Ian Waples

History Unit Plan

Young Adult Lit

December 8, 2004

Ancient Greek Unit Plan

This unit will focus on Ancient Greece�s daily life and literature. It is designed for high school students in a world history or English class. The material would be suited for sophomores and up or freshman honors classes. The unit could be used in world history or English courses and last between 2-3 weeks.

This unit on Ancient Greece will not focus on dates and text reading but will focus on the daily life of the ancient Greeks, the literature, and mythology. It is more important for the students to end the unit with an image of how the Greeks once lived and the meaning of their literature rather than a memorized list of dates and rulers. The unit will combine original texts, young adult literature, visual aids, and lectures to give a rounded sense of the lifestyle of the Greeks and their contribution to modern day culture.

A daily class period of about 50 minutes would be divided in several activities so as not to become monotonous. The first 5 minutes the students would take the 5-point quiz over the unit novel. The quiz would be reviewed in class and a discussion of the novel would continue for the next 10-15 minutes. A lecture would be given that tied into the novel for 15-20 minutes and the rest of the time could be used for class reading and/or presentations.

The young adult novel Goddess of Yesterday by Caroline B. Cooney, will be my base source and set the pace of the lessons for the unit. Because the book moves in chorological sequence through the beginning of the Trojan War, other more complex texts such as the Iliad can be taught on top. As the students progress through the book, they will be introduced to new characters and elements of Ancient Greek culture. Each chapter of the book can inspire a lesson for that day. For example, chapters from Goddess of Yesterday involving hunting, trading, or the worship of the gods would supply an introduction for lectures and projects on those subjects.

Goddess of Yesterday is historical fiction and follows the beginning of the Trojan War. The story is a narration told by a 6-year-old girl named Anaxandra. Although the quick switches from her narration to 3^rd person weaken the literary value of this book, Goddess of Yesterday makes up for this with a strong, adventurous plot.

The protagonist, Anaxandra, believably meets the key players of the Trojan War and follows them through the conflict that starts the war. The story begins when she is taken hostage by a king named Nicander who takes her back to his island in the Aegean Sea. He discovers that she has no value as a hostage and keeps her as a playmate for his crippled daughter Callisto. She spends about 6 years on the island in the women�s quarters of the palace until pirates raid, burn, and kill everyone on the island but her. Luckily, King Menelaus and his fleet see the plum of smoke and come to the aid of the island only. Menelaus discovers Anaxandra crying over the king�s fresh grave that she dug. In order to avoid being sold as a slave or taken advantage of by the sailors, she steals the identity of princess Callisto and travels to Sparta under the disguise of a princess. King Menelaus takes her to his palace where she meets Helen and their children.

Having spent so much time with Callisto in the court of Nicander, Anaxandra plays the part of Callisto well. However, Helen doubts Anaxandra�s claimed lineage and takes a disliking to her while she stays in the court of King Menelaus. Soon Paris, his cousin Aeneas, and troops from Troy arrive on a mission in Greece. As guests in the house of Menelaus, Paris catches Helen�s attention and they fall in love. A false message is sent to King Menelaus that his grandfather has died, and while the king is away. Helen takes her servants, belongings, and King Menelaus�s treasure, and children.

Anaxandra fakes identity once again, but this time to trade places with Menelaus�s daughter Hermione in order to save Hermione the pain of leaving her homeland. As Trojan soldiers come to take Hermione away they do not realize the deception. Since Helen is preoccupied with Paris, it is not until Troy that Helen realizes the switch. Helen spares Anaxandra�s life in order to appear compassionate and lets Anaxandra reside in Troy. Here, Anaxandra encounters King Priam, Cassandra, and the heroes of Troy. The Greeks arrive, fighting begins, and one night in the middle of turmoil, Anaxandra is able to sneak Menelaus�s son out to the Greek ships where he is reunited with Menelaus.

Goddess of Yesteryear follows all the rules of a good historical novel. The time and place are essential to the story, which could not take place in modern day. The people, places and social roles are represented authentically. The personalities of the Greek and Trojan characters make mythology come alive. The only weakness lies within the narration of the protagonist being that it jumps and does not keep maintain her voice. This prevents Anaxandra�s emotions and character to ever be fully developed.

The greatest strength of this book is the introduction of the characters and gods of the Trojan War. Since original texts such as The Iliad and The Odyssey do not give background information, Goddess of Yesterday can provide background to help students fully understand The Iliad and other works. Goddess of Yesterday clearly explains the relationship between King Menelaus, Helen, Paris, King Priam, Hesione, Cassandra, Agamemnon, and Hector. Being that each chapter of the book only introduces one or two new characters, the characters are distinguished. The book also explains the history that supposedly leads up to the Trojan War as well as well as giving other background such as why Priam had 62 children or why Apollo sided with the Trojans.

