Back in the 1980’s when I went to college right after high school I took a class called Oriental Mythology. The class was far from the regular old freshman curriculum, and I loved it. My mom was a professor of World Religions and Philosophies and my dad was a Congregational minister, so I felt like I was pretty well versed in bible stories and mythology. One of the books for the course was Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and while we read about Moses, and mythology like the Gilgamesh Epic and Monkey: Folk Novel of China, I was mesmerized by the overlapping characteristics of all of these stories. I dreamed my own story of a people huddled together on the supercontinent, Pangaea, separated one day or over the course of years by cataclysmic geologic events like our neighbors in New Zealand and Japan are experiencing. And these people without the benefit of Wi-Fi and mobile phones, communicated through story, but could not call their grandmother in Florida to ask the order of events or verify the names of people.
Every year I am amazed at how easy it is for kids, and really for all of us, to identify the differences between others and ourselves. We struggle to find that common ground. My thinking is that these myths and the idea of the archetype of the hero might be a place to start.
By noting what is common in these stories from around the world I hope to provoke group discussion about different cultures and other possible areas of overlap in the ten cultural universals. I also hope to generate some self-reflection as the students look at their own lives to see if maybe they also have heroic qualities. By studying other cultures and providing activities that help students to personally connect, I can encourage the development of the respectful and ethical minds in my students.
The Massachusetts state standards addressed in this lesson include: Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks
7.32 Describe the myths and stories of classical Greece; give examples of Greek gods and goddesses, heroes, and events, and where and how we see their names used today. (H)
7.8 Identify polytheism (the belief that there are many gods) as the religious belief of the people in Mesopotamian civilizations. (H)
7.21 Describe the monotheistic religion of the Israelites. (H)
A. the belief that there is one God B. the Ten Commandments C. the emphasis on individual worth and personal responsibility D. the belief that all people must adhere to the same moral obligations, whether ruler or ruled E. the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) as part of the history of early Israel.
7.32 Describe the myths and stories of classical Greece; give examples of Greek gods and goddesses, heroes, and events, and where and how we see their names used today. (H)
This lesson is not isolated to just one strand of learning. By using Google Earth a sense of distance and space is modeled, and the students can easily spot geographic features that they have learned about in their text such as the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the islands that comprise Greece. Although students will not necessarily choose to present their assignments in a traditional writing format, by using the Read, Write, Think planning tool, students will learn a system for organizing their ideas toward composition and presentation. In addition, students will gain skills working with computers and online tools that can be applied in both the educational and social contexts.
Enjoy The Following Google Earth Virtual Field Trip:
A Journey of Mythic Proportion
A_Journey_of_Mythic_Proportion.kmz
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