We recently completed a mini-research project on the 12 Olympians. Students greatly enjoyed learning about various Greek gods and goddesses, and it was a joy to read about which one each student wanted to be related to. The responses ranged from funny to extremely thoughtful - I'm seeing growth in students' ability to express their thinking using evidence!
Here are some highlights*:
*spelling/grammar has been kept the same (we obviously need some work!) and initials used to protect privacy
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Hades because he is different from his siblings and I can relate how that feels. Also, that he has a vicsous animal called a cerberus, which is a three headed dog, and who dosen't like dogs? (besides cat people) Lastis, he is the god of death in the underworld, and it reminds me of FNAF which is my favorite thing in the word (besides foxy the pirate and dogs)." - A.S., Period 5
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Ahtena because she is very confident in fighting, and I think I'm confident in fighting, either bullies and or challenges. I would also protect my home, my friends and families. And owls are my 3rd favorite animal. And also, Athena would protect my family so we would feel safe." - A.P., Period 4
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Athena because she is the goddess of wisdom and courage. I wish to be wise and courages. Also she sprang from Zesu' head in full form wearing armor and I find that interesting. She is also the daughter of posideen and I love the sea." - A.J, Period 5
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Poseidon because I really like the sea and I thought that it would be cool if I could ride horses and sea horses. Also because I can control when it floods or when the droughts happen so if we don't have enough water then I can make a flood. And when there is a flood, I can make it into a drought so there would be a nice balance." - H.I., Period 6 [Teacher's note: What an appropriate response given California's current drought!]
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Athena because I like how she is the god of war but she doesn't like war. I like how she beilives in herself and she is persistant. She was known as being the goddress of wisdom, insparation, and many more. She is my insparation because she doesn't care about what others say." - A.V., Period 7
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Artemis because she is fearless and because she is like a person who thinks that girls can do anything boys can do. I also feel like she pushes herself at points that other people think that she can't do, so she trys to prove them wrong. Lastly, she not the kind of girl/woman that only thinks about love and beauty. So that is who I would LOVE to be related to!" - E.P., Period 7
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Demeter because she is the goddess of crops and grain. I think it is important that there is food for the people. Also Demeter is the mother of Percophony, and I like Percephony. Demeter helps the people, wich I adore." - E.K., Period 7
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Zeus because Zeus has the most power and is the king of all gods. If I had Zeus as a father, I would have an unbelievable amount of power. If I had Athena as my mother I would have even more power because I would have lots of wisdom. Zeus and Athena would be a great combo, but Zeus would give me so much power and for this reason, I would choose Zeus as my father." - L.W., Period 7 [Teacher's note: I like how this student deviated from the prompt a bit and choose two different gods, but then brought it back to the original prompt in the end.]
Here are some highlights*:
*spelling/grammar has been kept the same (we obviously need some work!) and initials used to protect privacy
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Hades because he is different from his siblings and I can relate how that feels. Also, that he has a vicsous animal called a cerberus, which is a three headed dog, and who dosen't like dogs? (besides cat people) Lastis, he is the god of death in the underworld, and it reminds me of FNAF which is my favorite thing in the word (besides foxy the pirate and dogs)." - A.S., Period 5
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Ahtena because she is very confident in fighting, and I think I'm confident in fighting, either bullies and or challenges. I would also protect my home, my friends and families. And owls are my 3rd favorite animal. And also, Athena would protect my family so we would feel safe." - A.P., Period 4
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Athena because she is the goddess of wisdom and courage. I wish to be wise and courages. Also she sprang from Zesu' head in full form wearing armor and I find that interesting. She is also the daughter of posideen and I love the sea." - A.J, Period 5
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Poseidon because I really like the sea and I thought that it would be cool if I could ride horses and sea horses. Also because I can control when it floods or when the droughts happen so if we don't have enough water then I can make a flood. And when there is a flood, I can make it into a drought so there would be a nice balance." - H.I., Period 6 [Teacher's note: What an appropriate response given California's current drought!]
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Athena because I like how she is the god of war but she doesn't like war. I like how she beilives in herself and she is persistant. She was known as being the goddress of wisdom, insparation, and many more. She is my insparation because she doesn't care about what others say." - A.V., Period 7
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Artemis because she is fearless and because she is like a person who thinks that girls can do anything boys can do. I also feel like she pushes herself at points that other people think that she can't do, so she trys to prove them wrong. Lastly, she not the kind of girl/woman that only thinks about love and beauty. So that is who I would LOVE to be related to!" - E.P., Period 7
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Demeter because she is the goddess of crops and grain. I think it is important that there is food for the people. Also Demeter is the mother of Percophony, and I like Percephony. Demeter helps the people, wich I adore." - E.K., Period 7
"If I could be related to any Olympian, I would choose Zeus because Zeus has the most power and is the king of all gods. If I had Zeus as a father, I would have an unbelievable amount of power. If I had Athena as my mother I would have even more power because I would have lots of wisdom. Zeus and Athena would be a great combo, but Zeus would give me so much power and for this reason, I would choose Zeus as my father." - L.W., Period 7 [Teacher's note: I like how this student deviated from the prompt a bit and choose two different gods, but then brought it back to the original prompt in the end.]
Great work, students! :)