Creating an original myth was as enlightening as it was entertaining; aside from being an exercise in creative, fictional writing, it provided me with the opportunity to transfer what we had learned regarding mythology and folklore into my own text. To elaborate, when writing my myth, I borrowed from a variety of sources. For instance, similar to how Indigenous folklore uses one, singular animal as a stand-in for the entirety of the species, I employed the same. This enabled me to expand on the traits of the characters, to the point where the question that my overall myth addressed (why do cats dislike water?) also included the answers to other curiosities (why are dogs such skilled swimmers and why do fish sleep at night?) Furthermore, one of the main characters of my myth-- Fish-- can be best described as adhering to the archetype of the "trickster." While Fish deviates somewhat in the sense that he is more heroic and sympathetic, as opposed to the morally ambiguous nature of the trickster, he nevertheless does succeed in outsmarting Cat. Ultimately, creating an original myth greatly enhanced my understanding of mythology and folklore; it deepened my comprehension of the complex characters and themes that are embedded within myths, while also emphasizing how each myth serves a purpose in either explaining a certain phenomenon or instilling a moral.
In regards to how I can incorporate this experience into my future lesson plans, I would have students repeat the very same activity that we engaged in: writing their own original myth. However, I would have students write an myth that utilized a maximum of three mythological archetypes. For instance, one myth could potentially include: "the female divine," "the male divine," and "the trickster." This way, students who are undertaking this assignment would need to have a well-developed understanding of each of these roles. Even though these requirements are somewhat more stringent than the ones that we followed, it nevertheless remains an effectively method of teaching students the component of a myth. Beforehand, I would also review the elements associated with each of these archetypes and themes, as well as various stories that demonstrated them. Once students completed creating their original myth, I would have them read the myth aloud to the class, and give a presentation on the characters and themes used. How do these archetypes and themes resemble those found in traditional mythology? What purpose did they serve in the myth itself? By doing this, students will again need to carefully consider why these mythological archetypes and themes are present, rather than claiming that they are there to fulfill a requirement only.
I believe that how you plan to approach the "create your own myth" assignment is a great one. Having heard other students' experiences, one of the things that they struggled with is the absolute freedom to do whatever they want, and not have an already existing ground and framework to build upon. I think that for students who prefer a more stricter assignment with more instructions and requirements to follow, it is great to have them to have "the female divine," for instance, to be an aspect to work within during the creation of their myth. This also builds upon something I mentioned in my blog where I said that creating your own myth helps you solidify your understanding of already existing myths and their components. Despite this, I also think that giving students less requirements, like our actual assignment was, can also be helpful too as it allows full creative control, which is in itself, its own experience with its own upsides.
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