will form a deeper understanding of the concepts of “metaphor” and “allegory”, and be able to apply them, in writing, to The Odyssey and the human condition. Opening: I will open the class by asking students to review the narrative of the Cyclops story in Book 9 of Homer’s The Odyssey. Engagement: Through questioning I will guide the students to seeing that a vital part of the Cyclops story is Odysseus’ trickery, and that it was possible because of Polyphemus’ limited vision. Because of Polyphemus’ single eye he could only see the world from his own perspective.

Instructional Procedures

I will then introduce the concepts of “allegory” and “metaphor”, and invite students to share what they already know. We will then, as a class, read “Seeing Through Yourself: The Fundamental Reason For Binocular Vision”, a scientific article about the usefulness of animals’ two eyes, and placement of them. Closure: Although the scientific article is not an allegory, we can apply the principles we’ve learned in The Odyssey, the article itself, and our discussion, to make an allegory out of it.

Assessment

Students will use the scientific article “Seeing Through Yourself: The Fundamental Reason For Binocular Vision”, to come up with a science fiction character that has eyes in a different placement from any real animal, and write an allegory based on that animal. Prompts: • What might have happened if Odysseus had run into your animal rather than Polyphemus?

Laura Clayman

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EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #5 of 10 • What are the strengths and weaknesses of your animal, based on their eye placement? They may draw the animal as part of the assignment.

Laura Clayman

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Lesson 5

Published on Science 2.0 (http://www.science20.com) Home > Medicine > Vision > Mark Changizi > Printer-friendly

Seeing Through Yourself: The Fundamental Reason For Binocular Vision By Mark Changizi Created Aug 30 2010 - 11:18am

There arenʼt many cyclopses in nature, and those that exist donʼt live up to expectation. They tend to be crustaceans like water fleas and another aptly named “cyclops” (see left photo below) or early invertebrate fish-like ancestors of ours like lancelets. Getting these animals tipsy and stabbing them through the eye with a stake turns out to be much less impressive than when Odysseus did it. For vertebrates we find no cyclopses. On some fish, frogs, lizards and relatives there is a third eye (a “parietal eye”) directly on the tops of their heads (middle photo below), which is cyclops-like in not being paired with another eye. However, although these eyes are light-sensitive, they are not really eyes at all because they are not capable of forming an image of the outside world. Instead, they seem to be involved in thermoregulation, although no one is quite sure. The closest thing higher vertebrates have to cyclopses are anencephalic infants, like the kitten shown below. But thatʼs natureʼs mistake.

http://www.science20.com/print/71095

One reason for the scarcity of cyclopses is that they canʼt see whatʼs behind them. Most of the Earthʼs animals with vision, however, can see much of whatʼs behind them, and presumably need to. They do this via having two eyes facing in opposite directions. This is true, for example, of squid, insects, fish, reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, and many mammals like rabbits and horses (see photos below). You canʼt sneak up on these animals from behind.

http://www.science20.com/print/71095

Letʼs take notice of something so obvious about the animals pictured above that one is apt to overlook it. These animals have eyes facing in opposite directions, as I mentioned, but more specifically their eyes are on the sides of their heads, so that the eyes point sideways, as in the drawing of the animal on the left, below. But this is not the only possible way of having panoramic vision. One could instead place a single eye on the very front of the head, and another on the very back, as illustrated below and on the right. You never find this in nature (and not even in fiction, as far as I know). Why not?

http://www.science20.com/print/71095

The reason has to do with the fact that those sideways-facing eyes earlier donʼt just see the opposite sides of the animal. Instead, they typically also have some overlap, i.e., parts of the world that both eyes can see, called the binocular region. Seeing a part of the world via two eyes has certain advantages, advantages that animals typically want to bring to bear in front of themselves. For animals with sideways-facing eyes, the binocular region does tend to be in front. For example, for the drawing of the animal above and on the left, you are in its binocular field because you can tell that each of its eyes can see you. For animals with an eye on the front of its head and another on the back, however, any overlapping regions of the visual field would be along the sides of the animal, not the front. …and animals donʼt tend to want their especially powerful vision directed to the sides. Our vision is a variant of having eyes on the sides of the head in the sense that our eyes are placed on the left and right of our midline, and so our binocular region is also in front. What are these advantages of binocular vision for seeing the world? The typical answer that would be given by anyone knowing anything about vision will be stereo vision, or the ability to see in depth. The study of binocular vision is so historically wrapped up with stereo vision that courses and books about binocular vision tend to be largely about this special kind of depth perception. Contrary to conventional wisdom, however, in my research I have come to appreciate a

