Ms. Melanie Scott’s 9th grade English classes are getting ready to embark on a journey through the wild and wily world of Greek Mythology. Before they start reading Gods, Heroes, and the Men of Ancient Greece, they are doing some exploratory research into Ancient Greece. In the Library, Mrs. Keiren Aucoin and Ms. Lauren Rhodes prepared and distributed thought-provoking prompts to guide students in their discovery of relevant and riveting information that can be found in both print and electronic sources. Each student was given a topic to explore about Ancient Greece: art, architecture, death, music, etc.- all focusing on the enormous contributions of the Greeks to our world.
Mrs. Andreé Price, a member of the English Dept., visited Ms. Scott’s sixth period class in the library to find out about what they are researching and discovering. There, she first met Michael Cancienne ‘20 and Raymond Harney ‘20 who both had found all of their sources. Michael is researching Greek houses and architecture. He learned that most Greek homes were built around a courtyard where the families would gather and congregate, prepare food and eat. Michael found the courtyard ‘gathering’ fascinating because in today’s world we generally gather together inside of our homes. Raymond Harney is researching Greek music, and he learned that the Greeks believed that music could literally heal illness. Gabriel Watts ‘20 learned about the Ancient Greek Olympics. These games were not for personal gain and glory (as the modern Olympic games are), but the Ancient Greeks used these games to worship their gods. The Greeks believed that a perfect human form is a way to worship the gods. Tijh Bell ‘20 is researching stolen items of Greek art and architecture. In 1816, Lord Thomas Bruce took items of Greek art to save them from ruin, and these pieces are still on display in the British Museum. However, the Greek government is still trying to recover their property from the British Museum. Finally, Matthew Pitts ‘20 found in his research of Greek theatre that in Ancient Greek Comedies, the Greeks preferred rude jokes — which is still the preferred kind of humor today! The students in all of Ms. Scott’s classes will be experts in one slice of Ancient Greek History.
If you see a student in Ms. Scott’s class, please ask him about his study of Ancient Greek life – Brother Martin has about 75 experts!
