Homer's Odyssey WebQuest & Anticipation Guide

Research and explain the historical context surrounding Homer and the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Identify and apply the stages of the hero's journey to a specific narrative example.

Recognise and explain the epic simile and the epithet as literary devices used in epic poetry.

Form and defend a position in writing, using an argumentative response with multiple supporting points.

Have students complete the WebQuest steps in order, since later steps (the epic simile and epithet) build on vocabulary introduced in the earlier historical-context and hero's-journey steps.

Use the anticipation guide's agree/disagree statements as a warm-up discussion before assigning the WebQuest, then revisit them after reading to see whether student opinions shifted.

Confirm the external research, video and article links are still active before assigning the WebQuest, since several steps depend entirely on that outside material to answer the questions.

Historical and biographical research -- students research Homer and the era in which the Odyssey was composed to answer fact-based questions.

Hero's journey analysis -- students learn the stages of the hero's journey and apply them to a worked example before analysing Odysseus.

Literary device identification -- students research and explain the epic simile and the epithet as devices specific to epic poetry.

Argumentative writing -- the wrap-up activity requires an 8-sentence response defending a position with at least three supporting points.