1. Personal Odyssey Narrative Introduction (paragraph - 5 pts.)  topic sentence intros. life experience as an odyssey with a goal  identify Odysseus (epic hero of Homer's Odyssey ) and his goal to reach home  identify your goal, noting the basic parallel to Odysseus's  mention the topics of the body paragraphs but not the supporting details.

2. Body  Hindrances = noun ; hinders = verb – (10 pts.) Include people, situations, temptations, obstacles  Helps (10 pts.) Include mentors and favorable situations  Personal traits (10 pts.) Include positive traits that aid you as well as shortcomings which hamper your progress  Allusions to The Odyssey (10 pts.) Include at least 3

3. Conclusion (paragraph – 5 pts.)  No new info/examples  Wrap it up/tie it all together  Reflection on experience (journey v. goal)

4. Avoid grammar pitfalls like/as - both introduce comparisons: like = preposition: Like Odysseus, I will face obstacles. as = transition: As Odysseus faces temptation from the Sirens, I face the temptation of too much texting.

5. Grammar pitfalls verb tense - historical present "Odysseus has a hard time convincing his crew to go on." punctuation – possessive  Rule breakers due to pronunciation Odysseus 's or Odysseu s’ Cyclop s’ (singular) or Cyclope s’ (plural)  Plurals not ending in s crew 's men 's  Plurals ending in s Siren s’