As a teacher of Mythology, I think modern readers are vastly unaware of major mythological references that appear all around them. No one bothers to think why a vehicle might be called an Electra or where the name for the Tennesee Titans came from. Plus, one of the most annoying questions asked ("Why do we ever need to know this?) quickly falls away when the student find out fun facts such as:
- The days of the week are named after Norse gods
- Europe is named after one of Zeus' girlfriends
- The Olympics were founded by Heracles
- Words such as "geography", "moraphine", "hypnosis", "music", and the ever popular "hermaphrodite" all reference characters from ancient Greek mythology.
Surprisingly, this is all leading to a point: my demo will center around a technique I've used extensively to get across the major and minor stories of myth and legend. Although I find these accounts fascinating all by themselves, Reader's Theatre provides a great way to get the students interested and excited about the material. So look forward to that.
