ABOVE: The centaur Chiron, the original teacher of mythology and trainer of heroes.
WELCOME TO MYTHOLOGY TEACHER.COM!
Yes,
the
name says it all.MythologyTeacher.com
is a website specially designed as an aide for teachers teaching mythology.While
this might not seem to be a huge
demographic, more and more educators are beginning to mythology
into their curricula. Recent blockbuster films drawn from popular books such as Lord of the RingsandPercy Jackson and the
Olympians: The Lightning Thiefand video games like the God of War series have
piqued young people’s interest in traditional Greek and European mythology—while other
films such
as Princess Mononokeand Prince of Persia, not to mention the Manga craze, lead young people
toward an interest in lesser-known mythologies such as Japanese and
Middle
Eastern.With this amount of world mythology breaking
into pop culture, students are more interested in mythology now than ever. Teaching mythology in middle school and high school is becoming a great way to get students interested in reading, writing, and researching ancient history.For more information
on why it is important to teach mythology to young
people, click here.
Some
teachers
use mythology as a stand-alone unit; other teachers—such as myself—have
entire, year-long courses dedicated to the study of myths and legends
from
around the world.Other teachers incorporate
myths into units over
required texts such as Antigone, Julius
Caesar, Beowulf, Oedipus Rex, and
the Odyssey.No matter how much mythology you teach
in
your own course (or what type of mythology for that matter), you’re
bound to
find some helpful resources here! Most of our materials are free, but we also sell items like creative textbooks and classroom posters in the site store.
Even
though student interest can already be high, any subject can quickly
turn into
drudgery.Most teachers of mythology are
initially frustrated. Most mythologies pose a complicated labyrinth of
weird-sounding names and bizarre character relationships, and an
intimate
knowledge of any mythology does not come easily.The
solution? Mythology-teacher.com! While
this site cannot make memorizing names or stories any easier, it can
provide
you with an arsenal of creative activities and that will help bring
these
ancient stories to life!The lessons on
this website have been classroom-testedand proved
successful with secondary students.Many are easily
adaptable for use with higher
or lower levels.Each lesson attempts to
generate a fun and meaningful learning experience.I hope
you find the resources here helpful.
