Honestly, i don't think i was ever really aware of myths and their impact on our day to day lives. For whatever reason it escaped me that these were truly important. By doing our section on myths and how and why they are created i learned so many things that i did not know before.
What i thought was best, was creating our own myths. I have written many short stories and things like that but a myth seemed like something all in its own realm. I approached the subject truly scared of what i was going to come out with. Once i got the ball rolling it really wasn't so bad. I like to put humor in things and that is exactly what i did with my myth. I feel that by doing so i would be able to appeal to a high school class and show them the value of myths.
Also, it is so interesting to see what kinds of myths everyone else comes up with. If there were the possibility to conduct a class in this manner of posting stories for the rest of class to see, i would definitely teach myths in just the same way. Since we were exposed to the actual importance of myths themselves when we read the class material it was easier to conduct my own. I believe that if my students were given this opportunity to learn first and then experiment with their own creativity, they would truly succeed.
Now, i look at myths and i see a whole new meaning to them, because it is fascinating how much of an impact they have in our lives now, regardless of how old they may be.
6 comments:
Vilma,
I believe that most of us were in the same page when it came to know about myths. It is true that we know some myths, but we dont really care of how they came to be, and even worse, the real history behind them. I agree with you in the ideal of having our students experiment with this, I am pretty sure they would have lots of fun. I believe that everyone in this class has a great imagination and that is why our myths were so creative. This type of class activity relaxes the mind, and helps to discover a reality of your own.
I believe that your myth was fun and with lots of humor. Make sure you implement this in your classroom and email me some stories, so i can have fun!
I think the mythology creation works the way we did it where we learn about mythology and then create our own. But I think it would be interesting and may work, if not as well, at least in a different way. We could gain, for instance, an idea of the perceptions that students today have of myths and mythology. If they write one before learning the elements mythology we could see how they already view it based on their experiences with it in their own lives.
Like you said, we don't always think about mythology, but we are exposed to it all the time in TV, movies, video games etc... I really wonder what kids might come up with left to their own devices. I wonder what their attitudes are towards myths and mythological characters. Also, I wonder whether or not they liked the movie TROY!
I completely agree that the reading of other people's myths was interesting. If I could have a class with a webct like program, I would certainly take advantage of that. If not, though, you can still have students bring in copies of their myth to pass and share, like peer review groups. Hopefully the high schools we teach at will be moving with the times, and we'll have the access to internet that would require the first!
Myths do have a huge impact on our lives - urban myths, for example, are present. Nick posted a picture of the mythbusters on his website, and I remember watching an episode of their show where they tried to find Hoffa's body. That is a /huge/ myth that circulates today.
Hi Vilma,
It seems that the high school teachers we all had did not spend too much time educating us on Myths. Instead there was more focus on satisfying the state standards and not going out to the circle.
I think you are right as teachers we do need to expose the students and make them understand that this is a method of keeping tradition and history in different cultures.
As I was reading your entry I got an idea. Maybe we can introduce the myth's and then start our own blog with postings every week from a different student. The class can come up with the idea and every week a new student goes to the computer (in class) and adds to the myth. It can keep going until everyone in the class gets a turn to post and then be read later. That would be interesting to see the final product, because it would not be one persons creation rather the entire class.
Just an idea :)
Have a good day.
Elizabeth
I was also surprised by how much myth has influenced other forms of writing. I wouldn’t say that I can see directly how a particular myth has impacted my life, but that does not mean myth’s influence can be disregarded. I would also agree about putting humor in writing and the effect that it can have on the class. If students are reading things that they are entertaining, the class may be more open minded about reading and not be so scared of it; it doesn’t always have to be negative. Most of the myths that I read (especially the trickster myths) had that charming characteristic that made them seem more fun to read that certain prose. It is surprising to me that I have never read myths in any of my other classes, not even back in high school. I think exposing students to myth in the classroom has enough benefits that I should become a mandatory part of the curriculum.
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