Even Teachers Must Face Their Fears!

I absolutely love The Odyssey by Homer. I love the message that it gives of a person needing to take a journey and go through obstacles in order to find his/her way 'home.' I also love all of the fantasy and adventure that is in The Odyssey. The kid in me still loves adventure and loves to imagine.......

I normally teach The Odyssey to students whom I know will read it, and get it. However, after talking to others teachers, I decided to reluctantly teach The Odyssey to some of my more challenging classes, and boy has it been a very pleasant and rewarding experience.

With the more challenging students, I thought that teaching The Odyssey would be like pulling teeth without medication; I was quite sure that they would resist me and this text completely. However, I had forgotten that one of my gifts is making text accessible to students.

So, I did what I do to make students want to read a text: I presented the background knowledge in 'my love for literature kind of way' that is quite contagious, we discussed and wrote about heroes, we talked about life, and obstacles, and mid-life crisis, and after all of this, they were anxious to read about this man who is considered to be a hero by so many people.

The Odyssey has been completely entertaining and thought-provoking for my classes. The students and I have been able to create those vividly, written scenes in our minds, create cartoon strips to visually display what was in our minds as we read, and complete so many other thought provoking activities that surrounded this text.

Odysseus with the Cyclops!

The questions and ideas that this text has generated have been quite mind blowing as well. We discussed the idea that women seem to be a weakness for Odysseus, and we connected this to real life heroes. We discussed obstacles that people today may face that may lure us off of our paths. We talked about the idea of  being stuck between 'a rock and a hard place,' and how this phrase comes from The Odyssey and on and on and on....

Quite a few of the students told me that The Odyssey is one of their favorite stories that we have read this year. And to think that I was fearful about teaching this story, because I was afraid of the challenge. I guess that I had forgotten that teaching difficult text is my gift.

I would be lying if I stated that teaching The Odyssey has not been challenging, but it has also been rewarding for both the students and me......

Our "Giants" are not so big once we start to tackle them........

Challenge yourself by facing your fears, My People!