As you have probably gathered, I love the Classics! I have been studying it for almost four years, and it continues to amaze me whenever I learn about a new hero, a new story, a new dilemma. What is probably a bit more difficult thing to tell about me is that I am what you would call, a story-teller. I enjoy stories. History and Mythology are sources of amazing stories about human nature, and involve heroes (real or fiction), amazing plots, and dramatic sensations. More importantly, I love telling stories to my peers about what has happened to famous people, and how they have earned their legacy. The beauty of story-telling is that you have the opportunity to bring your audience to a different world, where the exotic lifestyle and people are so fascinating. And yet, there is still knowledge to be gained. From a far standpoint, these stories have nothing to do with our lives today in the 21st Century. We have our smart phones, television, and our social media. However, the closer you look, you will see how much you have in common with the ancient heroes of great. Human nature is anything but unstable. It is constant, and thus, our challenges and lifestyles can be quite as enjoyable, scary, and awesome as the ones in the past. These stories provide guidance into our world, and it feels great to pass on knowledge to many, just as our ancestors did in the past. The Classics have a bad reputation to be unusable and unrelated to today’s world, and I beg to differ, and to change that, I tell the stories of Heracles, Alexander the Great, and Augustus Caesar. My world is that of the legends (both real and fictional), which is unfortunately not a world that most people see at all. The only ones who still live in it are children, who love to hear stories over and over again. I would like to share my passion of story-telling with younger kids. Stories are a child's medicine and I wish to provide kids with the knowledge that has changed my life (and hopefully, theirs as well).
To this end, I want to create a program that helps kids explore the world of the Classics; from its wide history, to the amazing stories that have survived for so long. I will call it
The Hermes Project. Now, if you are unfamiliar with the name Hermes, I will tell you. Hermes is the god of messages, travel, trickery, and much more. Hermes's most famous job is to take souls to the underworld (which is basically the afterlife). My goal is to be like Hermes, to take my audience to a different realm where legends come alive. Hermes is also known for being very tricky and cunning. After all, he tried to steal his brother's cattle the day after he was born, and when his brother asked him if he stole the cattle, he simply replied "How could I steal the cattle, I'm just a little baby." One thing that I have learned about during my studies of the Classics was how to use different strategies to one's own advantage to achieve success. Now, I'm not saying that the kids will be stealing each other's plush cows, but I want them to learn about how important one's words are, ones' actions, and how they make a difference in a way one lives their life.
The project will consist of 45-60 minutes sessions. Each session will include story-telling and an arts and crafts project. For each session, I will be preparing a lesson with the goal of teaching different aspects of the Classics (i.e. Mythology and History). For example, I could teach about the Persian Wars, where the Greek city-states, who were often rivals, joined forces to drive out the invading Persians. This teaches that while you may not need to agree with others, it is best to befriend others in order to rely and trust each other. Or, I can talk about Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor who wrote a book, Meditations, about how to live life in the pursuit of happiness, and maybe the kids will enjoy hearing what someone from the past has to offer them. Afterwards, I will help the kids in making some sort of art project that relates to the subject of the story. For Marcus Aurelius, the kids can write a few of their ideas down on paper and make a mini-book for them to carry home or anywhere else. For the Persian Wars, I could create a cardboard template, where the kids can cut out, and make their own Greek masks, in order to create a room full of kids who will all be the same (since they are wearing the same thing), and therefore won’t be able to see any differences or look down upon other kids in the room.
My aim is to give back something that I have found and treasured for years, and what better way to do that than give my knowledge to our future: kids. I hope that the kids can take a lot from these experiences, as I have done over the past four exciting years of my life.
