The Poseidon Mural © 2007 Matthew Willey
Homer’s Odyssey is the story of Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca following the Trojan War. It is also the nearly 3,000-year old timeless epic on what it means to be human, to struggle, and to persevere. Unparalleled in terms of its influence, Homer’s Odyssey is among the greatest adventure stories ever told.
The Odyssey is also one of the most often-taught books. Verifying that it provides the appropriate level of text-complexity for today’s high school students, Homer’s Odyssey has been identified by literacy experts as a text exemplar for the ninth and tenth grades (ELA, Stories category).
The Tell me ODYSSEUS Teaching Program for Homer’s Odyssey is a comprehensive and flexible program to engage youth in reading, and building reading comprehension skills. Tell me ODYSSEUS Educational Games are an ideal companion to the Tell me ODYSSEUS Teaching Program.
TEACHING HOMER’S ODYSSEY with Tell me ODYSSEUS
• Engaging • Accessible • Flexible • Fun •
“I am excited about teaching the Odyssey again! Tell me ODYSSEUS helped me look at aspects of the epic that I hadn’t considered before. Provides the story to students in an engaging way. It makes it FUN! A great way to have students connect to the literature.”
AN ORIGINAL AND ENGAGING APPROACH FOR BUILDING READING COMPRESENSION
TELL ME ODYSSEUS presents the 24 Books of Homer’s Odyssey in 30 Stories, with a lesson plan for each story. Each lesson plan contains a 150-word story summary, story-relevant details, text-dependent assessment materials (from quick descriptive questions to in-depth, essay-style questions), and thought-provoking Journey Journal questions to help students connect the story to their own lives. The 30 Stories of Homer’s Odyssey is a guiding organizational framework throughout the program.
TOOLS AND RESOURCES
Useful tables and charts, timelines, pronunciations and definitions for the 60 most important names in the Odyssey, the Odysseus at Sea Mediterranean Journey Map, and a Ship Count Crew Count.
ONE STORY | MANY OPTIONS
Tell me ODYSSEUS provides options for teachers to pace their Odyssey Unit according to students' individual needs and interests. For teachers without enough class time to teach the entire Odyssey, the program’s flexibility makes it very easy to select and teach individual stories.
TESTIMONIALS
Educators who have used Tell me ODYSSEUS verify the program’s appeal and benefits. Read the Testimonials (close tab when done to remain on this website)
Inside Tell me ODYSSEUS
“This is not your mainstream curriculum. We normally do not purchase curriculum—but this was different. A reference resource that helped me fill in details and deepen my understanding.”
Tell me ODYSSEUS Table of Contents
ODYSSEUS at SEA: A Mediterranean Journey Map
Stories Leading Up To The Trojan War
LESSON PLAN for Story 1 (of 30): The Cicones
Tell me ODYSSEUS Educational Games
The Memory Game
The Definitions Game
The Storytelling Game
Classic Characters, Monsters and Magic, Immortals and Prophets – and all the epic details needed to tell the story of Homer’s Odyssey!
The most important names in Homer’s Odyssey, including familiar names like ZEUS, ATHENA, ODYSSEUS, the CYCLOPS, as well as the less familiar (but very epic) TIRESIAS the famous blind prophet from Thebes; CIRCE the witch goddess who turns men into pigs; SCYLLA the dangerous cave-dwelling man-eating monster, and the band of rock-hurling giants known as the LAESTRYGONIANS.
Tell me ODYSSEUS Educational Card Games help students build vocabulary, reading comprehension, and collaborative storytelling skills. Each game contains 120 standard-size playing cards, with easy-to-follow instructions.
All three educational games are great companions to the Tell me ODYSSEUS Teaching Program!
Keep scrolling to read the unique features of each game.
The Odyssey Memory Game
The classic, concentration game that makes learning Homer’s Odyssey FUN!
60 of the most important names in Homer’s Odyssey, with names, pronunciations, and definitions printed on each card.
Shuffle the deck, place the cards facedown in rows. Each player takes turns flipping two cards face-up. Match the pair, read the definition, and take another turn. The player with the most pairs matched, wins the game! Beginners can start with few names. Experts can set up all 60 names. For more fun, play in teams!
