The Task:
“You’ve moved to the upscale neighborhood of Mt. Olympus, rubbing elbows with the big shots, the wealthy, the divine – otherwise known as the Greek Gods. To fit in you better know who your neighbors are! This playlist will help you find out all about their habits, attitudes, and yes…their powers!”
Teaming with our amazing 7th grade English teachers Mrs. Cullison & Mrs. Krieger, we’ve re-worked our usual Greek Mythology research unit and added a Reality TV hook for engagement. (Confession: we all have a shared guilty pleasure is the Real Housewives franchise) Since we didn’t want to do “Real Housewives of Mt. Olympus” for fear that our guy students would be turned off by that, we thought Big Rich would do the trick! PS. This lesson also would work for our good friends in the Social Studies Department! (Hellooo NCSS!)
Horrible Histories: a Video Engagement Hook!
Let’s also combine the fun of the BBC Horrible Histories & Rotten Romans to inspire the kiddos and start them to see the gods & goddesses with individual personalities!
Challenge: Limited Technology, Time, & Maximize Engagement
A simple shared library book cart loaded with World Book Encyclopedias, pulled mythology books, a MentorMob playlist (embedded below), a Wikipspaces page, and a few MacBooks can = meaningful mythology research!
A MentorMob playlist helps students focus their research without being distracted (hopefully!) by unrelated links. The playlist includes curated and vetted web pages that are specific to the task at hand and guide them through the steps completing the research phase of the project. A MentorMob Playlist is also perfect if you want to FLIP the Classroom & have students go through the steps at home! (But ever mindful of our digital divide – always provide classroom time for those students who might have no access to the Interwebs at home)
Students will be choosing their god or goddess through a random drawing (they will have 30 seconds to switch & trade) then they will research their divine being!
Check out our:
Big Rich Mt. Olympus: A Legendary Playlist
Mt. Olympus Problems – Brainstorm!
Before they start the project and after they’ve had time to do some research their god or goddess – have a Mt. Olympus Problems – Brainstorming session with our kiddos about what they could be! (see & feel free to use my included graphics for inspiration)
The Big Rich Mt. Olympus Product
We will be giving students a variety of projects to choose from including a Fakebook Page, a Wanted Sign, a PSA, and a Weebly web page.
A
Fakebook page is a project that combines social media engagement with creativity but can be low tech in execution. Whether the kids choose the
PPT template by
Nick Provenzano – The Nerdy Teacher or the updated one Facebook Template from
Lindsay Cesari’s blog, No Shhing Here (downloadable on my
Wikispaces page), the
Google Docs Preso version by Meghen Ehrich (Go to FILE > Make a Copy for yourself!) or the online version, or my adapted & transformed downloadable “old skool” pencil & paper version. Whichever mode you decide, each encourages students to think of the gods & goddesses as real people with, personalities, character traits, flaws, habits, attitudes, and abilities and combines them with the engagement of social media.
Make is Social!
Let kids randomly or in small groups “be” their divine being & write on other peoples walls AS their god or goddess. (Make sure they initial content for attribution & ownership) Have them trade “papers” or walls to make blog comments, join groups, draw pictures, etc. Do a gallery walk at the culminating class to “grade” with post it notes or score pads giving out points for those whose additions were the most creative, fun, amusing, & accurate. Talk about which god or goddess would you rather be friends with, (or enemies!) and why!
Wikispaces Research Page
Also feel free to check out my
Mythology Research Wikispaces page! Copy the whole
page if you like including the graphics (remove captions) –
Take, Use, Share – just please make sure to give attribution.
When technology is limited, how do you transform high tech
options into low tech products?
As always, your comments are invited, appreciated, & celebrated!
YAY!
Resources:
How to Create Links
How to make a website using //weebly/
Mrs. Cullison’s Mythology Weebly pages examples
BONUS!
“We created the Poe Museum to showcase our students’ hard work and creativity with their Research Projects about Edgar Allan Poe. It came to life when Mrs. Smith was listening to Mrs. Cullison explain the project to students and pictured this fun and interactive way to display their projects. We wanted to create a memorable experience for our students. We also wanted to help them gain a better understanding of Poe’s life and how it influenced his famous short stories and poems.“
Every year I get excited to share with my kiddos the Summer Reading List and to generate new ways to catch their interest in reading over the break. This year we decided to create video book trailers using the Vine App! 6 second videos that loop with sound. No editing needed just creativity! See what we did embedded below along with our downloadable Howard County Public School System and Howard County Public Library Middle School Summer Reading List! 
Tiff was moderating our conversation with her official Harry Potter wand! We are both ardent 
