copyright 1999, Sirpa Grierson
copyright 1999, Sirpa Grierson
Greek Mythology
Jessica Stuart
ScEd 276
Reading Activities
| Pre-Reading | During Reading | After Reading |
Before:1. Bennett, Melissa. Impact of Greek Mythology on Modern Times. 10 Feb. 2005
LessonPlansPage. 16 Feb. 2005 <http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAImpactofGreekMythology79.htm>.
The design of this lesson plan is to help 7-9th grade students to see how Greek Mythology continues to affect our world today. It could easily be modified to include a written assessment of their comprehension and retention of the subject matter. Used as a before activity it would help students to realize why Greek Mythology would be important for them to learn and know about.2. Beutner, Natascha. Lesson Plan on the Role of Myths. 24 Jan. 2005. ADPRIMA. 16
Feb. 2005 <http://www.adprima.com/social3.htm>.
The concept of why myths are important is central to this lesson plan. The objective is for students to be able to identify elements of myths and demonstrate why they were vital then and their impact on us now. It will be a great before the unit gets rolling activity to help the students orient themselves to the information.3. Classical Mythology Lesson plans and other teaching resources. 21 Feb. 2005. Web
English Teacher. 22 Feb. 2005
<http://www.webenglishteacher.com/classmyth.html>.
A gold mine of lesson plans can be found here, dealing with how mythology can be used in the classroom. There are other resources as well, such as stories, strategies and activities to help get kids interested in Greek Mythology. It would be a great place for information before the reading starts to help kids see how many places mythology can fit into the world.4. Parada, Carlos. Greek Mythology Link. 3 Feb. 2005. 16 Feb. 2005
<http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/>.
This is a wonderful website offering all sorts of information about aspects of Greek Mythology. There are texts, images and maps all originating from ancient sources. One of the things I found most interesting were the links to biographies, places and people, dictionary and the catalogue of artistic images. The site would be helpful before the unit to get students involved in the subject material.5. Norris. Lesson Plan on Myths Legends and Folktales. 27 July, 2003. Ms. Norris's
Classroom Notes. 16 Feb. 2005
<http://web.infoave.net/%7Etnorris/lesson.htm>.
The information in this lesson plan can be adapted for any grade and discusses the differences between myths, legend and folklore. It would be a very effective before approach to help students determine what elements are contained in Greek Mythology.6. Ramsay, Inez. Greek Mythology for Educators. James Madison University. 16 Feb. 2005
<http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/greekmyths.htm>.
This site provides a lot of links to other sources to widen the scope of students who are exploring different aspects of Greek Mythology. There are many lesson plans on it so it’s a great site for teachers who are searching for ways to bring new ideas into their classrooms before they start teaching. The main site says it’s closing soon, but it’s a good resource while still available.7. Seagraves. Greek Mythology and Ancient Greece Thematic Unit. 2001. Mrs.
Seagraves’ QUEST class. 16 Feb. 2005
<http://www.geocities.com/sseagraves/greekunit.htm>.
This is a fun site with many ideas for activities. It’s full of ways to get kids interested in the time period and includes neat before concepts that will inspire interest among the individual students.8. Steinberg, Halaine. Exploring Greek Gods and Heroes: A Technology Lesson. Beth
Tfiloh Community School. 16.Feb. 2005
<http://www.btfiloh.org/english9mythology.htm>.
This lesson plan focused for ninth graders, would be a good before activity to let students learn about an individual character from Greek mythology. Connecting links are outdated, but ideas are always current. The outline is for them to research a specific character and create a PowerPoint demonstration they could show to the class, combining computer and language skills.9. Switzer, Ellen, and Costas. Greek Myths Gods, Heroes and Monsters Their Sources,
Their Stories and Their Meanings. New York: Atheneum, 1988.
This book delves into the more complex stories within Greek Mythology. It also deals with where we got the stories from, the meanings behind them and photographs of art from the time. It is an overall introduction to Greek Mythology and the period that would be helpful for a teacher to read before to help answer students’ questions.10. Wollstonhume, Brenda. Myth Descriptions. 17 Feb. 2005.
