Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Learner Objectives:
After this project, the students will have gained a greater understanding of the cultural importance of mythology in its ability
to reflect cultural views and values. The students will understand that the ancient Greco-Roman society shares many of the
same morals and values as that of modern societies. The increased understanding of the students will be seen in the videos or
story books created by the students.
The hook or Introduction:
Before the lesson begins, the teacher will find and post creation videos from various cultures on the class webpage. On the
first day of the project, the teacher will show a video explaining the Greco-Roman creation myth of Deucalion and Pyrrah.
Then students will pick 2 other videos posted on the site to watch which retell creation videos from various world cultures.
The students will then engage in an oral comparison of the Greco-Roman myth with the other creation myths. The teacher
will ask the students what each myth reveals about the culture it derives. After these discussions, the teacher will assign the
project to the students.
Process:
The students will have one day per week to work on the project in class. The work from each week will be reviewed and
evaluated by the teacher.
Week 1 Using the hook activity, the teacher will introduce the project to the students. Once the project has been outlined,
the students will decide on their collaborative partner for their project. The students will use the remainder of the period to
create a plan for the project. They will need to discuss who they plan to interview, what questions they will ask, what type of
final product they will make, and what resources or technology they will need from the teacher. The students will also create
their own version of the rubric on which the project will be graded. The students will create this plan and rubric on Google
Drive and share it with the teacher. The teacher will review and evaluate, using a rubric, each groups plan in order to
prepare for next weeks lesson.
Week 2 The students will start class by reviewing the rubrics of their classmates via Google Drive and deciding on the final
version of the rubric. Next, if they have not already done so, the students will reach out to their neighbors, family members,
teachers, and other community members to find a cooperative expert. They will communicate via email or Skype to arrange
an interview time and date, if possible to take place this week. The teacher will facilitate and help the students find experts.
In preparation for this lesson, the teacher has already emailed parents to notify them of the project and ask for volunteers.
The teacher can provide students with willing participants, if the students are not able to find their own. The students will
spend this period researching the culture of their expert (or potential experts) in order to gain an understanding of his/her
cultural beliefs. The students research will be added to the Google Drive document from last week and will be reviewed and
evaluated by the teacher.
Week 3 The students might have interviewed them in person during the previous week. If they have not already done so,
the students will interview their community expert. The students can invite the expert to the school in order to conduct an
interview in person, or they can use Skype (http://www.skype.com/en/) to interview the community expert during this class
time. If the students have already interviewed the community expert, then they will research Greco-Roman myths to find one
that is similar in theme to that of the modern myth taught to them by their expert. As questions arise regarding comparing the
modern myth to the Greco-Roman myth, students will contact their community expert to guide their comparisons. The
teacher will continue in his/her role as facilitator, guiding the students along with the community expert, in their research and
comparisons.
Week 4-8 Over the next four weeks, the students will be working at their own pace to complete the following tasks.
1) The students will have to continue their research from the previous week in finding a Greco-Roman myth that is
similar in theme to the one told by their community expert last week.
2) The students will create Venn diagram on Google Drive in order to compare and contrast the modern cultural myth
and Greco-Roman myths.
3) The students will create a storyboard on Google Drive, outlining their final project. The storyboard, along with the
research and comparisons, will be added to the Google Drive document, to be viewed by both the teacher and
community expert.
4) The students will create their final products, which will include filming and editing the video or creating digital story
book.
BoomWriter - http://boomwriter.com/
Little Bird Tales - https://littlebirdtales.com/
The Art of Storytelling http://www.artofstorytelling.org/write-a-story
Tik a Tok - http://www.tikatok.com/
UTellStory- http://utellstory.com/
Zooburst - http://www.zooburst.com/
Supporting Materials
Rubric created by students via Rubistar - http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
Feedback posted via VoiceThread - http://voicethread.com/#home
Movie Editing Programs
Movie Maker software by Microsoft
iMovie
Electronic Publishing
School Tube - http://www.schooltube.com/
What modifications have you made since you submitted your idea for feedback?
I made the project more challenging and standards-based by altering the final product of the students. The students are
creating products that will compare modern myths to Greco-Roman myths, instead of just retelling modern myths. Also, the
students will create a rubric on which they will be evaluated by the 9th grade Language Arts classes. I have also included time
in the project for the Latin students to make changes to their final products based on the feedback from the Language Arts
students. The Language Arts students not only will use the rubric to provide the feedback but will also post feedback video
on VoiceThread. Based off of the feedback of the Language Arts classes, the Latin students will make changes to their
project before the final projects are graded by the teacher. Further changes I made to the idea include the addition of national
foreign language standards, which are being addressed by this project.
Which indicators of Engaged Learning will be high in this lesson and Why?
Standards-based - Both local and national standards will be addressed
Authentic and Meaningful- students will create a product for audiences
Student-directed Student will be interviewing locals, researching the myth, and creating the final product in order
to increase their understanding of mythology as an important part of a culture
Multi-disciplinary - Reading, writing, and research will be a vital part of the project
Culturally Responsible the representation of other cultures myths will recognize the local communitys
knowledge and culture
Student as Producer students will produce a product that will assist peers in the learning process of standards
Student as Teacher by showing the video to Language Arts classes, the students are the ones teaching others
about modern myths
Teachers as Facilitator Teacher will assist in the learning of new technology and in the comparison on modern to
Greco-Roman myths
Collaborative working in pairs as well as interviewing a community expert will provide the students will
collaborative opportunities
Performance-based the final product is for real audience and will be graded by rubric