Mythology

//Mythology// by Edith Hamilton [[image:http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Zeus--greek-mythology-687267_1024_768.jpg width="298" height="249" align="right" caption="Zeus"]]
On this wiki page you can find different types lesson plans, activities, and projects to use during pre-reading, duing reading, post-reading, references, and even further reading for your classroom all on the subject of Greek Mythology that is found in the book //Mythology// by Edith Hamilton. //Note: Greek Mythology is usually taught in grades 7-9.//
 * A Focus on Greek Mythology **

[|Introduction of the Greek Gods] This link is linked to a pre-reading lesson plan. The objective of this lesson plan is to have students accurately name the Greek gods and the gods' relationships to each other. This lesson plan allows students to understand more about the Greek gods and how they are all related to one another. This will be helpful because as students progress into stories, they will be able to understand who the different gods are in the different stories.
 * __Pre-Reading __**

[|Greek Mythology and the World Today] (Sorry about the strange format, I have no idea why it is not working properly.) This link is linked to a pre-reading lesson plan. The whole idea of this lesson plan is to have students see how Greek Mythology plays an active role in the world today. It gets the students not only thinking about the subject, but it also enables students to see how learning about Greek Mythology is relevant to them and their everyday lives.

__ Anticipation Guide __ These are some anticipation guide questions that I came up with for //Mythology// by Edith Hamilton: 1. "By death, oh, by death, shall the conflict of life be decided. Life's little day ended." State what this quote means to you. 2. Greek Mythology has an influence on our culture today. 3. Aphrodite is better fitted to be called the goddess of sexual passion than the goddess of love. 4. Accepting a gift from an enemy is an act of peace. 5. "You die, O thrice desired, And my desie has flown like a dream. Gone with you is the girdle of my beauty, But I myself must live who I am a goddess And may not follow you." After reading this portion of a poem, think about how you view immortality.

 [|Greek Mythology PowerPoint] This is a PowerPoint you can show to middle school students. After reviewing this PowerPoint, I would not suggest using it for grades higher than 8th grade. Even though this PowerPoint is not for higher level grades, it still sets up a good template of what should be in a Greek Mythology PowerPoint.
 * __During Reading__**

[|Edith Hamilton's Mythology Study Guide] This study guide has a fill-in-the-black chart for all the gods and goddesses discussed in Chapters 1 and 2. The chart can be used as a helpful reference for students to go back on when they are confused about which god is which. (The chart is part of a comprehension tool that we learned in Carol Jago's text //Classics in the Classroom).// The rest of the study guide goes over key topics/points in the rest of the chapters that students needs to know to better understand the text.

[|Mythology Ch 1 Worksheet] This is a worksheet that you can download for free (you just need to sign up to be a member on the webite, which is also free). It goes over all the important information that students need in Ch1 of //Mythology.// The worksheet ensures that students understand the creation of the Greek world and different gods and goddesses and their role in Greek Mythology.

[|Greek Mythology Wiki] Use a wiki to have student's post their finding about gods, goddesses, and different stories. First create a new wiki for each classroom you will be teaching Greek Mythology in. Assign each student from each classroom a god, goddess, or character from Greek Mythology. The students can communcate their findings for their given subject on their wiki page. Be sure that students use credible sources and photos to enhance their wiki page. (The link above linked to Wiki.com and it is in the 'What is a Wiki?' section. I put the link there because educators who do not know about wiki can learn a little bit more about wiki and how to create one for the classroom.)

[|Greek Mythology Blog] The link I have posted is English classroom blog who posted different postings about stories and characters from Greek Mythology. Using this as an example, I wanted to create a more interactive blog for the students. Much like the wiki project above, each student will be assigned a different god, goddess, or character from Greek Mythology. The students will then create a blog of their own and assume the role of the character the were given. The student will write a total of 5 different blog entries talking from their character's perspective about 5 different topics the teacher will give the students. Students, still portraying their character, will also be required to comment on other character blogs in a fashion that their assumed character would write. The whole point is to create a interaction between the different characters that the students know from the book //Mythology//. After this project, students will be required to turn in a 2 - 3 page reflection comparing different character interactions they faced on the blog versus the character interactions found in the book //Mythology//. The students will be graded on their accuracy of their character's portrayal and their conclusions in their reflection.

[|Vocabulary for Mythology] There are some difficult words that students can come across in Edith Hamilton's //Mythology//. The lesson plan I have linked is a great lesson plan that incorporates worksheets and online interaction for vocabulary. Students can have fun online and learn new vocabulary words.

