#3966. Greek & Modern Day Heroes

Literature, level: Middle
Posted Tue Apr 3 19:24:03 PDT 2007 by Dale Smith (dalitoe@aol.com).
Temple City High School, Temple City, USA
Materials Required: Chalk/Whiteboard
Activity Time: 50 minutes (plus Homework time)
Concepts Taught: Compare/Contrast, Reading, Writing

GREEK MYTH & MODERN DAY HEROES LESSON PLAN
Dale Smith, January, 2007.

TSW compare modern day "heroes" to 4 Greek heroes (Hercules, Perseus, Theseus, Atalanta).

1.Put 4 Greek heroes (Hercules, Perseus, Theseus, Atalanta) horizontally across the board. Make columns for each of them.
2.Students recreate columns on their own paper.
3.Students reflect on how a "hero" of today (celebrity, sports star, actor, politician, family member, friend, etc.) possesses the same traits as a Greek hero. Students write down at least one modern hero for each Greek hero category.
4.Students approach board and transfer their paper notes to board, listing their matching modern day heroes in the appropriate Greek hero columns.
5.Class discussion of how modern day heroes compare to Greek heroes. Each student explains how the modern day hero they selected shares traits with the Greek hero.
6.Students evaluate modern day hero matches during discussion. Students decide to eliminate modern day heroes that do not match the Greek heroes, and are invited to add more modern day heroes that come to mind during discussion.
7.Class comes to an agreement as to what makes a hero a hero.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:

Choose a real person who is alive today that you admire and that you think is like one of the 4 Greek Heroes (Perseus, Theseus, Hercules, Atalanta).
Write an analysis paper comparing that real person to a Greek Hero. Explain in detail why you think this person is like that Hero.

(Students turn in in-class notes with analysis paper)