http://www.science20.com/print/71095

power of binocular vision no one has yet noticed: the power to see through stuff. As I discuss in my book, The Vision Revolution, understanding this “x-ray power” is crucial for understanding why we have forward-facing eyes. But in this piece I want to point out a special, very fundamental, kind of “x-ray vision” binocular vision gives us, one that helps further drive home the advantages to panoramic vision via sideways-facing eyes rather than via front-and-back-facing eyes. …It is the power to see through yourself. Before an animal can worry about how to most ably see whatʼs out there in the world, it has to make sure it can actually see whatʼs out there. A fancy eyeball placed on the inside roof of its mouth would not see much of the world. But where should you put the eyes? Most spots will be better than the roof of the mouth, but bodies tend to have gangly parts that could possibly block an eyeʼs view. And, in fact, one typically wants some of those body parts to be out in front of the eye, body parts like a mouth, nose, whiskers or hands that are designed to physically interact with the things out in front. Animals want these appendages out in front of the eye not only because these appendages are good at touching the world and eyes are not, but also because it is useful to see oneʼs own appendages so as to help guide the appendagesʼ interactions with the world. And that leads to a riddle that animals with vision had to solve. Namely, how can they put appendages out in front of their eyes, yet not occlude their view of the world? This is a riddle that video game makers have had to grapple with as well. How do you let the player see his own character without obstructing the view of the game? If you play games in first-person perspective mode, then if your character is holding a gun or sword, its arm and weapon occlude a significant portion of the screen (see the upper image below). If you play in third-person perspective mode—where you see the entire character from behind—then there are also significant parts of the view missing due to the characterʼs whole body blocking the view (see the lower image below).

http://www.science20.com/print/71095

Thatʼs why many games allow the playerʼs viewpoint to roam around the character -rather than being locked with a view of the characterʼs back. Allowing our eyes to float steady-cam style around our bodies and relay information to our brains would, then, be a potential solution to the problem of seeing past our own appendages. Nature found a different solution, however, and you can see it for yourself by looking at your own nose. If you close one eye and wiggle your nose, youʼll see it in the bottom corner, blocking that eyeʼs view of whateverʼs beyond it, as illustrated in the pair of upper images in the figure below. But, if you now open the other eye youʼll see whatʼs behind your nose via this other eye

http://www.science20.com/print/71095

(illustrated by the lower image below).

In fact, youʼll perceive your nose still to be there, but perceive it to be transparent through which you are seeing the scene beyond. Each eye sees the nose, and each has its view blocked by the nose. But the views blocked by the nose are different for each eye, so the pair of eyes, in total, donʼt miss a thing. …and yet can also see your nose. If, instead, an animalʼs eyes were on the front and back of its head, then the appendages out in front of the front eye would simply occlude its view. Having eyes on the sides of the head (or on either side of the midline, like ours) rather than on the front and back is not only, then, useful for placing the powerful binocular region in front of the animal for the purpose of better perception of whatʼs out there. In addition, having eyes on the sides of the head is crucial for seeing past oneʼs own bodily appendages. And not just seeing past oneʼs own appendages, but simultaneously seeing them and thereby having the advantages that come with having this visual feedback. See through oneself may be one of the most fundamental reasons why animals have eyes on either side of their head and possess a binocular region. ~~~~ This was adapted from Chapter 2 of The Vision Revolution (Benbella, 2009).

http://www.science20.com/print/71095

Vision ION Publications LLC Source URL: http://www.science20.com/mark_changizi /blog/seeing_through_yourself_fundamental_reason_binocular_vision

http://www.science20.com/print/71095

Lesson 5 Cyclops Assignment Your assignment is to invent a science fiction animal. You should use the scientific article “Seeing Through Yourself: The Fundamental Reason For Binocular Vision” that we read and discussed in class to come up with a science fiction animal that has eyes in a different placement from any real animal, including humans. Your animal can have two eyes in unexpected places, one eye (like Polyphemus) but in a place other than the center of its forehead, or more than two eyes. You will then write an allegory based on that animal. Your allegory must answer the following questions: • What might have happened if Odysseus had run into your animal rather than Polyphemus? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of your animal, based on their eye placement and number? Your finished story should be 2-3 pages or more. If you wish to draw your animal the drawing may count as one of the pages.

EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #6 of 10

Grade/

Grade 9/

Content Area

English Language Arts

Lesson Title

Temptation and Resistance 1.

1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. 2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.

NCTE Standards

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics). 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Context of the Lesson Opportunities to Learn Definition: Materials, Learners and Environments

Laura Clayman

This lesson is part of a unit on Homer’s The Odyssey. It takes place after students have read Book 12, which contains the episode of Odysseus’ encounter with the Sirens. Plans to differentiate instruction: This lesson includes group discussion and use of graphic organizers, as well as whole-class team debate. It ends with a written personal reflection. This will appeal to multiple types of learners.

