Why teach the Odyssey?

Apologies in advance for this week.  I'm working a residential basketball camp (I can't pass up making money), so I'm taking a brief blogging hiatus.  I work camp through Thursday, so I'll either catch up with The Aeneid on Thursday or Friday.  If I blogged every day, I think I'd get about four hours of sleep, and no one wants to see me on four hours of sleep.  The camp started today, which is why I'm so late.  I'm going to have a short post (I'm sorry, again) about why to teach the Odyssey to your students in our modern society.     

Obviously, the Odyssey is still important.  I mean, we're teaching it almost 3,000 years after it was written.  But why?  Who cares?  Well, you should (duh).  The Odyssey is hard for students to grasp some times.  This book was written to capture the imaginations of audiences and leave them in amazement.  It's hard to do that sometimes when kids are surrounded by so much media:  Internet, videogames, movies, and television.  There are drawbacks in the narrative sequence.  Many students have heard about Calypso and Circe, but don't really pay attention to the beginning portion when Telemachus is having to lament about the suitors taking over his house.  Plotting might cause students to be put off by the time we get to the slaughter of the suitors.  BUT YOU NEED TO STILL TEACH THIS.  Here's a list of lesson plans, even a UbD (MY FAVORITE) lesson plan for teaching this.  This is super, super helpful if you're struggling.  Click the link for teaching help!  Teaching Homer's Odyssey 

The Odyssey teaches students about, again, the devastating effects of war.  Think about how terribly Laertes, Telemachus, Penelope, and Odysseus's mother, even Odysseus himself.  You can easy apply this to wars now, just like with the Iliad.  The theme of growing up is present with Telemachus.  How can this not be appropriate to high school students going to college?  They have to deal with the hardships of not having parents around.  Since I have to cut it short (it's almost midnight.  I'm definitely not getting eight hours of sleep.  Not good.), I'm going to leave you with some further reading on the applicability of the Odyssey. 

For some further reading, the following link provides multiple articles about war and the Odyssey, the Odyssey's effect on history and Western culture, the similarities between the Odyssey and other novels.  I recommend clicking it and reading it if you're interested in this.  CLICK IT!  NYtimes.com The Odyssey

Since I didn't live up to blogging expectations, I'm going to leave you with a short video that tells the story in 14 seconds (I think it's kind of cute). 

Did you enjoy it?  I thought so!  Okay, remember!  I won't be here again until Thursday maybe even Friday, depending on how Thursday goes.  Don't be sad.  Reread my other posts!  I'm sorry again,

I'll be back,

Cassy