Say goodbye to the boring slideshows that tell students tons of information about Greek gods and goddesses and the Trojan War.
Instead, put your students in control of their learning as they move through different stations--each station gives them a bite-sized bit of information that will set them up well for a unit on mythology or a full study of The Odyssey.
The Stations:
Gods and Goddesses Matching Game Station: Students at this station will receive a stack of hand-held cards. Some cards contain the name of a specific god/goddess, and other cards describe a god/goddess. Students will work together to match as many as possible. No problem if they don't know them all! This will give both students and teacher an awareness of what students already know.
What Started The Trojan War Station: Students at this station will read all about the bribes that began this infamous war! Students will read the first half of the background story to the Trojan war. This station becomes interactive because each student gets assigned a role (Paris, Athena, Aphrodite, etc.) Before reading the end of the story, the student assigned as Paris will have to make his/her decision about which bribe to take. Then students read the end of the story to see what that actual Paris ended up doing!
How The Trojan War Ended Station: A great station for building reading comprehension skills! Students will take turns reading aloud the short story of how the Trojan War ended and learn/review the importance of the Trojan Horse. Students will discuss with their peers the key points in the story, then they will summarize in bullet points how the war ended on their handout Though less "hands on" then other stations, this station is still critical for students' to develop their skills or reading and summarizing important information.
Monsters and Mortals Station: In this station, students will receive a stack of cards that relate to different characters and obstacles from the Greek epic The Odyssey (think Scylla and Charybdis, the Sirens, Poseidon, Zeus, etc.). Students will see a painting of each and read the short description of each on the hand-held card. Then, students will answer a unique prediction question based on each monster and mortal that relates to how that character could impact a hero's journey.
The Hero's Journey Station Students will watch an engaging 5-minute video on the hero's journey and then jot down notes about each stage of the journey. This station allows students to see that the hero's journey is a storytelling convention that goes back thousands of years and is still used today!
The Set up
These are low-prep stations. Each station can be set up in advance in about 5 minutes or less. Once you set up each station one time, the set up is very minimal for future use.
You can set up physical stations around your room to get students moving, and if you have a larger class, double the stations so that you have 10 stations (but students only move through 5 stations).
Everything You Get:
Teacher Lesson Plan with detailed step-by-step instructions, CCS alignment, materials needed, and differentiation strategies
Slideshow that explains to your students what they'll be doing during the stations activity
Student Handout where they will jot down meaningful notes from each station
Google Links everything is accessible via google links.
