Classical Magnet School

World Mythology

Course Overview

The World Mythology course is intended to aid in the time-honored task of the moral education of the students. Moral education—the training of heart and mind toward the good—involves many things. It involves rules and precepts—the do’s and don’ts of life with others—as well as explicit instruction, exhortation and training.

As William Bennett stated so well in the introduction of the Book of Values:

Moral education must provide training in good habits. Aristotle
wrote that good habits must affirm the central importance of moral example. It has been said that there is nothing more influential,
more determinant, in a child’s life than the moral power of quiet
example. For children to take morality seriously they must be in
the presence of adults who take morality seriously. And with
their own eyes they must see adults take morality seriously.

Therefore, the literature and the lessons of the World Mythology course are based on the core values of The Classical Magnet School—Dignitas, Gravitas, and Pietas. The first readings studied introduce the students to the core values, and hopefully, inspire the students to live and breathe our core values.

The next literature studied is from the cultures of the early Mediterranean people, Egypt, China, India and various African peoples. These readings accompany the course of study of the sixth grade social studies curriculum. Incorporated into this rhetoric curriculum are the skills and strategies necessary for mastery on the Connecticut Mastery Test in the Reading Comprehension, Degrees of Reading Power, and the Writing sections. All of the units of study follow the Paideia Principles.

“The first feature of a classic is thickness, referring not to the width of the book, but
rather to the density of its discourse. Much is going on in every paragraph.”-Jacques Barzun

	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	March	April	May	June
Content-based Essential Questions	What is a hero? Are fairness and equality the same thing?	How does oppression affect both the victim and the oppressor?	How does oppression affect both the victim and the oppressor?
History Themes	Introduction	Middle East	Middle East	Middle East	Africa	Africa	Asia	Asia	Asia	Research
Major Readings				The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis			Bound by Donna Jo Napoli	Bound by Donna Jo Napoli	A Midsummer Night’sDream by William Shakespeare	A Midsummer Night’sDream by William Shakespeare
Required Additional Readings	En û ma Elish- in Handout Creation Myths (to be determined)	“Gilgamesh” in RTWM	Hebrew Myth		“Death of Osiris”in RTWM	African Myths	“Rama & Sita” in RTWM	“Bao Chu’s Search for the Sun” in RTWM The Analects
Seminars	Text: “How to Get Started” Excerpts from A Single Shard	Gilgamesh the King , an epic from Ancient Persia Artifact Seminar	Excerpt from Letter of Medieval Jewish Traders – “The Merchant with Nothing to Sell” The Bible – Cain and Abel	About Revenge By Francis Bacon The Breadwinner excerpt “To Emancipate the Mind” by Abraham Lincoln	Art: Detail of Cedarwood Chair found in King Tut’s tomb	“The Fox and the Raven”—a tale from Egypt	“Why Parrots Mimic Humans” A Lesson for Kings – A Tale from India “If” by Rudyard Kipling (poem)	“The Three Jewels” Bound excerpt Current events news article	“A Boy and His Father’s Bones”—Chinese Tale	Selected excerpts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Coached Projects		Archeological Dig			Ancient Egyptian Fair			Human Rights Awareness	Shakespeare Festival
Optional Additional Readings					“Queens of Egypt” King Menes, Amon-Re	“Behind the Sealed Doors” “The Golden Goblet” selected readings from The Lost Boys of Sudan and They Poured Fire from the Sky	“Indra, King of the Gods” “Yama, the First Man, and King of the Dead”	Video: The Life of Buddha “The Prince Who Had Everything” “Siddhartha Gautama: The Buddha, the Man” “Teachings of the Buddha” “The Life of a Buddhist Monk” Buddhism and Meditation	“Zheng He and The Great Treasure Ships” Confucian Philosophy Ming Folktale “The Forbidden City” “The Valley of the 13 Imperial Tombs” “Four Generals” Excerpt from The Silk Route Excerpt from Growing Up in Ancient China Excerpts from Dragons, Gods, and Spirits
Skills-based Essential Questions
State Standards and CMT Strands	3A.1, 3B.1, 4B.1, 4C.2		3A.3, 3B.3, 4C.1, 4C.3			3A.3, 3B.3, 4B.1, 4C.2		3B.6, 4C.1, 4C.3
Reading Strategy Focus
Writing Focus	What is an essay? What is a paragraph? Structure Sentences, fragments and run-ons Parts of speech		Elaboration Fluency in writing					Introduction to Persuasive Writing
Grammar, Usage and Mechanics	Capitalization Names of people, places, groups, months, days, and holidays Titles of people First word in dialogue Names of organizations, nationalities, buildings, historical events Opening and closing of a letter Punctuation Comma After letter closing In a series In a date With an appositive With parenthetical expression With participial phrase With quotation marks With city and state Quotation marks Apostrophe Contractions Possessive Semi-colon Colon in a series		Usage Subject/verb agreement (number) singular and plural subject with intervening phrase Verb tense (time) present, past, future tenses (simple and perfect) Pronoun reference Comparative/Superlative Special problems in usage a/an they’re, their, there to, too, two good/well its, it’s I/me know/no then/than your/you’re whose/who’s hear/here who/whom were/we’re Spelling Grade appropriate words		Review/Refine based on student need	Review/Refine based on student need	Review/Refine based on student need	Review/Refine based on student need	Review/Refine based on student need	Review/Refine based on student need
Assessments		Compare-contrast essay: Ancient market place

BACK

Usage

Spelling