Download Research Assignment

Greek/Roman Mythology
9th Grade Humanities Project
Overview:
The purpose of this unit to enhance students' awareness of Greek and Roman
mythology and its impact on modern culture. Greek mythology is woven into the
texture of Western civilization. This unit provides an opportunity for students to
examine the myths and to investigate the cultural allusions associated with them.
Objectives:
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Students will research information on Greek gods and goddesses to
enhance their understanding of Greek mythology.
Students will use their knowledge of the gods and goddesses to
further their understanding of the role of the hero in Greek
mythology.
Students will use their knowlege of Greek mythology to examine
how it has influenced modern culture in the arts and commerce.
Tasks:
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Research a Greek/Roman mythological character
Write an autobiographical narrative about a mythological character
Identify mythological allusions in modern life
Write a persuasive business letter and technical instructions
Deliver a focused and coherent presentation about a mythological
character.
Product:
Students will prepare an oral presentation and create a scrapbook based on their
assigned mythological character. They will share theirr research with the class
through an organized presentation (3-5 minutes) as the character. They will use
the scrapbook as a visual aid. Students will include the following sections in the
scrapbook:
1. Character information
Family tree
Symbols
Autobiographical narrative
"Good Human" lessons
2. Literary allusions - 3 required*
Passage quoted and source documented (MLA format)
Explanatory paragraph
3. Commercial/advertising allusions - 2 required*
Written/graphic ad or descriptive paragraph of commercial
Documentation (MLA format)
Explanatory caption
4. Artistic (music, art, dance, film) interpretations - 2 required*
Picture, quoted material, or descriptive paragraph of artwork
Documentation (MLA format)
Explanatory caption
5. Product creation
Product design and name/slogan
Instructions/ technical writing
Business letter to sales company
6. Bibliography
MLA format: Works Cited and Works Consulted
Minimum of 10 sources
Variety (3) of sources
7. Scrapbook elements
Cover, title, binding, appearance, "fluff"
* number of allusions can be adjusted with consent of the teacher.
See Student Handout.
Standards:
The following California 9th Grade Reading/Language Arts Framework
standards are addressed in this lesson:
Reading Standard
1.3 Identify Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology and use the knowledge to understand the
origin and meaning of new words.
Writing Standard
1.2 Use precise language, action verbs, sensory details, appropriate modifiers, and the
active rather than the passive voice.
1.3 Use clear research questions and suitable research methods (e.g., library, electronic
media, personal interview) to elicit and present evidence from primary and secondary
sources.
1.4 Develop the main ideas within the body of the composition through supporting
evidence.
1.5 Synthesize information from multiple sources and identify complexities and
discrepancies in the information and the different perspectives found in each medium.
1.7 Use appropriate conventions for documentation in the text, notes, and bibliographies by
adhering to those in style manuals.
2.1 Write biographical or autobiographical narratives or short stories.
2.5 Write business letters.
2.6 Write technical documents.
Written and Oral English Conventions Students write and speak with a command of
stand English conventions.
1.3 Demonstrate an understanding of proper English usage and control of grammar,
paragraph and sentence structure, diction and syntax.
1.4 Produce legible work that shows accurate spelling and correct use of the conventions of
punctuation and capitalization.
Speaking
1.0 Students formulate adroit judgments about oral communication. They deliver focused
and coherent presentations of their own that convey clear and distinct perspectives and
solid reasoning. They use gestures, tone and vocabulary tailored to the audience and
purpose.
2.1 Using speaking strategies in Standard 1.0, students deliver narrative presentations.
Technology Standards
2. Students will use technology responsibly and ethically.
4. Students will use technology as a communication tool.
5. Students will use technology as a research tool.
Resources: Web sites, reference, books, periodicals (print or electronic),
people
Print:
292 ASI
Asimov, Isaac. Words from the myths. HOUGHTON, 1961.
292 BEN
Benson, Sally. Stories of the gods and heroes. DIAL, 1940.
292 COL Colum, Padraic. The Golden Fleece and the heroes who lived before
Achilles. MACMILLAN, 1949.
292 CON Connolly, Peter. The legend of Odysseus. OXFORD
UNIVERSITY,1988.
292 COO Coolidge, Olivia. Greek myths. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN, 1949.
292 COO Coolidge, Olivia E. Hercules and other tales from Greek Myths.
SCHOLASTIC, 1960.
292 D'A
D'Aulaire, Ingri. D'Aulaire's book of Greek myths. Doubleday, 1962.
292 DOD
Dodd, E. F. Stories from Homer. MACMILLAN, 1955.
292 EVS
Evslin, Bernard. The adventures of Ulysses. SCHOLASTIC, 1969.
