{"id":632,"date":"2021-04-16T08:47:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T14:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/?p=632"},"modified":"2021-07-09T18:09:21","modified_gmt":"2021-07-10T00:09:21","slug":"teaching-mythology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/teaching-mythology\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Resources for Teaching Mythology You Might Not Know About"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Today I wanted to share some of my favorite resources for teaching mythology!\u00a0 Let\u2019s dive right in!<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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1. The Big Myth<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I\u2019ve been using this website for 15 years!\u00a0 I remember when I first discovered it, it wasn\u2019t free.\u00a0 I actually bought everything on a CD Rom!\u00a0 Does that date me or what?!?\u00a0 Now everything is free and you can make a donation if you wish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

They have the creation myths in animated videos from all over the world.\u00a0 The videos have captions as well as a print retelling.\u00a0 On the website you can also find teaching materials such as a list of the major gods, history and culture, and activity ideas.<\/span><\/p>

I use this in my own World Creation Myth unit as a resource – why rewrite the creation myths when The Big Myth has done such a great job?<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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2. The Olympians Series - Graphic novels by George O\u2019Connor <\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The left image shows the posters of the gods in each graphic novel. The right images shows the additional resources and discussion questions in each graphic novel.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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These graphic novels are engaging, visually stunning, and accurate to the myths.<\/span><\/p>

I always use the Zeus<\/a> graphic novel – the first in the series – when I am teaching the Greek Creation story.\u00a0 The beginning of the graphic novel retells the creation and the battle between the titans and Uranus and later the Olympian Gods and Kronos.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This picture (see above) shows Kronos on his throne after killing Uranus. Notice the eyes – Uranus as the sky is now in Kronos\u2019s eyes foreshadowing that like his father, he will kill his children to protect his power. <\/span><\/p>

I mean – Wow! See what I mean when I say that they are beautiful!<\/span><\/p>

He also has a page for educators<\/a><\/span>\u00a0teaching his graphic novels with short reader\u2019s theater scripts and a more detailed Greek Gods family tree than mine – which is perfect for your students who are REALLY into Greek Mythology.<\/span><\/p>

When I would read these to the class, I would show them under my overhead projector.\u00a0 But still – the colors weren\u2019t as amazing as they were in print.\u00a0 So I recommend buying the Kindle editions and showing them on your screen using your iPad to project from the app.\u00a0 You can zoom in and scroll or zoom out to show the double page spread.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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3. Joseph Campbell<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Have you heard of the monomyth – the myth of all myths?\u00a0 Also known as the Heroic Journey.\u00a0 Yes, that myth.\u00a0 The myth that almost all modern literature and movies use as an archetype – especially Marvel, Disney, George Lucas, DC Comics, well, really almost everything.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Joseph Campbell was a professor at Sarah Lawrence college and theorized that \u201c<\/span>all myths are the creative products of the human psyche, that artists are a culture\u2019s mythmakers, and that mythologies are creative manifestations of humankind\u2019s universal need to explain psychological, social, cosmological, and spiritual realities.\u201d (source<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>

In his lifetime he published many works – all about mythology.\u00a0 But he is most known for his first publication – The Hero With a Thousand Faces.\u00a0 In this book, Campbell outlined what we now call the Heroic Journey or Monomyth.\u00a0 It encompasses 18 stages or \u201ca universal pattern that is the essence of, and common to, heroic tales in every culture.\u201d (source<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>

I believe that if you are going to teach mythology, you need to read Campbell.\u00a0 I recommend The Power of Myth<\/a> which is much more conversational<\/span> along with A Hero with a Thousand Faces.<\/a><\/span><\/p>

If you don\u2019t want to read these, the Joseph Campbell Foundation has his audio lecture series<\/a> <\/span>and videos<\/a> for free on their website, as well as links to youtube videos <\/a><\/span>that are shorter and can be used in class when teaching about specific mythologies.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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4. D\u2019Aulaires\u2019 Myths<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Who doesn\u2019t love a good children\u2019s book?\u00a0 I tell you – even my Seniors in high school loved when we would read from these books.\u00a0 I would stand at the front of the class, book in hand, and read aloud.\u00a0 Or I would put the book under the overhead projector to show the images as I read.<\/span><\/p>

Written by Ingri and Edgar Parin D\u2019Aulaire, they have a book of Greek Myths<\/a> and a book of Norse Myths<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>

Though these books are written for children, they clearly retell the myths and give details I think are important.\u00a0 And they are accurate!\u00a0 Their Norse Myths are based on Prose Edda and Poetic Edda (think of these as similar to Homer\u2019s Odyssey and Hesiod\u2019s Theogony) – and believe me, they aren\u2019t the easiest to read.\u00a0 Most importantly, they create a story structure with the myth, that is lacking in translated versions of the myths.\u00a0 The gods are characters with feelings and motivations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

I liked to intermix these myths into my curriculum so that students don\u2019t get burnt out by reading the formal language of Edith Hamilton or the archaic language of Homer\u2019s Odyssey.<\/span><\/p>

They also have great children\u2019s books for teaching Norwegian folktales – <\/span>Ola<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Children of the Northlights<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>East of the Sun and West of the Moon.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClick here to get my Greek Gods Family Tree for FREE<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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What hidden gems and resources do you use to teach mythology?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Shop this Post<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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*Contains affiliate links, so I do make a small commission if you purchase using this link.\u00a0 However, I only include links to the things I love, use in my own class, or books I have in my own classroom library.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These four resources will add interest and engaging content to your curriculum that students will love and it will make your life easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mythology","tag-mythology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1478,"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions\/1478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationispowerful.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}