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Welcome to the Odyssey Institute Website for
Year 1 and Year 2 of DP Language & Literature!
Below, you will find weekly updates, links, and assignment deadlines to help with your planning and organization of your valuable time. The Summer Assessment & Reading List for incoming Year 2 scholars is on the class resources tab above. ALL ASSESSMENT RUBRICS MAY BE FOUND ON THE ASSESSMENTS TAB. Please feel free to pull them up whenever you need. CLICK HERE to access the course syllabus.
If you need a helpful reminder for how to cite your sources on papers and assessments, click here: MLA Citation Guides for ALL written papers. A great resource for free assessment tips is the IB English Guys. Click on the Link to search out guidance and tips as you prepare for your assessments!
For Blog reading and response, always type out your response in a Word or TextEdit document and cut and paste it into the blog. That way, if anything goes wrong, you have not lost your complete, thoughtful response. Here is the quick link to the blog, Literally Speaking.
All HL essays will be drafted and completed in class to ensure authenticity. Once these essays are completed and checked, scholars will have one day in class to type the HL Essays in Google Docs.
You will receive a weekly email from me every Friday -- it will come through your school email, so make CERTAIN you are regularly checking/monitoring your email!!
Here is a link for scholars to review for Standard Response Protocol (Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate).
Enjoy studying or background music? Here are some of Mrs. Caraway's current favorite background study music links on YouTube: Soft Fall Jazz or Warm Rainy Autumn Coffee For my Cyrano seniors, here is some lovely French vibes. ENJOY!!
And now, here is our weekly class-by-class update for more effective planning...
YEAR 1- Juniors, Class of 2028
Monday, September 21: Scholars will be introduced to our next unit of study: A Girl, the Veil, and a Revolution. We will be given the summative HL essay form in order to read with purpose. Before diving into the novel, we will consider our prior knowledge of graphic novels and comics. We will watch a short informational video about the genre and its significance. Afterward, our new groups will discuss previous encounters with graphic novels. What have you enjoyed about them and why? What do you still want to learn about them? We will explore the conventions of graphic novels and consider what we need to know as we prepare to analyze Persepolis.
Tuesday, September 22: Today, scholars will explore the physical and cultural context of Iran. We will take notes of key moments that have complicated the tense relationships between Iran and the West. Each group will be assigned a contextual topic for research and to prepare a short presentation to teach the rest of us. There will be seven assigned groups/partnerships. Presentations will be on Thursday and should be no more than five minutes.
Wednesday, September 23: Today scholars will work on preparing their presentations.
Thursday, September 24: Scholars will present their lessons on context for Persepolis.
Monday, September 28: Today, scholars will finish up any group context presentations. Scholars will take notes on author Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis. We will watch a video that summarizes important contextual considerations of Satrapi's novel.
Tuesday, September 29: Today, scholars will look at a collection of photographs taken during the Iranian Revolution by David Burnett. We will watch an IB English Guys video about the process of analyzing photographs. Then, we will move through a gallery of 12 photos with captions. Scholars will take notes on what they see. In groups, scholars will select one of the photos from the collection and begin completing a visual text analysis for the photograph. We will finish and share tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 30: Today, scholars will finish their photograph analysis in class. Begin reading the Free Press article entitled "The Wrong Lessons from Iran's Past." Take notes in your notebooks on the message of the article as well as the structure and style.
Thursday, October 1: Scholars will walk through the expectations of the summative assessment (the HL Essay). Then, we will begin reading the first chapter of Perspolis together. We will review the reading homework and discussion expectations.
Important Links:
Deconstructing Visual Texts (Persepolis)
David Burnett Photo Collection
Persepolis Graphic Novel Reading/Notebook Guide
Important Due Dates
"Good" literary analysis prompt/thesis and basic outline (Monday, September 14)
"Good" literary analysis completed first draft (Thursday, September 17)
Be sure to get your Persepolis text! (Monday, September 21)
NOTEBOOK CHECKS: Monday, 9/22 - Thursday, 9/24 (Intro Unit)
"Good" literary analysis completed final draft/typed with cover page (Tuesday, September 22 by 4 pm)
David Burnett Photo Analysis Form in Groups (Wednesday, September 30)
Read The Free Press article "The Wrong Lessons from Iran's Past" and take notes in your notebooks. (Thursday, October 1)
Read Persepolis chapters "The Bicycle" & "The Water Cell." Take notes as directed in class (Monday, October 5).