The students would begin reading on Chapter 4. Although there is interesting cultural information in the first three chapters, it is mostly about Anaxandra and does not include important characters of the Trojan War. There would be a daily 5-question quiz over the assigned reading that would average about a chapter (18 pages) a day. At this pace the book and unit would last 2 weeks. The questions would focus on cultural and social roles of the people and relationships between main characters with each other and the gods and not on the actions of Anaxandra. This would help students read quicker if they knew what portions could be skimmed.

Sections of Homer�s Iliad would be taught during class. The students would take turns reading sections of the text while the teacher clarifies the events and how Goddess of Yesterday fits with varies sections of the Iliad. Since the entire Iliad is too long to be read in-class, the unit will cover Book VI-VIII and XIII of the Iliad translated by W.H.D. Rouse. These sections have some of the most interactions with characters and fighting.

Lectures can be taken from the books Life in Ancient Greece and Life in Ancient Athens by Don Nardo. These books are Juvenal non-fiction and present ancient daily life clearly. The books are arranged by subjects such as slaves, marriage, entertainment and other topics that coincide with the subjects explored in Goddess of Yesterday.

Everyday Things in Ancient Greece by Marjorie and C.H.B Quennell covers even more detailed and specific topics such as styles of pottery and iron smelting. Any topics that aren�t expanded enough in the Juvenal books could probably be found in this 256-page non-fiction.

Since Sparta is a major location in Goddess of Yesterday and the Iliad, lecture time should be devoted to Sparta alone. It is important that the teacher explain that not all of Greece shared the same culture and that Sparta and other city-states were much different. Describing the military practices of the Spartans and the way they trained their youths would not only create interesting lectures, but also demonstrate its uniqueness. The books Spartan Twilight by Lina J. Piper and Early Sparta by Huxley both cover Sparta during the Hellenistic period. The book Sparta by A.H.M. Jones, LL.D. and, D.D., describe the �famous discipline� of the Spartans and how they breed fierce warriors.

To compare how the Spartan lifestyle differed from the rest of Greece, some lecture time should be devoted to Athenian culture. A Day in Old Athens, by William Stearns Davis, is a very approachable guide for lectures. Again, it details everyday subjects such as funerals, trade, and the armed forces. A more complete chronological guide is given in Athens, Its Rise and Fall, by Edward Lytton Bulwer, ESQ., M.P. A.M. The Athenian Nation by Edward E. Cohen and Athens in Decline 404-86 B.C. by Claude Moss� are more resources to be used to create lectures over Athens. The non-fiction book Athens and Sparta by Anton Powell, would be a good resource to create a lecture that details where Athens and Sparta differed the most.

In order to make lectures come alive, visual aids must be used. The children�s book How Would You Survive as an Ancient Greek? By David Salariya provides colorful pictures to compliment many topics. Diagrams and pictures that compliment a particular lecture could be made into color transparencies for visual aids.

To add to the visual aids, students would be asked to prepare visual aids on Ancient Greek life in the form of transparencies, posters, models or other creative forms. The student would prepare a 3-5 minute presentation on their project. About three or four students could present a day depending on class size.

At the end of the unit there would be a test involving multiple choice, true and false and a short essay. Although the test will be comprehensive and cover all the material for the unit, the test will be designed to simply test whether the student paid attention and retained the information given during class. There would not be complicated questions and the essays will require just basic information.

Work Cited

Bulwer, Edward Lytton, ESQ., M.P., A.M. Athens Its Rise and Fall London: Saunders and Otley. 1937

Cohen, Edward E. The Athenian Nation New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 2000

Davis, William Stearns A Day in Old Athens Norwood: Berwick & Smith Co. 1914

Homer. Iliad trans. Rouse W.H.D. New York: New American Library. 1966

Horton, Casey Ancient Greeks New York: Gloucester Press. 1984

Huxley, G.L. Early Sparta Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1962

Jones A. H. M., LL.D., D.D. Sparta Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1967

Marjorie and C.H.B. Quennell. Ancient Greece New York: G.P. Putnam�s Sons 1954

Moss� Claude. Athens in Decline 404-86 B.C. London, Boston: Routlede & Kegan Paul

Ltd 1973

Nardo, Don Life in Ancient Greece San Diego: Lucent Books. 1996

Nardo, Don Life in Ancient Athens San Diego: Lucent Books. 2000

Piper, Linda J. Spartan Twilight New Rochelle: Aristide D. Caratzas Publisher. 1986

Powell, Anton Athens and Sparta London: Routledge 1988

Salariya, David How Would You Survive as an Ancient Greek? Danbury: Sherman Turnpike. 1995