This is a long list of short descriptions of the different gods and goddesses in Greek Mythology. It emphasizes their roles and stories in a concise way to let the readers understand what each character represents.11. Wollstonhume, Brenda. The Underworld. 17 Feb. 2005.
This is a one page summary of what the Underworld would look like and some of the people trapped there. It has short sentences that show why they are there as well and pictures to show the progression one goes through to get to different areas of Hades kingdom. It may help students to see the layout before the unit.12. D’aulaires Ingri and D’aulaires Edgar Parrin. D’aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. New
York: Doubleday and Co. Inc., 1962.
This is an amazing book! The stories and pictures really draw students into the myths and help them to make connections between the characters. It is easily understandable, but provides detailed information about the different gods, goddesses and mortals, and how they are linked together through their situations and lives. It also deals with potentially graphic scenes in a tasteful and non-offensive manner. Used during reading it will really help ground the students in the many different stories, ideas, and situations that are occurring within the myths.
13. Dibon-Smith, Richard. The Constellations. 14 Jan. 2004. The Constellations Web Page. 23 Feb. 2005
<http://www.dibonsmith.com/constel.htm>.
This site offers a wide variety of constellations with links to the stories associated with the stars from Greek Mythology. It would be useful during the unit to help students connect the names and stars with the gods they are studying.
14. Edsitement. It Came From Greek Mythology. Marcopolo, MCI, National Endowment
for the Humanities. 16 Feb. 2005
<http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=234>.
This is an in-depth lesson plan that can be adapted for students. It has activities that help engage readers in the stories and identify themes and terms in Greek Mythology. It would work very well for during the unit to help students stay enthusiastic about the material. It can easily be adapted for many grade levels and has a lot of books and other resources to help teachers find more information.15. Encyclopedia Mythica. 4 Feb. 2005. 16 Feb. 2005
<http://www.pantheon.org/>.
This website provides a link to the Encyclopedia Mythica which has links to many different types of mythology. Greek Mythology is one of the primary resources on the site and there are extensive articles and information contained in it. The huge, alphabetical array would be helpful during students reading to find people and places easily with in-depth reviews about individuals. The genealogy tables are also interesting.16. Fisher, Bob. Bulfinch’s Mythology. 2004. Showgate. 16 Feb. 2005
<http://www.bulfinch.org/>.
Here you can find extensive research on the different characters within Greek Mythology. Thomas Bulfinch’s complied information and book has been distributed online. It’s a great resource during reading the Greek myths to help students learn in depth about these stories.17. Fisher, Leonard Everett. The Olympians. New York: Holiday House, 1984.
This book contains short descriptions of each of the Olympians that represent the main characters in Greek Mythology. Each has a portrait and short synopsis of the character and details such as parentage, Roman name and the symbols that represent it. It also contains a detailed bibliography with other sources of information.
18. Gibson, Michael. Gods, Men and Monsters from the Greek Myths. Italy: Peter Lowe,
1977.
In this book every page contains detailed pictures that provide a lot of symbolism to help students make visual connections to the characters and their situations. Stories are woven together in complex, but easily understandable methods to encourage students to keep reading and make correlations between main characters. As a during activity it would help students to focus on the stories of mythology and get them straight in their minds.19. Pinsent, John. Greek Mythology. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1982.
Pinsent provides an overview of Greek Mythology that is supplemented by stories, art and artifacts that have been found in Greece. He tends to focus more on the history and archeology connected to the myths themselves, while relating parts of the tales and making his views known as well. It would be a neat way for students during the reading to make connections to ancient art through the mythology of the time.20. Stuart, Jessica. Genogram of the Gods. 24. Feb 2005.
This concept has students taking the knowledge they are gathering and create a genogram, or family history chart, of the gods’ families. The goal is to help them to realize the interconnections that exist and how the gods were also unique. It’s a good during activity because it will help them make connections while leraning and give them a resource to turn back to.
