The Mythology Connection

Mythology is fascinating and students enjoy the research and learning more about different characters. By allowing them to choose some of the activities for the booklet, they take more ownership in learning. They also enjoy dressing up and pretending to become a mythological character. This unit incorporates many goals in a fun and stimulating way.

A lesson plan for grade 8 English Language Arts

By Cindy Bowman

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• Learn more about English language arts.

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Learning outcomes

The objective is for students to gain an understanding about the different cultures that have influenced our society in math, English, history, and science. Students will read several different mythological stories from different cultures and be asked to evaluate these stories to learn how archetypes show up in our culture and throughout the world.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

3.00 Weeks

Materials/resources

• Mythology reference materials in the classroom for students to use. (If this is not possible, plan for a minimum of 5 days in the media center.) Some book references that work well in this unit are:
  
  • D’Aulaires Book of Mythology by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire
  • Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton
  • The Adventures of Hercules by Thomas Conklin
  • The Adventures of King Midas by Lynn Reid Banks
  • Constellation Guide Book by Michael O’Leary
  • Gods and Goddesses of Olympus by Aliki
  • Gods, Heroes and Monsters of Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin
  • Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece by W.H.D. Rouse
  • Constellation Caliba, Figurations of Character by Nadia Lie (Editor)
  • Young Hercules Mission from Zeus by Daniel J. Fingeroth
• Timer to keep track of the time allowed for activities.
• Chart paper or large poster board for introduction activity.
• Books on constellations, star charts.
• Class set of dictionaries.
• Movies (e.g. Clash of Titans)
• Plain white/colored paper to make Venn diagrams, drawings, or typed information for the booklet.
• A supply of colored pencils, crayons, markers, protractors, rulers, and markers.
• Construction paper of different colors (9×12) for covers for booklets.
• IBCO binding machine to bind the completed booklets. (Brass brads could also be used to hold the booklet together. You will need to three-hole punch the booklets to do this.)
• Notecards for students’ oral presentations.

Technology resources

• Classroom computers or computer lab
• Bookmarked websites (If you have a Website for the class, bookmark the sites there.)
• Word processing program
• Video camera to tape students as they make their oral presentations
• One video tape for each class
• Digital art or “paint” program for students to design a cover for their booklet (if they do not want to draw it by hand)
• IBCO Binding machine or three-hole punch

Pre-activities

• Have each student develop a list of mythological characters in their writing journal they have heard about before. For instance, mention Zeus, Hercules, or Zena. Some students will complain that they do not rememeber anyone, but after you mention Zeus, Hecules, or Zena they begin to recall.
• After students discuss with the class who is on their list, break students into groups. Here are two suggestions:
  
  • You might use the counting method 1-5; all ones in one group, etc.
  • Have students line up according to their birthdays and then see how many you have for different months. Choose one student from each month, or all students from the same month.
• Have each group to decide who will be the speaker, writer, time-keeper (keeps the group on task), artist (decorates the chart), and supply person (gets supplies needed).
• Have the person in charge of supplies get a large piece of poster board, or chart paper, markers, and ruler.
• The writer will fold the paper in thirds any way they choose. One section is labeled Character’s Name, another section is the list of Heroic Qualities, the final section is for stating Origin of Myth. For example: Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, Chinese, etc.
• Each group should list a minimum of 5 characters to a maximum of 9 mythological characters.
• Have each group present their findings and post their information on a wall to look at during the mythology unit. Explain to them that as they read about these characters or find out new information, they will put the new information or corrected information on the chart.
• Give them 10 minutes to start and then add minutes as needed. Too much time could cause the class to get out of control. They think you are giving them something when they get extra time. (Use a timer to keep students on the task.)
• Day One homework (see attachment)

Activities

Day 1

1. Introduction activity (see Pre-Activities)
2. Group work on posters

Day 2

1. Journal Prompt (see attachment)
2. Handout (see attachment) Teacher should read over the handout for the mythology booklet with students. Set a due date based upon the timeframe you need. I usually give them 2½ to 3 weeks to complete.
3. Answer questions about the project. Classroom supplies should be placed on the table for student use.
4. Show students where the supplies are located. Give them specific rules on how to handle materials. Do this before beginning any of the activities. Have one student in charge of counting and collecting books or special supplies you have placed out for their use.
5. I offer some students the use of computers in my room to do research on mythology and I usually give them a fifteen minute time limit. (I use an oven timer for this purpose; when the students hear the bell, other students know it is their time to have access to the computers.) I always search the Internet beforehand and bookmark several sites to help speed up the searching process. Also, it stops unwanted searching results.
6. Select another group of students to get resource materials from the table. (These could be checked out from the media center before beginning the unit).
7. Stop approximately 8 minutes before the end of the class period to collect supplies; review what they learned so far today.

Days 3 - 8

1. Plan on using the computer lab 3 days and the media center approximately 3 days. Use more time if needed; only you know your students.
2. Before going to the media or computer lab, give students the handout for their oral presentation (attached) and read the directions. (My suggestion would be to make a sign-up sheet that states no one may choose the same character; in this way when students present to the class, the class is seeing information about different characters and there is no repetition.)
3. Give students a copy of the rubric on how they will be graded for there presentation. Discuss this with them and answer any questions they may have.
4. Set a date for presentations; it usually takes about 4-5 days for students to complete the presentations.

Days 9 - 14

1. You will need one video tape for each class. You will need a video camera and tripod; students/parent/teacher can do the video taping (If you feel comfortable, I would allow a student to tape their classmates. Otherwise, you will be behind the camera and not able to watch what the class is doing. You could also ask a parent volunteer to tape the students as they present.)
2. Students make their presentations to the class. I give them a specific limit and use a timer to help them stay on time. (no longer than 8 minutes)
3. After the last person has presented, show the tape; only about 3 minutes of each presentation. Have the students judge each presentation on a sheet of paper using the following guidelines: happy face, sad face, or question mark face.
4. Their papers should have four sections. Each student should fold paper in half and then in half again. This will give four sections. The heading for each:
   
   • interesting facts/prepared for presentation
   • looking at audience
   • dressed up
   • articulation (whether the students could be heard clearly)
5. The students place a smiley face, sad face, or question mark face in each section. Have students make a graphic chart showing how the class did as a whole. They could make a bar graph or circle graph (integrating math into this lesson).
6. Place graphs on bulletin board so students may see how their class compared to other classes you teach; discuss how things might have been better. What could individuals have done to improve their speech? What was the best about the class? This is a teachable moment. It is amazing how well they do the next time they have an oral presentation; this activity helps them remember the good and the not so good events of the last time.

Assessment

Use the rubric (attached) for the oral presentation and for the mythology booklet.
Also, I give a daily grade to help my students stay on task. If I speak to them once, it is five points off of 100 points, twice is 15 points, and third time is 25 points and a phone call home discussing their behavior.

Supplemental information

none

Related websites

http://home4.inet.tele.dk/svava/valkyrie.htm

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/mythlinks.html

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze33gpz/myth.html

http://www.mythweb.com/

http://www.desy.de/gna/interpedia/greek_myth/godsFT.html

http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~cherryne/mythology.html

http://sunnyway.com/runes/

http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/index.htm

http://users.bigpond.com/kirwilli/mythology/mythology.htm

http://www.artsmia.org/world-myths/

Comments

I follow this activity with the folklore unit in our language arts book. Students realize that all cultures (even American) have mythological characters and tales that are enjoyed and read by generation after generation. This is a fun and exciting unit, and if you try it I think that you and your students will enjoy learning more about mythology.