9th Grade - We continued our discussion about creation myths, and common human experiences that influence them. While many of the myths that we reviewed shared many similar qualities (an all-powerful creator, the development of the world from darkness or chaos, the development of humans and animals), each myth has some unique qualities as well.
These unique qualities are often a result of geography. For example, Greece and Japan have creation myths which heavily emphasize the ocean. This is expected because Greece is coastal and has many islands, and Japan is entirely islands.
Freshmen also added three new vocabulary words - archetype, collective unconscious, personal unconscious.
We also discussed means of transmitting myths and stories. Traditionally, we have two options - oral or written. To look at the pros and cons of both methods, students played a game. In teams, we essentially played "telephone" with Aesop's fables. The first student would hear the actual story, and then transmit it to the next team member, and so on. The final student would write the story down, and we would compare it to the original to see what modifications occur with oral transmission.
10th Grade - Sophomores continued through the beginning of TKAM, and we read through CH 2 in-class. We discussed the reliability of the narrator - as this story is told from a 1st-person point of view, and it is clear that the narrator is talking about a point in their childhood, I asked students how trustworthy they feel the narration is.
We have also added three vocabulary words for the day - placidly, amiable, and nebulous.
As an experiment, the first in-class writing entry for TKAM involves recall. I asked students to take 10 minutes to write down their earliest memory, in as much detail as possible.
Homework - Read CH 3; Research Mini-Project summaries due through e-mail.
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