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EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #6 of 10 Accommodations and modifications: Students who cannot participate in the whole-class team debate can opt to have other, supporting roles in the lesson. Environment factors: This class will begin as a whole class discussion. The class will then break into two teams and will have the whole classroom to use to organize their debate. Materials: • copies of Homer’s The Odyssey • copies of Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song” Objectives

Students will reflect on what it means to be tempted, and to overcome temptation. Opening: I will open the class by asking students to review the narrative of the Sirens story in Book 12 of Homer’s The Odyssey. I will then read aloud Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song” and we will discuss the differences between the words Homer’s Sirens sang and the words Atwood’s Sirens sang. Engagement:

Instructional Procedures

The class will be broken into two teams to prepare for a debate over whether Odysseus is strong- or weak-willed. Each group will have to come up with at least three points to support their position. Closure: Students will write a reflection on the subject of temptation. They will have to define what temptation means to them, and how they avoid it, or what happens when they can’t avoid it.

Assessment

Laura Clayman

Students will be assessed on their participation in the class discussion and debate.

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Lesson  6   Siren Song by Margaret Atwood This is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song that is irresistible: the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons even though they see beached skulls the song nobody knows because anyone who had heard it is dead, and the others can’t remember. Shall I tell you the secret and if I do, will you get me out of this bird suit? I don’t enjoy it here squatting on this island looking picturesque and mythical with these two feathery maniacs, I don’t enjoy singing this trio, fatal and valuable. I will tell the secret to you, to you, only to you. Come closer. This song is a cry for help: Help me! Only you, only you can, you are unique at last. Alas it is a boring song but it works every time.

EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #7 of 10

Grade/ Content Area Lesson Title

NCTE Standards

Context of the Lesson

Grade 9/ English Language Arts Decisions and Guilt 1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics). This lesson is part of a unit on Homer’s The Odyssey. It takes place after students have read Book 12, which contains the episode of Odysseus’ encounter Skylla and Charybdis. Plans to differentiate instruction: This lesson includes reading of Homer’s The Odyssey, listening to a scenario while viewing a schematic of it, a class discussion, and a writing assignment with different options. This will appeal to multiple types of learners. Accommodations and modifications:

Opportunities to Learn

While the relevant Book of The Odyssey will be read at home, the moral scenario will be read aloud. All instructions for the assignment will be written on the board, handed out to students, and read aloud. Environment factors: For the listening and discussion portion of the lesson, desks will be arranged in a large classroom circle, to encourage participation. For individual writing for the assignment desks will be arranged in groups to facilitate writing and peer reviewing. Materials:

Laura Clayman

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EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #7 of 10 • copies of The Odyssey

Objectives

Students will reflect on the difficult decision Odysseus made when faced with either losing his entire ship in a whirlpool or losing a few sailors to a monster, and reflect on difficult decisions in general, and ones they have faced in their own lives. Opening: I will open the class by asking students to review the narrative of the Skylla and Charybdis story in Book 12 of Homer’s The Odyssey, paying particular attention to the warning Odysseus had received from Circe, and the perils of either decision Odysseus went with. Engagement: I will narrate the following philosophical dilemma to the students, while also drawing a schematic of the train tracks on the board: “You are on a bridge over a train track and see five people tied to the track ahead. A switch is in front of you which will divert the train, but as you look down you see a man is strapped to that track and will be killed. Would you flip the switch and save the five people at the expense of one?”

Instructional Procedures

We will discuss as a class the moral dilemma, and the pros and cons of each choice, and the similarities and differences between this scenario and Odysseus’. I will continue: “Now imagine in order to save the five people, you have to push a stranger in front of the train to stop it. You know for certain it would stop the train in time to save the five people tied to the tracks. Would you push the man and save the five people at the expense of one?” We will discuss as a class the moral dilemma, and the differences and similarities between this and the previous scenario. Is the only difference passivity vs. activity? But in both cases you sacrifice one life to save five. Which of the train scenarios is most similar to Odysseus’ dilemma? Closure: We will end the class by discussing the phrase “between a rock and a hard place,” hard decisions we have to make in our lives today.

Laura Clayman

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EDC 430 Unit Plan (Homer’s The Odyssey) Lesson #7 of 10

Assessment

Laura Clayman

Students will have the option of either writing a personal non-fiction story entitled “Between a Rock and a Hard Place”, or writing Odysseus’ journal entry for the day of Skylla and Charybdis.

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Lesson 7 Skylla and Charybdis Assignment You have the option of two writing assignments. A) Write a personal non-fiction story entitled “Between a Rock and a Hard Place”. This should be written in the first person, and should be something that actually happened to you. Write about the events that led up to the situation, how you were presented with the dilemma, which solution you chose—and why, and how you felt about it after. Would you make that same choice again? —OR— B) Write Odysseus’ journal entry for the day of Skylla and Charybdis event. This should be written in the first person. Why did you choose to navigate the ship towards Skylla? Was it a hard choice? How do you feel about it now?

Your paper should be at least one page in length.

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