292 EVS
Evslin, Bernard. Amycus. CHELSEA, 1989.
292 EVS
Evslin, Bernard. Heroes, gods and monsters of the Greek myths.
FOUR WINDS, 1967.
292 GAT
Gates, Doris. Lord of the sky: Zeus. VIKING, 1972.
292 GAT
Gates, Doris. The warrior goddess: Athena. Viking, 1972.
292 GRA Grant, Michael. Myths of the Greeks and Romans. NEW
AMERICAN LIBRARY, 1962.
292 GRA
Graves, Robert. Greek gods and heroes. DOUBLEDAY, 1960.
292 GRA
Graves, Robert. The Greek myths. George Braziller, Inc., 1955.
292 GRE
Green, Margery. Wonder tales from Greece. MACMILLAN, 1961.
292 GRE Green, Roger. Heroes of Greece and Troy; retold from the ancient
authors. WALCK, 1960.
292 GUE Guerber, Helne Adeline. Myths of Greece and Rome. GEORGE G.
HARRAP & CO, 1965.
292 HAM
292 HAW
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. LITTLE BROWN, 1942.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Tanglewood tales. DUTTON, 1955.
292 HAW Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Wonder-book and Tanglewood Tales.
HOUGHTON, 1951.
292 JOH
Johnston, Norma. Strangers dark and gold. ATHENEUM, 1975.
292 MAC Macpherson, Jay. Four ages of man; the classical myths. ST.
MARTIN'S, 1962.
292 PHI
Philip, Neil. The adventures of Odysseus. 1st American ed. New
York : Orchard Books, 1997.
292 ROU
Rouse, William Henry Denham. Gods, heroes, and men of ancient
Greece. New American
Library, 1957.
292 SUT
1995.
Sutcliff, Rosemary. The wanderings of Odysseus. DELACORTE,
292 SUT
Sutcliff, Rosemary. Black ships before Troy : the story of the Iliad.
New York : Delacorte, 1993.
292 SWI
Switzer, Ellen. Greek myths; gods, heroes, and monsters.
ATHENEUM, 1988.
292 WHI
White, Anne Terry. The Golden treasury of myths and legends.
GOLDEN, 1959.
292.03 ZIM Zimmerman, John Edward. Dictionary of classical mythology.
BANTAM, 1966.
292.13 RIC Richardson, I. The return of Odysseus. TROLL, 1984.
398.2 FLE Fleischman, Paul. Dateline : Troy. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass. :
Candlewick Press, 1996.
883 EVS
Evslin, Bernard. Greeks bearing gifts : the epics of Achilles and
Ulysses. New York : Four Winds
Press, 1976.
Ref 291 EVA Evans, Bergen. Dictionary of mythology, mainly classical.
CENTENNIAL, 1970.
Ref 291 PAL Palmer, Robin. A dictionary of mythical places. WALCK, 1975.
Ref 292.03 TRI Tripp, Edward. Crowell's Handbook of classical mythology.
CROWELL, 1970.
Internet:
Ancient Greek and Roman Myths Index
http://www.abcgallery.com/mythindex.html
Provides brief identification of over 100 characters from mythology with a ink to
at least one painting by an important artist.
Classical Myth: The Ancient Sources
http://web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/
Links to "ancient texts and images available on the Web concerning the major
figures of Greek and Roman mythology." A list of Attributes in Iconography
shows how the gods can be identified. Time Line of Greek History and Literature
gives a brief overview of Greek history and dating conventions.
Classical Mythology
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/mythology/myths.html&edu=high
Lists the Greek deities and their Roman counterparts. Provides a brief
description along with an artistic rendition.
An Etymological Dictionary of Classical Mythology
http://www.kl.oakland.edu/kraemer/edcm/preface.html
Navigate to the bottom of the page to access the Table of Contents and appendix.
The appendices include: Influences on Astronomy, Influences on Calendar
Terms, Influences on Personal Names, Influences on Phrases and Conversation,
and Influences on Pop Culture.
Glossary of Allusions to Ancient Greek and Roman Myth in Word and Phrase
http://www.livethemyth.com/glossary1.html
This lexicon defines a variety of words and phrases found in English language
and literature, and like an encyclopedia of mythology, it explains how the terms
are related to Classical Mythology, i.e., Ancient Greek Mythology and Roman
Mythology.
Greek and Roman Mythology
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0197622.html
Information is given under the Greek name; the name in parentheses is the
Roman equivalent. Links are provided to uses of the diety in astronomy, art, etc.
Greek Mythology
http://www.greekmythology.com/
A rudimentary hyperlinked guide to major gods, myths, and creatures.
