Unit Portfolio Presentation
Jason Lobdell
 Students conduct research that leads to an understanding of the
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mythological 12 Olympians and of connections between these
archetypal characters and contemporary characters.
Students utilize written texts (like Hamilton’s Mythology),
online texts, and “pop culture” for research.
They work in teams to create an illustrative monologue for one of
the 12 Olympian gods AND for a contemporary character who
exhibits characteristics of this god.
They publish their monologues via a “talking picture” (created at
Blabberize.com), and they discuss each other’s work on a class
blog.
Finally, students’ knowledge of all 12 Olympian gods is assessed
objectively via a standard paper/pencil quiz at the end of the
unit.
 Essential Questions
 What does it mean to be a hero?
 What does it mean to be a monster?
 What does it mean to be human?
 Unit Questions
 What were some of the characteristics that the Greeks
thought made a god (or a man) strong or weak—or
heroic?
 What were the ideas the Greeks valued so highly (like
marriage, or truth, or civilization, etc.) that they created
gods or goddesses to embody them?
 How do we today feel about these Greek ideals, and who
are some contemporary characters that embody them?
 Content Questions
For each of the 12 Olympian gods, students should know/be
able to describe:
 By what names (Greek and Latin) the god was known
 To whom the god was related (significant immortal and
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mortal relations)
What powers and/or areas of responsibility the god had
The god’s personality
At least one incident from the god’s history that illustrates the
god’s personality, responsibilities, etc.
At least one contemporary character (from film, TV, video
games, etc.) who is like the god in essential ways—ways that
further illustrate important aspects of the god’s character
 By creating this unit, I hope to:
 Help students explore the connections between timeless
archetypes, ancient literature and culture, and contemporary
culture
 Use media (internet, pop culture) with which my students are
already familiar to engage them in learning
 During this unit, I want my students to:
 Learn about archetypal connections between classic literature
and contemporary culture
 Use technology to communicate with different audiences
 Engage with each other in discussions about both ancient
literature and contemporary culture
 As my students work on this project, they
 Connect archetypes and ancient literature to the
contemporary world
 Collaborate with peers
 Create a product that shows what they’ve learned
 Share their learning with a real audience
 Students will develop higher-order and 21st century
skills in this unit as they
 Use the Essential and Unit Questions to guide their
analysis of ancient gods and goddesses and
contemporary/pop-culture characters
 Communicate their ideas to a community audience
using online media
 Reflect on their reading, writing, research, and thinking
strategies, and modify and adapt them as necessary
 Use project assessments to self-assess their work and
give feedback to their peers using both traditional and
technological means
 Use Assessments & CFQs to learn
 Students’ background knowledge of the
better-known Olympians
 Students’ ideas about characteristics of humans and
heroes, gods and monsters
 Assess 21st Century skills
 Ability to see common elements in ancient and
contemporary literature/culture
 Ability to use a variety of means, from traditional to
technological, to communicate with their peers
 I can use information from assessments to
 Guide students to learning that addresses ingoing
misperceptions or information needs
 Guide students to contemplate contemporary connections
that help them better understand underlying archetypes
 Students can use information from these assessments to
 Guide their own learning in terms of depth and direction
 Establish a knowledge base for future units
 Hone their communication skills for authentic audiences
 Need tools for assessing team/group work that fairly
assesses the work (or lack thereof) of individual
members