21. Wollstonhume, Brenda. Myth Stories. 17 Feb. 2005.
These are a collection of short stories about gods and goddesses that will help students to understand their character and lives, according to Greek Mythology. It’s a great during reading activity because it provides a quick reminder for some of the more lengthy tales.22. Even Gods Have Bad Hair Days. 1997. Houghton Mifflin Company.16 Feb. 2005
<http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmll/blue/tale/hair.html>.
With this lesson plan, teachers have an opportunity to bring the gods of Greek Mythology down to a more personal level. This writing activity is best done after so students will know where to go for research and which god they want to elaborate on. It includes having them take an everyday problem and show how their choice of god or goddess would deal with it.23. Recipes for Greek Food Eat Greek Tonight. Mosaic Media. 16 Feb. 2005
<http://www.eatgreektonight.com/recipes.cfm>.
This website contains many recipes that are currently used in Greece. This would be a great after activity to introduce students to the flavors of Greek cuisine.24. Sasaki, Chris. Constellations: The Stars and Stories. New York: Sterling Pub., 2002.
This book takes the different constellations and has pictures of the stars and how they form the shapes the ancient Greeks saw. Sasaki also ties in the stories of Greek Mythology and shows how the Greeks may have seen these pictures in the stars.25. Skidmore, Joel, Teaching Tips. 4 Feb. 2005. Mythweb. 16 Feb.2005
<http://www.mythweb.com/teachers/tips/tips.html>.
Ideas for teachers to implement the Greek myths into their lessons are available on this page. It contains a lot of activities that would be helpful after students have learned about Greek Mythology and are looking for ways to apply their knowledge.26. Stuart, Jessica. Create your own Myth and Constellation. Inspired by BYU Physics
127 Assignment from 2000. 24 Feb. 2005.
For this project, students will be in charge of the stars and use them to draw out a constellation and write a myth about it. This is a good after reading activity because it takes what they have already learned and asks them to expand upon it in new ways.27. Stuart, Jessica. Planets and the Gods. 24. Feb. 2005.
This activity has students searching the galaxy. Even though the planets names don’t reflect the Greek names for the gods, they are still involved with the naming of these planets. The students will find out why they think the Romans and Greeks would have named the different planets what they did and what they would name a planet of their own creation. This is a great after activity because they are applying what they have already learned about the gods and their characteristics.28. Utah LessonPlans. Description of a Familiar Object Using Mythology. 4 Mar. 1998.
Utah Education Network. 16 Feb. 2005 <http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=1500>.
This link takes you to a lesson plan designed for helping seventh graders use descriptive skills from reading mythology. It would be a great after reading activity because they are writing and describing a normal object as it would appear in Greek Mythology.
29. Wollstonhume, Brenda. Classical Equivalents. 17 Feb. 2005.
This resource contains a chronology of the gods as well as a link between the titles, Greek names, and Roman names of gods and goddesses. It would be good as an after follow up to make sure that everyone understands where all these characters fit in to the wider scheme of the world.30. Wollstonhume, Brenda. Myth Creation and Vocabulary Test. 17 Feb. 2005.
This is a three page test that could be given after the unit to see if students have retained information about the Greek myths. It covers what words mean, which gods did what, and the genealogy of the creation story.31. Wollstonhume, Brenda. Mythology Quiz. 17 Feb. 2005.
This is a short two page quiz that includes short answers and matching gods’ names to their characteristics. There are also two very short essay questions. The answers can be found on any Greek Mythology source. It would be good for students to take it after they studied the material.32. Wollstonhume, Brenda. The Iliad Quiz. 17 Feb. 2005.
This is a five page quiz composed of short answer, and multiple choice questions that connect to the Iliad and Greek Mythology. It gives students as chance to remember the stories of the gods and the mortals that were taking place at this time. This would be best given after a reading or overview of the Iliad had taken place.
Have questions about the Strategies? See the Key to the Reading Strategies here.