Read, Listen, View
Enter this Unit.	Middle Level: Grades 6-8 Middle-Level Standard: Nonfiction Gain ideas and information from listening to presentations or reading online essays about the historical and cultural context, mythological representation, function, and style of the unit's 24 artworks. Describe the visual choices that artists made in creating the unit's artworks by responding to questions that can be answered by looking at the works. (See the "Look" questions about each artwork.) Interpret each of the unit's artworks by responding to questions that help explore an artist's creative intent and the reasons behind the artist's visual choices. (See the "Think" questions about each artwork.) Become aware of the symbolic content in art (e.g., attributes that identify mythological characters, colors associated with meanings). Select two or more artworks from the same category (e.g., Hero Myths) in the online Mythological Comparisons chart, and develop a chart that compares the artworks according to these categories: medium and technique, function, size, cultural origins, and style. Middle-Level Standard: Fiction Read online or listen to audio recordings of myths that inspired creation of the unit's artworks, and evaluate how the artworks interpret the myths. (See Downloadable Resources for audio files.) Recognize that myths serve a variety of functions (e.g., to explain a practice, belief, institution, or natural phenomenon). Recognize the importance of myths in understanding the historical and cultural development of various world cultures. Compare and contrast elements of the creation myths that correspond to the unit's artworks. (See online Mythological Comparisons chart.) To complement the study of artworks about myths that relate the triumph of good over evil, discuss fairy tales and modern stories and films that employ the same theme (e.g., Cinderella, Snow White, C.S. Lewis's Narnia Series, Terence White's The Sword in the Stone). To complement the study of artworks about mythological heroes that embody both human and superhuman qualities, discuss how modern fictional and film heroes display similar qualities (e.g., Superman, Wonder Woman). To complement the study of artworks that represent myths about real people, discuss myths told about famous Americans (e.g., George Washington and the cherry tree, Hiawatha in Longfellow's poem, Annie Oakley, Davy Crockett).
More Standards Information
Send comments to the Webmaster.