Teaching Mythology Lessons in a Creative Way
The key to understanding mythology can lie in finding lesson plans that hook students on this fascinating part of history.
By Debra Karr
Mythology, whether it comes from the Roman Empire, the Greek territory or the Egyptian region, is a part of grade appropriate standards within the language arts framework. As educators, we are required to expose our students to the myths, heroes, gods, goddesses and legends that these mythological creations bring us.
With often confusing sounding names like Odysseus, Antigone, and Pandora, mythology sets the stage for vocabulary development, word origin research, pronunciation drills, and spelling tests. What a great way to embed these language arts activities into interesting tales and stories that make the plot lines to most soap operas seem oversimplified.
You can also bring in modern literature to entice your student audience. The Percy Jackson series can be a great way to get students to think about the myths in an interesting and creative way. By fleshing out the characters, such as Pandora, the books help students to remember the myths and understand their historical significance.
The next few lessons will have students creating their own Pandora's Box, exploring the creation of "good" and "evil" through creation myths, learning about the Ancient Egyptian Empire with its rich, mysterious culture, and discover the lost city of Atlantis through engaging and enlightening student activities and assignments. Let the little gods and goddesses of the mythical tales we know take your students on a journey they won't want to miss.
Mythology Lesson Plans:
In this lesson students learn about the various myths that have been told throughout time. The Nature Myth, the creation story, Zeus, and the Creation Myth are discussed and examined. Students read and analyze the Greek myth of Pandora's Box, answer questions, and write a paragraph about their in-class activity which includes decorating their own Pandora's Box and bringing representations of "good" and "evil" objects that fit into the box. This lesson provides students an introduction to mythology which fulfills appropriate grade level standards for the language arts. I would incorporate some kind of vocabulary lesson into this activity that demonstrates the root words, prefixes and suffixes that make up some Greek and Biblical terminology so that students can see the connection between words used today and their historical background.
Students are asked to look at the lost city of Atlantis by reading an article that details that myth. Students question what myths really are and respond to a series of questions. As they get into groups, they are given an ancient civilization and the myths that have been attached to that civilization. In their groups, they create and design a children's book that exposes the myths of their particular ancient civilization. Because this language arts lesson also incorporates geography (ancient civilizations) it is a good idea to have maps on hand. Give students a worksheet that has them research names affiliated with myths and ancient civilizations and see how many cities they can come up with whose roots trace back to the myths.
Gods and Goddesses of Mythology
Students assume the role of god or goddess from Ancient Greek, Roman or Egyptian mythology in this lesson. As the student writes his or her own diary, postcard or other form of written expression that is in alignment with the language arts standards, as the ancient god or goddess from mythology, the student are required to enlist all the elements and details about the myth, civilization and culture from which that particular god or goddess comes from. This is a very creative activity that utilizes history, geography and language arts. It is important to also make sure that students are familiar with the plot and setting of the myth from which the god or goddess comes, so that they don't lose sight of the story arc, characterization and plots that are inherent within classic mythology.
Because many stories from mythology originated in Egypt, this lesson can be instrumental in enlightening students about the geographic, cultural and historical aspects of the Ancient Egyptian Empire. As students look at art from this region and era, they answer a series of questions that pertain to the symbolism and mystery that stems from Ancient Egyptian art and culture. Students are able to reflect upon their experience through journal writings. This lesson gives students an appreciation for aesthetics, and also for the symbolic representation of this very rich culture which impacted mythology. Going over terminology, pronunciation and vocabulary is essential so that students can maximize this very multi-faceted lesson.
