1. MYTHS

2. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS TO EXPLORE What are myths? (Monday) What are the stories we are a part of? (Wednesday—small group) What are the myths that we build and buy into? (Wednesday / Thursday—small group) What is the purpose of myths? (Wednesday / Thursday—small group) What are the fundamental elements of a myth? (Wednesday / Thursday—Movie)

3. WHAT IS A MYTH? Mythology is made up of stories people told each other to explain death and natural disasters to justify burial and other sacred rituals to create a sense of identity for a people to provide their heroes and their enemies. Mythmaking process reveals much about how humanity has coped and is still coping with the puzzle of being alive.

4. CATEGORIES OF MYTH: MYTHS OF CHILDHOOD Myths of childhood: Fairy-tales: Witches, demons, elves, terrifying landscapes Ways of teaching children about moral code of their society How do these still influence your life? What stories do you still remember from your childhood? Three Little Pigs Sleeping Beauty Cinderella

5. CATEGORIES OF MYTH: MYTHS AS EXPLANATION Myths as explanation: Fanciful explanations of natural events that had to be understood: storms, volcanic eruptions, eclipses, thunder, lightening, and other natural phenomena How to account for natural phenomena and how to account for all the trouble that seemed to come with life http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/e cho07.lan.stories.raven/the-raven-story/ http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/e cho07.lan.stories.raven/the-raven-story/

6. CATEGORIES OF MYTH: ARCHETYPAL MYTHS Archetypal myths: Cultures that invent, tell, and pass along stories in which certain characters and certain recurrent themes have influenced the way people understand their existence How we cope with the enormous and baffling task of being human Archetypes are characters, symbols, and buried assumptions transmitted from one generation to another, known as a collective unconscious Star Wars—see excerpt

7. THE WORLD MYTH OR MONOMYTH: CAMPBELL The classic hero journey: 1.Departure 2.Initiation 3.The Road of Trials 4.The Innermost Cave 5.Return and Reintegration with Society

8. MODERN MYTHS Psychological realities that help shape our experiences and our way of interpreting the world. We absorb our mythology in the act of growing up—from the culture surrounding us, from our family, from our education, and religion Myths can be an aid to clear thinking if we learn how to see which myths are shaping our experience and then sit back and select those we find beneficial and cast aside those that hinder critical thought

9. TODAY’S TASK Find a myth that you are currently unfamiliar with. See the list of sources to consult on my blog. Print a myth to bring to class on Wednesday. Be able to answer the following questions about your found myth: What is the purpose of this myth? What does it reveal about the culture that it came from? What type of myth does it fall under?

10. WEDNESDAY With your small group, you will work to find Similarities between your myths Similarities between your personal myths What are the stories we are a part of? (Wednesday—small group) What are the myths that we build and buy into? (Wednesday / Thursday—small group) What is the purpose of myths? (Wednesday / Thursday—small group)