Week at a glance Aug 31 - Sept 4, 2009

Curriculum focus: determines meaning of words through knowledge of Greek and Latin roots (1.3.K3a), identifies, interprets, and analyzes the use of personification (1.3.K4g), identifies, interprest, and analyzes the use of symbols (1.3.K4i), compares and contrasts character traits (1.4.K7a), identifies and describes the protagonist (2.1.K1a), identifies and describes the antagonist (2.1.K1b), and compares and contrasts works of literature that deal with similar topics and problems (2.2.K2).

Our theme for this week's portion of our Greek mythology unit is lovers and adventurers...often one and the same. We'll start the week with tales of star-crossed lovers. We'll then spend a day with the story of love uniting at last with the mind or soul as we read and discuss the fairy tale-like story of Cupid and Psyche. From there we'll move on to the tale of one of Greece's greatest heroes, Hercules, and discover the tragic romantic element at the heart of his story. On Thursday we'll read and discuss our last romantic hero as we follow Perseus' quest to fight Medusa and save his beloved Andromeda. We'll wrap up the week with notes to help us review and synthesize the various romantic adventures.

• Mon: Star-crossed lovers: Pyramus and Thisbe, Orpheus and Eurydice, Apollo and Daphne - read and discuss in class.
  
• Tues: Cupid and Psyche - read and discuss in class; study guide due Wednesday.
  
• Wed: Romantic heroes: Hercules and the 12 Labors
  
• Thurs: Romantic heroes: Perseus and the fight against Medusa
  
• Fri: Lovers and adventurers - wrap up and review, notes in class.
  

Week at a glance Aug 24 - 28, 2009

This week we'll begin our first major unit: Greek mythology. Students will learn the origins of Greek mythology and how it developed in the ancient world. We'll then cover the Greek pantheon and get to know the major and minor gods. Finally, we'll analyze how the world was created according to Greek mythology, which gods and goddesses guided the Greeks' daily lives, and how the Greeks viewed the last part of the great cycle - death. On Friday we'll review our notes for the week and take a short quiz.

• Mon: Greek mythology - Origins and development. Notes in class.
  
• Tues: Short quiz over mythology basics. Greek mythology -Who's who? The Titans, the Olympians, and other major and minor gods. Notes in class
  
• Wed: Greek mythology - Stories of creation: the Ages of Man, Prometheus, and Pandora. Readings and notes in class.
  
• Thurs: Greek mythology - The cycle of life and death: Demeter, Persephone, and Hades. Readings and notes in class.
  
• Fri: Review notes and concepts covered this week. Short quiz over the notes and concepts covered this week.
  

Week at a glance Aug 17 - 21, 2009

Welcome!

On this site, you’ll find a breakdown of each week’s lesson plans and activities for the Mythology course. Assignments and due dates will always be listed in red. You can access class handouts through the “Course Materials” section located on the top left side of this site. If you have any questions or comments regarding things you'd like to see on this site, call me at WRHS or e-mail me at ritchjoh@usd437.net

Our class is unique because we have a large class and mixture of students, grades 10-12. Therefore, we'll spend our first two days focused on getting to know one another and getting comfortable discussing the concepts involved with Mythology. Our next two days will be days of notes focused on defining Mythology, determining its relevance, and learning about how it interacts in social, historical, and cultural contexts.

• Mon: New student orientation
  
• Tues: Introductions
  
• Wed: Finish introductions and course overview
  
• Thurs: What is Mythology? What are its basic components? What is its relevance to us today? Notes in class.
  
• Fri: How do myths interact with the society and culture of their time period? Notes in class.