Lesson 14: Epic of Gilgamesh
Name: _Amanda Ross___________________ Date: _9/26/2012
_______Age/Grade Level: __12_
# of Students: __19 # of IEP Students: ___ # of GSSP Students: ____ # of LEP Students:____
Subject: __English__________________ Major Content: _IV_______ Lesson Length: 53 minutes
Unit Title: __Reading and Writing (Con)Texts_
Lesson Number and Title: 12 : Gilgamesh
Context:
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This unit helps students become actively aware of the fact that they are reading a lot.
Students are able to engage texts that are print and non-print materials.
This lesson introduces the use of the word wall and its use to build vocabulary.
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
Students will be able to understand how the history of a culture is represented in the literature of that culture.
Students will be able to effectively take notes that will aid in their understanding of the material.
Students will be able to make connections across cultures.
Connections:
11-12.RL.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly
as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves
matters uncertain.
11-12.RL.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over
the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a
complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
11-12.RL.7 Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production
of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text.
(Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)
11-12.L.1
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when
writing or speaking.
11-12.L.3
Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to
make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or
listening.
11-12.L.4
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based
on grades 11–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
Assessment Plan:
Objective/Assessment Plan Organizer
Objective Number
Objective 1
Type of
Assessment
Summative
Description of
Assessment
Written and
verbal response
Depth of
Knowledge Level
Adaptations
and/or
Accommodations
2
Resources, media, and technology:
1.
Learning-Style Inventory
Ross
Sherman Jr./Sr. High School
2012-2013 School Year
1
Procedure
1
Time
5-10
minutes
Description
First start students with their daily Bell Ringer:
Bell Ringer: “Writing is often used by societies to relay information about themselves to
future societies. If you were to write about our society, what would be some of the
information you would want future societies to know about us?”
2
15-20
minutes
Then, I will discuss the bell ringer.
Next, I will ask students to take out a piece of paper for note-taking. I will present the
following information on The Epic of Gilgamesh:
The Epic of Gilgamesh
A. Written approximately 2700 B.C.
B. Deals with friendship, heroism, mortality, and the desire to control one’s destiny.
a. Contains a flood story
C. Gilgamesh
a. 2 parts god, 1 part human
b. Possibly a Sumerian king over the city Uruk
c. Best friend was Enkidu who dies
d. Experiences his first human emotions: grief, fear of death, dread, and
despair
e. Goes in search of immortalityi
D. Creation
a. Many gods created earth
b. Ishtar created man. He made them out of clay.
c. Man is mortal
E. Flood Story
a. One of the gods told Utnapishtim to use his house to build a large boat.
i. The gods were going to destroy man because of the noise they
made
b. Utnapishtim was instructed to put animals and provisions on the boat
c. It rained for six days and destruction was completed in seven
d. Waters receded by day ten
e. The boat landed on Mt. Nisir
f. Utnapishtim released a dove that came back
i. Released a 2nd bird—swallow
ii. Released a 3rd bird—raven, which did not come back
g. Got off the boat and made a liquid sacrifice to the gods
F. Gilgamesh learns the secrets of the gods.
a. Finds a plant that gives eternal life, but it is taken by a snake ii
b. Wanted to give the plant to the old and ailing
G. Returns home
a. Given clothes that won’t wear outiii
b. Doesn’t find eternal life
c. Quest essentially failed
d. Succeeded in learning of the Flood story
e. The gods didn’t want him to live forever
This is possibly similar to the Fall of man.
This is similar to the Fall of Man story. The tree of Life is off limits because Adam and Eve
were deceived by a snake.
Ross
Sherman Jr./Sr. High School
2012-2013 School Year
2
The gods gave Gilgamesh clothes, similar to the clothes given to Adam and Eve by God.
3
20-23
minutes
Next, I will have students read pp. 181-183 in World Mythology.
Next, students will take notes on the following terms:
Epic: A long narrative poem written in elevated style, in which heroes of great historical or
legendary importance perform valorous deeds. The setting is vast in scope, covering great
nations, the world, or the universe, and the action is important to the history of a nation or
people. The Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid are some great epics from world literature,
and two great epics in English are Beowulf and Paradise Lost.
Next, I will supply the definitions of the following:
Quest Story:
Quest Hero:
Cause and Effect:
Students will read the sections “What is The Epic of Gilgamesh,” “How the Epic Evolved,”
and “How the Epic Survived.” On a separate sheet of paper, students will write down three
important facts from each section (this will be the ticket out the door).
Students will be reading The Epic of Gilgamesh from World Mythology pages 184-187;
198-215.
Next, students will finish reading The Epic of Gilgamesh pp. 184-187; 198-215.
Parts:
Narrator:
Anu:
Mother Goddess:
The Hunter:
The Hunter’s Father:
Ishtar:
Gilgamesh:
Anu:
Enkidu:
The people:
Shamash:
Scorpion-man:
Scorpion-woman:
Siduri:
Urshanabi:
Utanapishtim, the Faraway:
Ea:
Enlil:
Ninurta:
Utanapishtim’s Wife:
Ross
Sherman Jr./Sr. High School
2012-2013 School Year
3
i
This is possibly similar to the Fall of man.
This is similar to the Fall of Man story. The tree of Life is off limits because Adam and Eve were deceived by a snake.
iii
The gods gave Gilgamesh clothes, similar to the clothes given to Adam and Eve by God.
ii
Ross
Sherman Jr./Sr. High School
2012-2013 School Year
4