Mythology Section PM

VHS Catalog 12-13

Course Title:	Mythology Section PM
Course Code:	mytholpm
MA NCES Code:	01061
Discipline:	Language Arts
Grade Level:	07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12
Level:	Standard
Offering:	Repeated Semester (Fall: 25 Seats; Spring: 25 Seats; )
Duration:	15 weeks
Prerequisites:	none
Additional Requirements:
Accredited by:	Certified by NCAA for initial-eligibility (VHS School Code: 221356); Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools; Northwest Accreditation Commission
Course Requires a Media Kit to be Shipped to Students: No
Course Requires a Media Kit to be Purchased by Course Sponsor (see additional details below): No
Description: Do you love mythology? Do you wish there was more of it than was introduced in your literature class? Well, this is the class for you! This course is designed to enhance your understanding of mythology and its continuing influence on our modern world. You will study mythology from various cultures, including Greco-Roman, Norse, and American Indian. We will examine how some themes and character types occur over and over in myths of different cultures. Reading, individual projects/activities, and group work will be part of this class. This course may be appropriate for Gifted and Talented middle school students that meet all course prerequisites.

MediaKit Contents:

Syllabus:
Week 1 - Introductions and expectations.

Week 2 - Creation Myths I

Week 3 - Creation Myths II

Week 4 - Goddesses & Gods I

Week 5 - Gods & Goddesses

Week 6 - Love

Week 7 - Punishment

Week 8 - Heroines & Heroes I

Week 9 - Heroes & Heroines II

Week 10 - Sources

Week 11 - Animals

Week 12 - Monsters

Week 13 - Tricksters

Week 14 - The Afterlife

Week 15 - The End of the World

Each week students asked to briefly summarize the myths you've read as part of the weekly lesson.
Each week students will also have a writing assignment that will take the form of either a research project, an essay, or a creative assignment. Participants should count on writing 2 to 4 pages a week after Week One. This course involves a lot of writing! The type of writing varies (It's not all essays), but students should feel comfortable with doing online writing before siging up for this course.

There will also be collaborative writing projects in which students work with other students to create a document. These are group projects, but grading will be individual inside the group projects. Wikis and blogs record everything that each person adds to or subtracts from the document, so a teacher can see exactly what each student has contributed and can grade students in the group individually. There are group projects, but there are no group grades.

Course Objectives:
Students will:
1. be able to articulate recurring themes in world mythology.
2. be able to discern differences and similarities among various cultures with mythic stories having like themes.
3. be able to identify characteristics of major character types in various world myths.
4. build on their base knowledge of mythic stories (usually limited to Greco-Roman) to understand the importance of myths to the creation of culture throughout the world.
5. be able to identify modern interpretations of major mythic themes and characteristics.

This catalog description was last modified on 07/13/2012