Evening, all. I have for you today a little project, appropriate for lower-level Latin students studying the Olympian gods, put together by my colleague, Ms. Laura Kay. The instructions can be found below, but the concept is exceedingly simple. Students will begin by a choosing one of the major gods, and, in researching that god, reading a story about that deity that was not covered in class. They must then retell that story in a mere seven sentences, composed of their own words and written in such a manner as to be readily understood by someone with no knowledge whatsoever of Greek mythology. As if they were making a children’s book, the students should place each sentence onto the poster-board in a large, clear font. To illustrate the sentences, at least three images of paintings or sculptures, ancient or modern, which pertain to that myth must be found and included above the appropriate sentences. Each image must be labelled, with students giving the title of the work and the museum in which it currently resides; this, of course, helps to weed out anything from the effluvium of peculiar fan-art that usually pops up in a Google image search!
As I mentioned earlier, it is a project ideally suited to those students who are just beginning their study of the language, though it would not be too difficult to have, if you preferred, a slightly more advanced class compose their sentences in basic Latin. It is also a means by which to introduce your students to more stories about the gods than you might be able to cover during what little time any of us ever seem to have to do what needs to be done.
Deities Poster
