After creating my own myth, I have developed a newfound appreciation for myths and their creators. When we read a myth, we forget that in the past these myths were primarily told orally and that’s how they'd be passed down from generation to generation. To create a good myth, one has to be good at storytelling, and that takes creativity. I will say that studying myths did help my creative process because the majority of myths are meant to teach something in a way that the reader will be able to retain the information.
Initially I thought that writing a myth was going to be easy, but I found it to be quite difficult because I wanted to tell a story that hadn't already been told. Personally I thought it was quite funny that I found this assignment to be difficult because I’d like to think I’m good at storytelling, but I guess that it was just harder because I had to create something that was structured around a prompt. Myths, at least from my understanding, are meant to teach the reader a valuable life lesson or about a natural phenomenon, and that’s why I wanted to do something similar.
The way I’d use what I learned in my future teachings is by using storytelling as a way to engage the students in learning. I’ve always been able to absorb information better when there is a story attached to it because it seems easier to understand. When I was in community college, I had a professor whose primary teaching style was to incorporate stories in his teachings, and I can just about remember everything I learned in that class, and I think this is the same effect myths are supposed to have.
Hi Magali,
ReplyDeleteI completely relate to what you said about having a newfound appreciation for myths after writing your own. It's one thing to read them, but it takes a lot of creativity when you actually have to sit down and write one for yourself. You mentioned that myths were actually passed down orally, and it made me think just how powerful storytelling is. Writing mine was harder than expected, and generations after generations have memorized cultural myths. It literally blows my mind. I also agree that myths are meant to teach something. Whether that is a lesson or some part of history when the myth was created. Overall, I think this is a great post and I'm sure your class will benefit from the storytelling approach you will take :)
- Trisha
Hi Magali,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the fact that you talked about what the creative process was like for you to write your myth. I can completely relate to the idea of not being a creative person and I understand the struggles of having to come up with something like a myth from scratch. It’s very commendable that you wanted to stick to telling a story that hadn’t been told before because I know how difficult that must’ve been. Since I am definitely not the best at writing stories, I decided to do quite the opposite and write about something that is a very popular topic. I thought that creating my own way of teaching the readers a lesson that they had heard before would be an easier route for me. Since it’s a topic people know, they would easily pick up on what the story was about, where it was going, and what the lesson in the end would be. I also liked the idea that there could be many different stories or versions that tell essentially the same story which helped me create my myth as well.
-Clarisa Rodriguez