The Memory Game is a great way to engage students in Homer’s Odyssey – they’ll recognize familiar names and they’ll learn new names.
20 Classic Characters! 20 Immortals & Prophets! 20 Monsters and Magic!
60 pairs = 120 standard-size cards.
The Odyssey Definitions Game
Classic flash cards for building knowledge of the most important names in Homer’s Odyssey.
The same 60 most important names in Homer’s Odyssey as in the Memory Game. One set of 60 cards contains the name and pronunciation on one side – flip side contains the definition. The other set of 60 contains the definition – flip side contains the name and pronunciation. The Definitions Game is ideal for individual study and can also be played in pairs and teams.
20 Classic Characters! 20 Immortals & Prophets! 20 Monsters and Magic!
60 pairs = 120 standard-size cards.
The Odyssey Storytelling Game
Transform your classroom into an epic room with one of the best teaching tools for Homer’s Odyssey!
Features Homer’s Odyssey as 30 dramatic stories on 30 cards with three storytelling roles – Storyteller, Muses, and Immortals. Retell Homer’s Odyssey beginning with the first days after the Trojan War and continue to the slaughter of the 108 Suitors ten years later, and Odysseus’ reunion with his loyal wife Penelope and his son Telemachus.
Great opportunity for the entire class to deepen comprehension of Homer’s Odyssey, while developing interactive role-playing and collaborative storytelling skills.
30 Storyteller cards (containing character names for each story) + 30 Divine Assistance cards (30 150-word story summaries) + 60 Invoke the Muse cards(the most important names, with pronunciations and definitions) = 120 standard-size cards.
Tell me ODYSSEUS Instructional Videos
Rob Scotlan, Odyssey Teacher
About Rob Scotlan
In 2008, during Rob’s fourth year of teaching English, he wrote, recorded, and produced a rap album about grammar. The album included songs about nouns, participles, and infinitives. While it was an amateur effort at best, the music served its purpose, which was to engage his students and promote learning. In 2001, with the help of one of his students, Rob recorded his second album – this time about Greek Mythology, including a song about the Greek hero, Odysseus. In 2014, Rob released a Mix Tape on SoundCloud about numerous literary topics. He continues to create music and music videos to engage his students and inspire their learning.
In 2014, Joy Marie Sever (Tell me ODYSSEUS author) found Rob’s YouTube video showing his 9th grade class bringing his song, Odysseus, to life in a series of illustrations created by his students. She contacted him to talk about her latest project RAP Odyssey, a literacy-based program that combines Homer’s Odyssey and Hip-Hop. Since then, Joy and Rob have been working together, incorporating Rob’s teaching skills, expertise in literary techniques, and his vast knowledge of Hip-Hop.
Rob has been teaching Homer’s Odyssey since 2011. In 2015, he began using Tell me ODYSSEUS.
Rob is the Middle School Assistant Director and an English teacher at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, WA. He has an MA in Teaching from the University of Puget Sound.
CONTACT
Joy Marie Sever Ph.D.
Author, Tell me ODYSSEUS
Temple of Athena, Delphi, Greece
About Tell me ODYSSEUS Author Joy Marie Sever
Joy read Homer’s Odyssey for the first time in September 2001 during evening classes at The New School in New York City. In the years to follow, she would travel to ancient temples in Greece, to the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC, and to classics-themed theatre performances, dramatic readings, and exhibits.
In 2005, Joy co-founded TellmeOmuse with artist and muralist Matthew Willey. She started visiting classrooms where the Odyssey was being taught and observed students of all ages asking thoughtful questions, expressing strong opinions, and enthusiastically debating Odysseus' decisions on his journey. The students were engaged in the reading and the discussions. These were timely observations. In 2007 the New York Times reported students’ difficulty with reading comprehension.
In 2010, Joy self-published Tell me ODYSSEUS. In 2014, she created RAP Odyssey, a program based on Homer’s Odyssey, Hip-Hop history and culture, and current events of urban importance.
Joy has a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Toronto. She lives in Manhattan.