Greece
Every year, all TGS students and educators come back to Athens to give an end to the academic year and celebrate together. Greece is the perfect setting for these celebrations: a land of mesmerizing beauty, with its stunning coastline, crystal-clear waters, ancient ruins, and picturesque villages nestled in the rugged mountains.
Driving Question: How can we create a myth, based on our TGS experience, which describes our personal code of ethics?
Content Areas: Creative Writing, Mythology, and Philosophy.
Overview: Students were asked to engage in introspective analyses of their personal growth at TGS, reflecting on the significant people, events, developments, and life lessons they have experienced along the way. They used tools from the Ancient Greek intellectual tradition, both mythological and philosophical, to make meaning out of their analyses. In particular, students read, viewed, and discussed a range of Greek myths, examining their narrative style, structure, character arcs, and intended (or interpreted) lessons. They also learned how to construct coherent philosophical arguments and evaluated a series of moral dilemmas from contrasting ethical perspectives. Students were challenged to weave together philosophy and mythology to develop a narrative that illustrates their personal growth at TGS.
Summative Product: Students created their own personal myth to tell the story of their Odyssey at TGS and portray their personal code of ethics (or core values). Each student produced a written myth of 3-5 pages and adapted it for an audience using a medium of their choice (e.g., a story, play, video, audio file, artwork, oratorical speech, musical composition, escape room, etc.).