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A Scene Depicting a Parent/Teacher Conference on

the Importance of Reading m



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Teacher: Hello.
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Parent: Hi, How are you?
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Teacher: I¶m fine. Thank you for coming in to meet with me.
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Parent: I¶m glad you were able to make room in your schedule for me. I have some
concerns pertaining to the epic my child is reading in class, m

.
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Teacher: What are you concerned about?
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Parent: I am worried that the study of the 
is wasting the students¶ precious
class time. It is over 3,000 years old, how can this story still be relevant in today¶s
world?
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Teacher: This piece is considered by many a building block of Western literature and an
archetype for other novels. The Telemachiad, the first four books of m

, is a
bildungsroman. A bildungsroman literally translates to an education novel, but we know
it as a coming-of-age story. The Telemachiad is considered the archetype of coming-of-
age stories. Every other coming-of-age story will be based on the Telemachiad.
Furthermore, we have studied the definition of a piece of classic literature and
concluded that Aristotle¶s Equilateral Triangle is an accurate measurement of a classic.
As a class, we have discussed how m

fits into the triangle, and we have
determined that itis a classic because it fits into the middle of the triangle. Any book that
is a ³classic´ will try to imitate m

by trying to keep the content of their book in
the center of Aristotle¶s Triangle.
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Parent: Can you elaborate on Aristotle¶s Triangle? I am not familiar with this concept.
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Teacher: Of course. Aristotle¶s Triangle was developed by the Greek philosopher
Aristotle. Aristotle developed a mathematical way to represent a classic. It is believed
that a classic should fit right in the center of the triangle, symbolizing an equal
representation between ethics, intellect, and emotion. These categories are all
considered to be a ³must have´ in classic novels. All of these categories are present in
m

ike I said before, m

fits into the exact center of the equilateral
triangle, a rare feat for a book.
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Parent: Oh I see, I am starting to understand your point. My son has mentioned the
heroic cycle to me. What was he talking about? It seems somewhat childish for the
students to still be discussing heroes at their age.
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Teacher: Not at all! The heroic cycle is the model for the journey that all heroes go
through. For example, J. K. Rowling¶s Harry Potter and J. R. R. Tolkien¶s Frodo
Baggins both complete this journey. Every hero in both modern literature or film and
historical literature is based upon the heroic cycle.
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Parent: Are the students actually interested in this curriculum? I know if I were a
student, I would find this curriculum quite dull at times.
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Teacher: Most students seem to be interested in this curriculum. Besides the actual
reading of the Odyssey, students are further immersed into the topic matter by
completing exciting group projects. These projects are creative ways for the students to
demonstrate their understanding of the book. Students can complete these projects
however they would like. There are no restrictions on what they can do. For example,
some students have used online technology such as Prezi, Glogster, and Scribd.
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Parent:That does sound fun! Well, thank you for meeting with me! Now, I have a better
understanding of the importance of studying m

in our school curriculum
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Teacher: You¶re welcome. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me and for
listening to the explanation of our English curriculum!
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Parent: Goodbye!
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Teacher: Bye!m