Greek Mythology
http://www.messagenet.com/myths/
From Aphrodite to Zeus, this site covers the immortals of Greek mythology with
brief bios and a pronunciation key.
Greek mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology
A general hyperlinked guide to the gods, stories, locations, and creatures of
Greek mythology.
Greek Mythology Today: Myth Man
http://mythman.com/
With 200 reference pages, Myth Man's Homework Help section is huge. It
includes an illustration gallery, two printable (non-interactive) quizzes,
Mythology in Modern Culture, and biographies of major and minor Olympians.
Myths About Gods Of Olden Cultures
http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/roman/index.htm
On this site students read about Roman gods and the naming of the solar system.
Mythmedia - Mythology in Western Art
http://www-lib.haifa.ac.il/www/art/mythology_westart.html
This collection consists of scanned images from various periods of Western art
which depict the deities, and heroes mentioned in Homer. The images are
organized according to the names of the various deities and heroes and then by
scene represented, with name of artist, title, and date.
Mythography
http://www.loggia.com/myth/content.html
Explore Greek mythology through the eye of the artist
Mythology
http://web.princeton.edu/sites/classics/mythology/home.html
Introduces major figures. Includes some images and brief bibliographies.
Mythology in Modern Society
http://www.thanasis.com/modern/
Covers companies and groups, words and expressions, pop culture and planets
and constellations with mythological allusions
Mythweb
http://www.mythweb.com/
Here are appealing and colorful cartoon depictions of the world of Greek gods
and heroes. Also included is an Illustrated Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology
that contains detailed definitions, as well as cross-references from the Latin
names of the deities.
Roman Mythology
http://www.pantheon/areas/mythology/europe/roman/articles.html
A short overview of hundreds of characters in Roman mythology with links to
items of interest.
Song Lyrics with Mythical Allusions
http://sites.google.com/site/mythologysongs/
Here is a list of songs containing mythological
references with a link to the lyrics for each song on
the Web site. All of the songs contain the keywords
in black: Sirens, Achilles, Artemis, Adonis,
Aphrodite, etc.
Theoi Project
http://www.theoi.com
A guide to the Ancient Greek Pantheon of GOds ("Theoi"),.. Spirits
("Daimones") and Monsters ("Theres").
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
http://www.uspto.gov
You may want to consult this page to create a trademark for your
product/invention. Look on the left for the listing for trademarks. You can
search the trademarks for similar products to get an idea.
Winged Sandals
http://www.wingedsandals.com
Produced by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, this site provides a tour of
the gods, heroes and monstsers of mythology
Evaluation:
Points for each section of the project are as follows:
1. Character information (35 pts.)
2. Literary allusions (15 pts.)
3. Commercial/advertising allusions (10 pts.)
4. Artistic (music, art, dance, film) interpretations (10 pts.)
5. Product creation (15 pts.)
6. Bibliography (10 pts.)
7. Scrapbook elements (10 pts.)
8. Oral presentation (20 pts.) See rubric for oral presentation.
Emerson Jr. High School
Mythology Report
Name: ________________________
Teacher: Mrs. DePaula
Date Submitted: ____________
Title of Work: ___________________
Criteria
4
Body
Language
Eye Contact
Introduction
and Closure
Pacing
Poise
Voice
3
Points
2
1
Made movements
Very little
Movements seemed
No movement or
or gestures that
movement or
fluid and helped the
descriptive
enhanced
descriptive
audience visualize.
gestures.
articulation.
gestures.
Holds attention of
Displayed
Consistent use of
entire audience with
minimal eye
No eye contact
direct eye contact
the use of direct eye
contact with
with audience.
with audience.
contact.
audience.
Student delivers open
Student clearly
and closing remarks
Student does not
Student displays
uses either an
that capture the
display clear
clear introductory introductory or
attention of the
introductory or
or closing remarks. closing remark,
audience and set the
closing remarks.
but not both.
mood.
Delivery is
Delivery is in
Delivery is either
Good use of drama
patterned, but
bursts and does too quick or too
and student meets
does not meet
not meet
slow to meet
apportioned time
apportioned time apportioned time apportioned time
interval.
interval.
interval.
interval.
Makes minor
Tension and
Student displays
mistakes, but
Displays mild
nervousness is
relaxed, self-confident quickly recovers
tension; has
obvious; has
nature about self, with
from them;
trouble recovering
trouble recovering
no mistakes.
displays little or no from mistakes.
from mistakes.
tension.
____
____
____
____
____
Use of fluid speech Satisfactory use of Displays some
Consistently uses
and inflection
inflection, but does level of inflection
a monotone
maintains the interest not consistently
throughout
voice.
of the audience.
use fluid speech.
delivery.
____
Total---->
____
Teacher Comments: