Title of the resource
Title of the resource in english
Publisher
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
According to the publisher, "the webpage for the Curricular Resources of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute allows users to search for thousands of curriculum units in STEM and the humanities. These units were written by Institute Fellows in local seminars in New Haven led by Yale University faculty members between 1978, the year the Institute was founded, and 2019. These units are readily adaptable for use throughout pre-college grades.
Users can browse and search for these units using keywords, our topical index, and our listings of units by year and by volume. The topical index might be especially useful to audiences of your project interested in curriculum units about mythology, Ancient Greece, and other subjects related to Antiquity.
URL: https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/
For similar content, see also the Yale National Initiative
URL: https://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/search/start "
Original language
Target and Age Group
6th grade
Link to resource
Teaching Mythology: Gods and Heroes
Accessed on 25 June, 2020
Author of the Entry:
Ayelet Peer, Bar- Ilan University, ayelet.peer@biu.ac.il
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il
Second Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Susan Deacy, University of Roehampton, s.deacy@roehampton.ac.uk
Diana Doyle
Diana Doyle is part of a group of seventy-nine teachers from New Haven, who organised seminars on topics related to curriculum developments between March and August 1983, including one on The seminar entitled “Greek and Roman Mythology”, led by William G. Thalmann, Associate Professor of Classics from USC.
Contents & Purpose
This unit aims to enhance students’ reading and writing skills and encourage their curiosity by teaching them adapted myths, especially on Greek heroes. The myths suggested in this unit are: the creation myth with comparison with other cultures’ creation stories (Babylonian, Apache, and Nigerian), Titanomachy, Olympian gods, creation of humans, Gift of fire, flood, Pandora, Hercules, Orpheus, Daedalus, Odysseus and Achilles form the heroes’ myths part. The activities include creating family trees for the gods, reads myth about a certain god/goddess and present the deity to the class, writing on their personal ‘meeting’ with one of the gods.
The students and teacher discuss various elements of the gods’ myths as well as the characteristics of hero myths. The students also receive writing assignments, such as writing assays on heroes.
The unit offers three samples of lesson plans as well as bibliography for teachers and students.
Further comments
This unit focuses on using mythology as an incentive for reading for young students. The students are encouraged to compare the different heroes and try to understand what makes a hero, especially in mythology. Furthermore, via the stories the students learn about the concept of myths, mainly the fantastic illogical elements of them.
