Brainstorming--project ideas for the Iliad

[Farmgirl70]

So, I was all inspired by the lapbook posted here yesterday, but my son was not (just not his kind of project). He is just finishing reading the Iliad and I'd like him to do a project based on the Iliad--nothing too extensive as he's got plenty on his plate right now, but something that will bring his reading to another level of analyzing the book. Any ideas? What have your kids done with this?

[JennW in SoCal]

Check your library for the Teaching Company lectures on the Iliad by Professor Vandeberg.

 

Have you done a Google search for "Iliad lesson plans"?

 

Look at Spark Notes or Pink Monkey or another lit site and read the context pages, the famous quotes pages and look at the essay topics.

 

I'm assuming you have a high schooler, so perhaps a better route to take would be to have him write an essay, and those literary sites will have many essay topics as will the lesson plan sites you find. The lap book looked like something my ds would have enjoyed during the elementary years, but not for high school. You could have your ds watch the recent movie Troy and write a critique of it, comparing it to the original, talk about what all is missing.

[regentrude]

Check your library for the Teaching Company lectures on the Iliad by Professor Vandeberg.

 

The professor's name is Vandiver.

The lectures are wonderful, I listened to them with DD after she read the Iliad.

What learning objectives would you like your son to accomplish with the project? That should be your first step.

 

One thing that I find essential for a better understanding is a thorough study of Greek mythology. It is necessary to be familiar with the gods and also with the Greek view of their gods to understand the Iliad (this view is very different from the Christian view of what a God is. - the Greek gods have very different characteristics that play an important role in the Iliad).

 

In our family, we dislike projects for projects' sake and question how time consuming "craftsy" projects (like making models, dioramas, drawing pictures etc) actually enhance the understanding of a literary work. Since literature is about language, we usually end up with a writing assignment. For the Iliad, DD wrote two essays. One explaining the use of epithets in Homer, and another one about Achilles' Shield, defending her thesis that the shield specifically depicts the city of Troy.

For back ground reading she read about Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of Troy

[Kates]

Honestly, full-on projects can definitely enhance the understanding of a literary work, IF it fits your child's learning style. My son is very hands-on and projects help him to think through and analyze what he's doing.

 

For example, he's reading Island of the Blue Dolphins right now for a Lit Analysis class; yes, it's a fairly easy piece, but the teacher is using it to bring some of the newer kids in the class up to speed on lit devices.

 

For each book that the class reads, the students are required to complete a project of their choice and the 9th graders (it's a 7th-9th grade class) are required to complete an essay as well. For his project, he's researching the social structure of the Chumash Indians and completing an analysis of what their culture was like a) at the beginning of the book, b) after the battle with the Aleuts (when most of the men were killed) and c) when Karana was left alone on the island. He's including information on how she adjusted to having to create a whole new social structure based on the only one she had ever known. As part of it, he's building a full model of the island, putting in little figures completing the different jobs of the tribe, and explaining how they were all part of a whole rather than acting on their own.

 

For some kids, this would be a lot of extra work; for him, it's helping him internalize and better understand what the characters in the book actually went through.

 

For the Iliad...there are a lot of different things you could do. He could research what is known and what is postulated about the Trojan War; he could research the strategies used, both politically and battle-wise, and make whatever sort of presentation best fits his needs; he could contrast the ancient beliefs of the gods/goddesses manipulating human events with whatever your family's religious beliefs are; he could look into the human faults that caused and extended the war (Paris and Helen's infidelity and flight to Troy, Menelaus' pride in refusing to be left, the unity of the Greek rulers to stand behind him, even when they had better things to do like running their own city-states, etc.); an analysis of Achilles' mother trying to beat fate by dipping her son in the Styx, yet leaving him with a fatal flaw; the list goes on.

 

Hope that helps :)

[Farmgirl70]

Thanks for all the ideas and input. (Keep 'em coming everyone!) I may have the ds look over some of them and choose something that appeals to him. We may not hit it too hard as he is working on essays for some other classes right now AND doing a 12 hour a week internship at a local science museum on top of his school work. Your suggestions have all been good fodder for getting us going! I have the Teaching Company lectures on order at the library, too. Interestingly, my son "stumbled" on the Odyssey last year and asked permission to read it for school : ). He loved it and asked if he could read the Iliad. Of course, I complied with his request. Now, he's asking if he can read Beowulf. I just want him to do some processing of the Iliad before he moves on.