Goals

 

Details

 

Description

The Mosaic Retelling Project is designed to engage students with a difficult text to a level that will lead to complex literary analysis, and give the students practice in a skill they will need for the graduation portfolio. Their work on this project must culminate in some sort of literary essay. Some possible writing assignments:

Write an essay that identifies a piece of literature, film, or music that you believe has qualities of an epic. Support your claim with reasons and evidence. In making your argument, refer to the conventions of epic that we have discussed in class.

Write an essay that explains Homer's use of epithets. Why are epithets such a significant feature of The Odyssey? What effect do they have on the reading of the poem? Your essay should include multiple examples of Homeric epithets.

Analyze the relationship between gods and mortals in the world of The Odyssey. Are mortals responsible for their own destinies, or are the fates of humans predetermined by the Gods?

Author Reflections

When MSAT did this project in 2004, the students wrote on these topics in a final exam, because we ran out of time in the school year.