 ​__Film as Literature__ Using the information that we have learned from Dr. Kist's Multi-Modal class about film, we can teach our students about film as literature. You can use [|Great Films and How to Teach Them by Costanzo] to analyze Greek Mythology films such as: [|Helen of Troy (1956)], [|The Odyssey (1997)], [|Troy (2004)], and the newest film [|Clash of the Titans (2010)]. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">If you do not want to teach these films as literature, you can also analyze them and compare them to //Mythology// by Edith Hamilton.
 * __Post-Reading__**

[|Online Gaming] <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This link will take you to a online game called Grepolis. It allows the player to build cities, use gods' powers, fight in battles, or even just be ordinary citizens. I actually signed up for this game and played it for a litte bit. It is a little bit difficult to understand at first, but once you get the hang of it the game is pretty cool. Now it may not have the best graphics like most games have now a days, but it will be great to have students play in class during lab time or something. To make sure that the gaming becomes educational, students can have their homework be a 1- 2 page reflection based on whether or not they saw recurring themes from their book //Mythology// by Edith Hamilton and the online game Grepolis.

[|Greek Mythology Tale Video Project] <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The link above is a video of a group of students modeling a Greek Mythology tale. After reading //Mythology,// have students get into groups of 3-4. Each group will choose a Greek Mythology tale that they liked and recreate it in a film format. This allows students to utilize their skills on what they know about film. (This, of course, implies that students have learned about film as literature.) Requirments for this project would be to: create a script which includes setting and camera shots, make sure to edit the film (it cannot be all one shot), the video must be 5 minutes in length.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__Mythology Journalism__ <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Depending on your district, you might have to incorporate journalism into your English classroom. If that is the case, you can incorporate the review of journalism and Greek Mythology into one by doing this activity. I got this activity from a website based on a [| Teacher's Mythology Class]. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This project was part of her final project list. I also copy and pasted the description here: Create a newspaper for the mythological world. Using a desk top publishing program, you will make your articles look like a major publication [you will choose a publication emulate in presentation - this means you will need graphics!] You may write about as many myths as you would like, but you must have 5 articles that are different: a news story, a review, an editorial, an investigative feature, a personal opinion column, an editorial cartoon, or a profile piece.

[|Writing Mythological Monologues] <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This link will take you to a lesson plan on writing mythological monologues. Students will be given a character from Greek Mythology and they will give a presentation on their character.

Reference __** [|Greek Mythology Reference] ​<span style="color: #e70dbf; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This website can be used as a reference for students. It contains all kinds of information on Greek Mythology whether it be about certain gods and goddesses, stories, and any other subjects related to Greek Mythology. Students can use this to gather information for papers or even to get more information for other projects that may not be contained in the book //Mythology// by Edith Hamilton.
 * __<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">

[|Edith Hamilton's Mythology Vocabulary] <span style="color: #e70dbf; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Some of the words in Edith Hamilton's //Mythology// can be confusing to students. This website lists all of the tough vocabulary words in the book and gives their definitions. This is a great reference for student who may be reading this book independently. Teachers could also choose to take certain words and use them as a part of their vocabulary curriculum.

[|Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology] <span style="color: #e70dbf; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This website is full of all types of information related to Greek Mythology. It is neatly organized by the alaphabet and just very easy to work with. Much like the references listed above students can use this Encycolpedia to gather information for whatever they might need it for.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">__**Further Reading**__ <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__<span style="color: #0055ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Classic Literature __ [|//The Iliad by Homer//] is a classic piece of literature on Greek Mythology. I have not read this book, but it has been taught in high schools and colleges for many years. This book is about the Trojan War. [|The Odyssey by Homer] is another classic piece of Greek Mythology literature. I also have not read this book, but it is very popular to read in high schools. This book takes places after the Trojan War and it follows the Greek hero Odysseus.

[|Young Adult Fiction] <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//Troy// by Adele Geras is a Greek Mythology inspired young adult fiction novel. I actually read this novel when I was in middle school for fun. I really enjoyed this book and I think students will too because it is generated towards young adults. The story's plot is generated by a bored Aphrodite. She decides to play around with the citizens of Troy during the Trojan War. It is was a great experience to read about different plots and themes during the Trojan War, rather than just the war itself.

[|Non-print: Gaming] <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The video game series God of War, made only for PlayStation, is based on Greek Mythology. The new game God of War III is about Kratos on a quest to destroy Zeus and Mt. Olympus. I do not know much about this game series because I do not play video games, but this website made it look pretty cool. I think this game can be relatable to students who do not like to read.