Bringing Greek Mythology to the 21st
Century through Multigenre Writing
“Think, Write
Now!”
 Think of the current book you are reading or the
last book that you finished. What resonated with
you about that book? Was it a main character?
A theme?
 Choose either a main character or a theme from
this book and jot it down in your WNB. Then jot a
description of the character or theme. Finally,
brainstorm some other genres that you might
write in to portray the significance of this
character or theme.
Example…
 Character: Ponyboy from The Outsiders
 Description: He is a very reflective narrator who loves
learning, reading, writing, and movies. He doesn’t fully fit in
with his gang, The Greasers, because he has ambitions to
go to college and use his intellect for good. At the same
time he has an unwavering loyalty to his gang, viewing
them as his brothers. He also doesn’t allow stereotypes to
inhibit him from getting to know others. He sees metaphors
and symbols all around him. He is proud of his identity.
 Possible genres: (1) His goodreads page with books he’s
read, loved, and reviewed, (2) text messages or emails he
would have sent to Cherry if cell phones were around in the
1960s, (3) his college application and/or college essay
What is a Multigenre Paper Anyway?!?
http://www.learner.org/workshops/middlewri
ting/prog5.html
Rationale
 Reclaim opportunities for student choice within curriculum and
common core framework
 Engage students in creative thinking
 Multisensory and multiple intelligences
 A synthesis/capstone project of all of the writing and literary skills
we’ve practiced throughout year
 Narrative
 Informative
 Persuasive/argumentative
 Poetic
 Visual
 Oratory
 Reflective
 Starfish metaphor
Fitting Multigenre
Into the 7th Grade Curriculum
Month
Unit
September
Launching Readers & Writers Workshop
October
Close Reading & Response to Literature
(core text: The Outsiders by SE Hinton)
November
Writing Realistic Fiction
December
Reading & Writing Poetry
January
Reading Nonfiction, Research Skills
February
Writing Research-Based, Argument
Essays & Debates
March
Survival Literature Book Clubs
April
Writing Literary Essays
May
Greek Mythology
June
Writing & Performing Monologues
Implementation
• Students choose a Greek god, goddess or creature to
research in depth
• Students complete a DQI chart as their note taking
structure and tool for generating ideas of appropriate
genres to write in
• Students develop a multigenre project that includes at
least 5 different genres interwoven to tell the life, story,
and purpose of the god, goddess, or creature.
• For each genre piece, students must also write an
endnote in the form of a reflective paragraph, which
explains their rationale for using the particular genre.
• Students must attach a bibliography of sources with their
project. At least 3 of their sources must be books.
Some Potential Genres
(Not an Exhaustive List)
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birth certificate
academic merit/award
character resume
comic strip
picture book
wanted ad written from the
perspective of an enemy
series of letters, emails, or text
messages
facebook page with
newsfeeds of god/goddess’s
adventures
diary entries
recipe
Twitter post and hashtag
6 word memoirs
advertisement
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wedding
invitations/announcements
showing marriage(s) of
god/goddess
map of character’s
neighborhood/home/journeys
music video
documentary
movie trailer
modern style myth
editorial
Op Ed from the perspective of
a god or goddess on an issue
or concern
eulogy honoring character’s
life accomplishments
obituary
Assessment
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Student and teacher-created rubric
Peer evaluation
Self evaluation
Reflection of the project
Next Steps & Feedback
• I need to establish general assessment
criteria to help me to build in mini lessons for
this assignment and help students to
develop evaluative criteria
• I need to create a model of this assignment
to walk students through (perhaps using a
character from our core text The Outsiders?)
• Your thoughts, suggestions, ideas, tips???
Works Cited
Annenberg Learner Teacher Resources & Professional Development across the
Curriculum. (2014). Write in the Middle, a Workshop for Middle School Teachers:
Teaching Multigenre Writing. (Workshop Video). Retrieved from
http://www.learner.org/workshops/middlewriting/prog5.html
Camille, A. & Swistak, L. (2004). Multigenre Research: The Power of Choice and
Interpretation. Language Arts Journal, 81 (3), 223-232.
Gillespie, J. (2005). “It would be fun to do it again”: Multigenre responses to literature.
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 48 (8), 678-684.
Moulton, M. (1999). The multigenre paper: Increasing interest, motivation, and
functionality in research. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42 (7), 528-539.
Putz, M. (2006). A Teacher’s Guide to the Multigenre Research Project. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.