We began today with John Green’s summary and analysis of the Odyssey. Afterwards, we had a quick talk about what happened to the major characters in the story after the Odyssey ended. Then we went over the lesson and notes for conjunctions (available under the Grammar section of the website).

Finally, we introduced the group essay that you will be writing over the next two days (the-odyssey-group-essay-on-theme)

If you would like to learn about opportunities to get funding to travel internationally, please come to my room during lunch! You’ll get to hear from a Bellaire student who spent all of last year in Germany and we’ll go over the different programs available to you.

Students took a grammar and vocabulary quiz today. Here is the distribution of those scores:

The average across all classes was an 87 – good work! I think your studying is really paying off.

No homework for tonight, but please finish your Obama speech if you did not get to do so within the past three days in class. 🙂

We finally got to the epic battle scene in the Odyssey today! After this weekend’s reading and reading guide (13-books-23-and-24 and books-23-and-24-reading-guide), we will be done with our Odyssey reading and do some group work.

A few important reminders:

1. Make sure you are ready for your folder check on Monday! You need to have your grammar (blue) and vocabulary (red) folders, with all of the handouts and notes I have given, in the brads, in order. Please do not store any other materials in those folders. I will check them as you are taking your quiz.
2. Please study for your quiz (on Vocabulary List 3 and pronouns, along with a review of everything else we’ve done) on Monday.
3. I’m having an information session on study abroad scholarships during lunch on Tuesday. Please come if you would like to learn about some of these special opportunities! 🙂

Happy, happy weekend – I’m going to enjoy relaxing with my family, and I hope you will too! (Not with my family – with your own family. Please don’t come hang out with my family.)

We discussed the beginning of Odysseus’s campaign against the suitors today – just a few more days until his epic battle!

In class, we read a speech by Barack Obama on the importance of fatherhood, and connected it to Odysseus’ absence from his son’s life. (obama-fathers-day-speech-with-odyssey-reading-guide)

Homework for tonight is to read Books 21 and 22 (12-books-21-and-22) and to complete the reading guide (books-21-and-22-reading-guide).

Please remember that you have two extra credit opportunities: you may come to the after-school showing of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (which will end at 5:15 PM on Friday), and you may sign up for the mock PSAT on Saturday.

In class, we discussed Odysseus’s preparations for battle and reunion with his son, and then we covered pronouns (and puns!).

Homework for tonight is to read Books 18, 19, and 20 (11-books-18-19-and-20) and to complete the reading guide (books-18-19-and-20-reading-guide).

We watched a quick video on the possible true origins of the Circe myth in the Odyssey.

Afterwards, we had a discussion based on Books 13 and 14 about Odysseus’s arrival in Ithaca. We also talked about the vocabulary in Odyssey List 3.

Homework for tonight is to read Books 15, 16, and 17 (10-books-15-16-and-17) and to finish the reading guide (books-15-16-and-17-reading-guide).

We started today with our vocabulary and grammar quiz. Here is a distribution of those scores:

(You all did so well! I’m really proud of you. The average score was an 89, and we had 9 people who made perfect scores!)

Homework for tonight is to read Books 13 and 14 (9-books-13-and-14) and to complete the reading guide (books-13-and-14-reading-guide).

To reward those of you who check the website regularly, I’m going to make the strong suggestion that you review these items in particular in preparation for your quiz on Monday:

1. Be able to identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs within a sentence.
2. Know what a common noun is.
3. Know what a definite article is.
4. Know what conjugation means.
5. Know what first-person plural looks like.
6. Know what tense is.
7. Know what past tense looks like.
8. Know what consistency of tense means.
9. Know what subject-verb agreement means.
10. Know what a modifier is.
11. Know the rules for making comparative and superlative adjectives, depending on the number of syllables in the adjective.
12. Know when you should use commas to separate strings of adjectives.
13. Know what writers should keep in mind when deciding whether to use adjectives or adverbs.
14. Know what parts of speech an adverb can modify.

I think that making a study guide for yourself focusing on these items would be a very smart way to prepare for the quiz. Hint, hint, HINT.