Reading Period 27: May 18-24: Metamorphoses

Long Read: 

Ovid's Metamorphoses, books 12-15

Creative Assignment:

Now that you've had a chance to try out your skits in front of an audience, revise one of your skits so that it could be staged by any group of four players. Include stage directions, instructions for costumes and props, and turn out a real finished product.

Writing Assignment: 

Time to fight back! It's your turn to give me feedback on the class. Include favorite and least favorite assignments, projects, activities, readings, and suggestions for next time I teach Ancient Literature to another class of unsuspecting youths. :) You can be as specific or philosophical as you like. Do you feel it was utterly useless to memorize "Ode to Man" from Antigone? Should we have painted more portraits? Feel free to use your rhetorical skills to challenge the very foundations of education itself.

Quiz:

Rank the following works from most interesting (1) to least interesting (8). Think about which were the most worthwhile to read, even if you might not have found them easy to read. The one that gets the worst reviews will be burned from the syllabus for next time, in your honor.

Oedipus Rex
Antigone
The Iliad
The Odyssey
Medea
The Frogs
The Aeneid
Metamorphoses

Reading Period 26: May 11-17: Metamorphoses

Æsacus, buddy, is that you?

Long Read: 

Metamorphoses: Books 9-11

Poetry:

Dryden's translation of the myth of Pygmalion from Metamorphoses

Dryden's translation of the myth of Æsacus from Metamorphoses

Creative Assignment:

Craft a helpful sign to accompany your theatrical performance for the elementary kids! Your sign should convey the name of the myth you are presenting, clearly legible on the posterboard you were given. Be colorful, be creative, but remember that the primary function is to help the children learn about the myth.

AND

Finalize your plan for your skit with your team. Be ready to recite when appropriate or improv when possible. Be funny, be creative, be interesting, but deliver a message that helps the children understand the characters and story. The performance is Tuesday at 9:40.

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Writing Assignment:

AP Option: Take the 2013 practice exam and get it to me by Monday morning, so I can heroically grade the essays and get them back to you on Tuesday. Go over the multiple choice on your own with the answer key.

Non-AP Option: Write a 500 word essay in which you persuade someone to make a personal change. This could be to quit smoking, to earn a degree, to change jobs, to move to a new country. You can direct it to a specific person, a group, or an imagined person. Use all of your persuasive powers and the rhetorical strategies we've been working on. Your rhetoric should ask them to define themselves in a new way, and evoke an emotion in your reader. This will be the last real essay you write for this class, so bring all your powers to bear on the topic.

Quiz:

In lieu of a quiz this week, two tasks:

1. Study Arma Virumque Cano! You will be reciting this on Thursday, May 17, for rewards and points.
2. Paper challenge! Get limbered up to go to battle with the middle schoolers.