August 21, 2018

Announcements and Reminders:                             Find your seat on the seating chart.  Ask for a supplies handout if you did not get one at Back-to-School or Seventh Grade Day. Make sure you bring a composition book ASAP.                     Tuesday through Friday will follow a no-Cave-Time schedule. There will be no Cave Time this week.

Targets for Today: I can agree on a working definition of "mythology" for the purposes of this class. I can show what I already know about mythology. I can learn more about -- and/or be reminded of -- creation myths.

Today’s  Agenda: What is "Mythology"?         How would you define it?   What could be our working definition for this class?              1)  Create an individual definition.              2)  Create a group definition. -- Create a poster.               3)  Class discussion  Someone called Mythology "a slurpee of knowledge."  The line between myth and religion is blurry. Let's eliminate the definition of myth as it is used to mean "not true." mythos = story -logy = study A myth is a story, but it's a special kind of story that has two primary characteristics: significance and staying power.  Significance  The subject matter is about important, something about how the world works or how the world itself got going or how things came to be.   Staying power These are stories that have survived centuries, sometimes millennia,and this is testament to the deep meaning or functional importance of these stories to the people who hear and tell them. the stories that stick around and get told over and over again through generations They may or may not be true. George Washington is important to the mythology of the United States.  Washington was a real person. Some stories are true (Delaware) some are not (cherry tree).  Those stories, these myths, matter and they stick around being told to each new generation Pioneer stories are important to Utah culture.  Many stories told about the pioneers are true, and they make up the Utah mythology  They tell us who we are and what our values are. These stories, these myths, are important to families here and so they keep getting told. 4)  What do you know about mythology?        On the paper provided, do a brain spill of all you know.  Write and/or illustrate your understandings.   5)  In the beginning. .  . .    Creation myths from various cultures   ex nihilo  -- out of nothingness  Chaos  Chaos is what we have before a God or Gods create order.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eVFgfQ2694 4:00 Guinea -4:4:58  [Guinea is a country in Western Africa.)  6:48   Mayan of Guatamala from the Popul Vu, The Bbook of the Community   to about 8:28  Egyptian:  Ra     Native American:

If You Were Absent: See above for what we did.

Vocabulary:

Help and Enrichment  Native American Myths:  https://blackhawkmuseum.org/creationmyths/