Lesson+Plan+Sample

Objectives Texts Production Activity
 * MDE Grade 9 Language Arts**

Content: Epic Poetry Big Ideas/Themes courage, bravery, effects of war, faithfulness, time passage Themes. • Love conquers all. || • Nothing is more important than getting home. • Family relationships sustain • In time of tragedy, we rely past relationships to give hope for survival. || MDE ELP Standards:
 * • relationships, survival,

R.3.3.c Recognize words that have multiple meanings in literature and texts in content areas R.5.3.a Summarize informational or narrative selections R.5.3.b Compare and contrast characters;describe setting and events in text

Warm-up/motivation: Students brainstorm words and phrases that describe how family members react when someone returns home after a long time away.

Presentation: Students read the text in pairs, looking for examples of the brainstorming in the text.

Anchor Text: The Odyssey

"More's the pity," answered Telemachus, "I am sorry for him, but we must leave him to himself just now. If people could have everything their own way, the first thing I should choose would be the return of my father; but go, and give your message; then __make haste__ back again, and do not turn __out of your way__ to tell Laertes. Tell my mother to send one of her women secretly with the news at once, and let him hear it from her."

Thus did he urge the swineherd; Eumaeus, therefore, took his sandals, bound them to his feet, and started for the town. Minerva watched him well off the station, and then came up to it in the form of a woman- fair, stately, and wise. She stood against the side of the entry, and __revealed herself__ to Ulysses, but Telemachus could not see her, and knew not that she was there, for the gods do not let themselves be seen by everybody. Ulysses saw her, and so did the dogs, for they did not bark, but went scared and whining off to the other side of the yards. She __nodded her head__ and motioned to Ulysses with her eyebrows; whereon he left the hut and stood before her outside the main wall of the yards. Then she said to him:

"Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, it is now time for you to tell your son: do not __keep him in the dark any longer__, but lay your plans for the destruction of the suitors, and then make for the town. I will not be long in joining you, for I too am eager for the fray."

As she spoke she touched him with her golden wand. First she threw a fair clean shirt and cloak about his shoulders; then she made him younger and of more imposing presence; she gave him back his colour, filled out his cheeks, and let his beard become dark again. Then she went away and Ulysses came back inside the hut. His son was astounded when he saw him, and turned his eyes away for fear he might be looking upon a god.

"Stranger," said he, "how suddenly you have changed from what you were a moment or two ago. You are dressed differently and your colour is not the same. Are you some one or other of the gods that live in heaven? If so, be propitious to me till I can make you due sacrifice and offerings of wrought gold. Have mercy upon me."

And Ulysses said, "I am no god, why should you take me for one? I am your father, on whose account you grieve and suffer so much at the hands of lawless men."

As he spoke he kissed his son, and a tear fell from his cheek on to the ground, for he had restrained all tears till now. but Telemachus could not yet believe that it was his father, and said:

"You are not my father, but some god is flattering me with vain hopes that I may grieve the more hereafter; no mortal man could of himself contrive to do as you have been doing, and make yourself old and young at a moment's notice, unless a god were with him. A second ago you were old and all in rags, and now you are like some god come down from heaven."

Ulysses answered, "Telemachus, you ought not to be so immeasurably astonished at my being really here. There is no other Ulysses who will come hereafter. Such as I am, it is I, who after long wandering and much hardship have got home in the twentieth year to my own country. What you wonder at is the work of the redoubtable goddess Minerva, who does with me whatever she will, for she can do what she pleases. At one moment she makes me like a beggar, and the next I am a young man with good clothes on my back; it is an easy matter for the gods who live in heaven to make any man look either rich or poor."

As he spoke he sat down, and Telemachus threw his arms about his father and wept. They were both so much moved that they cried aloud like eagles or vultures with crooked talons that have been robbed of their half fledged young by peasants. Thus piteously did they weep, and the sun would have gone down upon their mourning if Telemachus had not suddenly said, "In what ship, my dear father, did your crew bring you to Ithaca? Of what nation did they declare themselves to be- for you cannot have come by land?"

Text Analysis: but we must leave him to himself just now //use of modals to explain obligation. Modals followed by bare infinitive//

If people could have everything their own way, the first thing I should choose would be the return of my father //2nd conditional to express hypothetical.
 * result clause uses "should" which is non-standard form**//

//imperative form; "tell" followed by infinitive; "tell" as ditransitive//
 * Tell my mother to send one of her women secretly with the news at once

As she spoke she touched him with her golden wand. As he spoke he sat down //Adverbial clauses, subordinating conjunction "as" used to express time//

There is no other Ulysses who will come hereafter //relative clause, defining//**

Production: Writing I'd like the students to write a summary of the events in the excerpt. There is a lot of dialogue in the passage, so my students will need to work on verbs of dialogue attribution and reported speech, as I don't want them to include direct quotes in a summary. __Warm-up__: The students have read the excerpt for homework. The students will review the text and write down any direct quotes they find on a separate sheet of paper, noting who spoke to whom. __Presentation__: I will put the first quotation up on the board:

Telemachus to Eumaeus "More's the pity, I am sorry for him, but we must leave him to himself just now. If people could have everything their own way, the first thing I should choose would be the return of my father; but go, and give your message; then make haste back again, and do not turn out of your way to tell Laertes. Tell my mother to send one of her women secretly with the news at once, and let him hear it from her."

The students will think-pair-share what the main points of this dialogue are: (example) //T is sorry about something E should go quickly and give his message. He should hurry straight back. E should tell T's mother to send a message to L.// Analyze what information was left out and why

In their pairs, students will complete the frame "T told E that/to . . .". Share how many sentences they need. If any students tried to summarize "More's the pity" or other difficult phrasings, discuss why it was difficult and whether it should be in a summary.

Pairs do the same for the remaining dialogue. Then decide which actions (non-dialogue) should also be included.