Hello Students:

I hope you enjoyed the cold, but sunny weekend. I am trying to get back in shape a bit, and my youngest son is now able to ride a bike, so we went on two family jogs in Lincoln Park. The little one rode his bike and the rest of us jogged. I also finished reading a book called The Great Unexpected. It is a book for young readers. I'm reading books like that, because I am writing a novel for young readers. I don't have time to write now, but reading helps me with new ideas.

We'll begin this week with a guest speaker. who will speak about Judaism. He is a rabbi, a teacher in the Jewish faith. Please plan to go to Raymond this morning.

The rest of the week, we will complete our reading of Gilgamesh and begin formal academic essays. Please read and annotate the full epic as soon as possible. Remember to be looking for evidence to show that Gilgamesh is an anti-hero or a hero. Does he complete the hero cycle? In other words, does he learn from his journey and change in the end? If so, how?

Please review the questions below:

Where is Mesopotamia and what are some features of each element of society in the ancient societies of that region.
What are the features of Epic Poetry and what was its purpose?
What is a law code? What is significant about writing laws?
What is a primary source?
Who was Hammurabi and what does his code teach us about ancient Mesopotamia?

Be sure to be able to answer each one. We will have a quiz on these questions this week. ASK if you are not clear about them.

I am posting reading guides for the final books of Gilgamesh. Remember that I will review your annotation and any written reading guides as part of your final reading grade on Gilgamesh.

See you in class this week!

Heather