Myths

In my search for a myth, I checked several books out from the library, but it was my stop at the used book store yesterday that was the most fruitful. I found a nearly new copy of a book called Classic Myths to Read Aloud. It is stories of Greek and Roman Mythology specially arranged for children five and up. It is a perfect book for beginners and for me as it gives background information and it gives pronunciations. I want to share some information the author gave in the introduction to the book. He talked about how we often think our children are learning about certain things in school because we learned it, but that is not always what is happening. I did not learn an abundance about myths, but have always been fascinated by them. My three daughters all had excellent units on mythology when they were in 6th grade. My sons has had no exposure to the myths. I felt so “on the same page” as the author when he told how much these students will miss out on in life as they are not able to understand any of the references to the mythological characters or expressions. I have to share his story with you, it is just too sad. It will hopefully make your job as a storyteller even more important.
"…..I was riding a student bus that was taking me across a university campus to the school’s education Department. In front of me on the bus were two undergraduate women-sophomores or juniors, perhaps—who were having a most difficult time trying to figure out what a certain passage in their textbook meant by its references to ‘the wooden horse of Troy’. I could barely believe what I was hearing, but an even greater jolt was in store. The last words I heard them say before they, too got off at the Education Building were, “and who in the world is this guy Troy, anyway?”(3)
He saw 2 tragedies…one was that they were probably bright students who never had heard the story, second was that they were probably going to be classroom teachers and would be guiding the learning of other children.

So go forth and tell ----


In our after telling chat with Roy Book Binder, he mentioned that sometimes a story he is telling takes off in another direction because of something he is reminded of….just like Schank talks about in the remembering chapter and we are experiencing in class.