The instructions your teacher gave are excellent. Tell her/him that Kevin at EssayForum is impressed by the high quality assignment!! :-)
The reason I like it so much is that s/he is challenging you to get to know the source the way people of that time period knew it. It reminds me of something I read recently about the beginning of the Gospel of John, when he used the word "Word" to refer to Jesus. The reason for this kind of writing is mysterious to me, but I can understand better if I learn about his audience from that time period.
As I keep reading, I see that your teacher gave you a brilliant explanation about the thesis. If you just tell the reader about the story, that is the way kids write book reports. To be a scholar and make meaningful contributions, YOUR ESSAY needs to be meaningful, too. You need your own theme.
Think of this: What if you were writing a report about your favorite kind of music, and you were writing it to convince your friend to listen to this kind of music. You would make a real argument! You would say, "Reggae music has WISDOM because of the way it combines hard and soft elements." Do you agree with that statement? Some people would, and others would not. That is what makes a good thesis statement.
Google this: arguable thesis
YOU WOULD MAKE MY LIFE IF YOU HELPED ME!!!
your enthusiasm is great!!
I really hope you catch the trick of making an arguable thesis. When you do, you will be a real scholar, because you will be participating in the discourse. When kids just describe the book/article, they are not participating in the discussion. YOU need to make an observation and rant about it.
When was the last time you ranted about something at the dinner table. An essay or composition is like that. Make your point, make your observation. Of course, this requires that you really appreciate the material and form an opinion.