Reflect on how your experience of creating a myth differs from and/ or enhances the study of myth?
What did you learn from this experience that you could use in your future teaching/life?
Consuming media and creating it can be very different experiences. Some people just like to consume it and not create it. Others like to create it and not consume it. Some like both, and for others it depends on the media being consumed and created.
In creative writing classes, I have read short stories and myths, but have only been assigned to write short stories. Writing a myth was a new experience because not only was I writing any short story, but I had to write a story with fantasy elements to explain a worldly phenomenon. I found the experience very enjoyable as I used a topic that I myself enjoyed: frogs. My myth was about how lily pads came to be, thanks to the cries of a small frog princess. I enjoyed tapping into my creativity to create a short playful myth about a frog.
Through this writing experience, I learned that writing a myth can be used to tap into creativity by also instilling a sense of wonder. This would potentially be a fun lesson for students since the possibilities are nearly limitless for the type of myth that can be created. Students could write a myth to fantastically explain any phenomenon or origin story. I'm glad I got to learn through this experience, and I think others could as well.
Hi Dania!
ReplyDeleteBeing a consumer and being a creator are two different experiences, and I typically end up on the consumer side. It usually isn’t until I have been assigned projects at school where I enter a creative approach, which makes me infinitely more grateful about being a student. While I will always love to consume different types of media (film, music, etc.), the art of creating is so enriching, fulfilling, and rewarding, that it is a hard feeling to compare; nothing comes close. I really enjoyed your own myth, and I am glad you were able to incorporate your interests with it. Every assignment feels more enjoyable when I get to include my own hyperfixations. In a way, it forces others to care about what I care about! I also want to incorporate this activity in my own class, and I am excited to see what my future students come up with. They would have similar creative freedom, and I would let their spirits run wild.
Hi Dania, I appreciate your mindset towards approaching this subject. The consumer/creator look at things is something I inadvertently mentioned in my post as I explained how many of the world myths we looked at were more implicit to me than explicit, which in hindsight exposes my more natural response of consumption over creation. I agree with you that inspiring a sense of wonder would likely be doable and enjoyable for students. Nice post! -Grace Gallo
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