YEAR 2- Seniors, Class of 2027
Monday, September 21: Today, we will reflect on Act IV, the climax, in a scholar-led reading discussion. We will share and upload our conflict forms. We will take inventory of the character relationships at this point. What messages is Rostand conveying about love? As we consider Cyrano and his worldview, we will examine three IB profile traits exhibited clearly in his character, and offer considerations of others, as well.
Tuesday, September 22: Today, scholars will watch Act IV and share profile insights on Cyrano. We will take some notes on De Guiche and his interesting character development journey. Scholars will meet in their Act groups to plan their performances.
Wednesday, September 23: We will watch Act V and mill through Cyrano's final monologue. Scholars will meet in their Act groups to plan their performances.
Thursday, September 24: Today, we will perform our scenes capturing 7-10 pages from our Act (it can be a montage, or continuous).
Monday, September 28: Today, we will be watching a reimagined version of Cyrano directed by Joe Wright. We will look at how the play was changed with consideration of the new audience.
Tuesday, September 29: Today, scholars will finish the film of Cyrano.
Wednesday, September 30: We will begin reading our essays from the NY Times Modern Love series as non-literary text pairings. We will read together "When Cupid is a Prying Journalist," and then watch the short film version. Scholars may use the short film or article for IO.
Thursday, October 1: Today, we will work together filling out the IO outline for "Cupid." Then, scholars will begin reading through the other essays.
Important Links
Recommended Reading List for Summer Assignment
Electronic Copy of Summer Assignment
Taming of the Shrew Non-Literary Texts
Pride & Prejudice Non-Literary Texts
Cyrano HL Essay Idea Starter and Outline
Important Due Dates
Finish reading and annotating Act III (Monday, September 14)
Monologue mark-up and QPA (Monday, September 14)
Act III drawing (Wednesday, September 16)
Read and annotate Act IV up to page 166 (Wednesday, September 16)
Irony Forms (Wednesday, September 16)
Read and annotate Act IV to page 183 (Thursday, September 17)
Finish Act IV and drawing/Are We Conflicted? forms (Monday, September 21)
Read Act V up to "Tell me now the court news!" (Tuesday, September 22)
Finish reading Act V/Cyrano's World View Chart (Wednesday, September 23)
Act V Drawing/ Act Performances (Thursday, September 24)
Looking Ahead...
Cyrano HL Essay Completed Outline (Monday, October 19)
Cyrano Notebook Checks Monday, 10/19-Thursday, 10/22
HL Essay Selection Revised to Mrs. Caraway (Monday, February 1, 2027)
Kristin Caraway
Contact Information
Email: kcaraway@topamail.com
Required Course Materials
1. A one subject spiral notebook or composition book
2. A 1-inch binder (which will be stored in class/provided by IB Program)
3. Writing & annotating materials: highlighters, pencils, black ball-point or gel pens
4. Required novels-Hard copies ONLY! No pdfs. (non-literary texts will be provided by Mrs. Caraway)
Literature Materials for Year 2 (Seniors)
Click on the book images below to access Amazon links
1. A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini: $10 in class price (We will read this last)
2. Purple Hibsicus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: $11 in class price (This is our second novel)
3. Cyrano de'Bergerac by Edmond Rostand: $6 in class price (make sure you procure the Brian Hooker translation--We will read this first)
Literature Materials for Year 1 (Juniors)
1. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen: $7 in class price (We will read this last)
2. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi: $12.50 in class price (We will read this first)
3. Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: $7 in class price (We will read this second)
I hope that this introduction answers at least some of your questions about the course. Please don't hesitate to contact me via email with any further questions. During the school year work week, I will get back to you within 24 hours at the most.
On the above tab entitled "Class Resources," I will attach important course handouts for your convenience. At present, I have attached your recommended reading list and summer assignments. I also have the syllabus, QPA Guide, and Critical Reading checklist. In addition to giving you choices of reading material for your summer assignments, the Recommended Reading List highlights books that are highly regarded and influential works in the world of literature that would be good reading for those who plan on majoring in English, Literature or Communications in the university setting.
Resources will also be readily available here by link if they are not provided as hard copies. Papers and assessments may be uploaded to Managebac for turn in after final edits are completed.
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