Blog #3 - Reflecting on Myths After Creating One

Creating a myth was a very interesting experience that really helped me solidify my understanding of existing myths.  Being able to create my own myth, no matter how much of a not serious approach I took, allowed me to apply what I learned in a creative and fun way.  I think this is good in teaching because it is commonly said that if you know something, you can recreate it yourself in your own way, and I think this philosophy is good to help students solidify their learning as well as show what they've learned.  Creating a myth and studying myths are different processes, sure, but they do have an influence on each other.  The process of creating a myth tends to pull from elements of existing myths, which means there's a sort of "soft" framework for what myths are.  This is because, while different myths have much variation, there are similarities among them all that allow them all to be grouped under the term "myth," which we have to consider when creating our own.

Like I said, I think that creating our own made up myth allows us to apply what we understand about existing myths to reinforce our learning.  I think this is a good technique for students while allowing them to be creative and have fun, which is how I believe kids learn best.  I also think that applying this in ones personal life can help personal growth and learning too.  This helps people get a new point of view and angle on what they're learning, and it broadens what they learn and can lead to a deeper understanding of the topic.

Comments

  1. Katherine OrnelasOctober 26, 2024 at 7:23 PM

    Hi Homura,
    I’m glad you had fun creating your myth! I also felt that this assignment was a great way to apply what we learned in class in a fun and creative way. I notice that many of us took a silly approach to our myth subjects, and I think this lends itself well to the fact that myths can be created around anything and that profound meaning can be found anywhere. You make a good point in saying that an exercise like this will be fun and engaging for high school students. Ancient myths might not be terribly interesting to teenagers, but I bet a lot of them would have fun adapting their own characters, or their favorite existing characters, into stories which explain natural phenomena or teach life lessons. Studying myths was the best way for us to figure out how to create our own myths, and doing so can help students better retain their lessons on myth archetypes and storytelling techniques. I also like that you mentioned that the creation of original myths can help students reframe their own personal life experiences. A student might be able to gain new perspective on a difficult event in their life that they overcame when they try to apply a moral or a lesson to it in a way that can be shared with others. Great post!

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