My Class Pet is a Monster: Understanding the Biology and Mythology of Snakes

Teresa Nelson

Introduction and Rationale

I teach English Language Development (ELD) to middle school multi-lingual learners (MLL’s) at Will Rogers College Middle and High School. My classes are a mixture of 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade students who have tested at composite WIDA score levels of 3.5 to 4.7 in the four domains of Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. WIDA stands for World-class Instructional Design and Assessment. [1] MLL’s are taught English as a rich language full of nuances and choices, integrating its usage into a rigorous core curriculum. WIDA utilizes best practices research to develop strategies to support MLL’s. Over 30 state education departments use the WIDA system to rate their MLL’s. The students take a series of tests every spring semester to assess their English language proficiency in these four domains. The scores are rated as follows: Entering (1.0-1.9), Emerging (2.0-2.9), Developing (3.0-3.9), Expanding (4.0-4.9), Bridging (5.0-5.9), and Reaching (6.0). The students take 4 separate tests and are scored on listening, speaking, oral, reading, writing and literacy. These scores on these 7 categories are weighted differently for the composite, with the reading and writing score carrying the most weight.

Every lesson incorporates some aspect of the four domains, while the students are also supported in their core classes. MLL students sometimes feel stigmatized because they have to take the additional ELD class instead of another elective. They have to take these four complicated ACCESS test through WIDA a few weeks after MAP testing and about a month before the state tests. Students have increasing stress over all these weeks of testing because these tests determine whether or not they will have to take ELD again.

I try to mitigate all of this by enhancing lessons with assignments and projects that make the class feel more like an elective than a core class. Popular projects have been designing and building their own survival shelter, creating a family cookbook with family stories, writing and illustrating their own graphic novel, creating a news channel and designing an AI robot to solve a global problem. These lessons, besides explaining basic neuroplasticity and brain development, show how knowing and using 2 or more languages improve neuronal connections, essentially making their brains “smarter” overall once they master English.

I incorporate Life Skills within each lesson. For instance, the reading program they use to raise their Lexile, Achieve 3000, requires a minimum of 2 articles a week and 75% on the first try on their reading comprehension quiz. Students are paid “Panda Bucks” for their scores and can read more than the minimum required. They use their “bucks” every Friday to purchase items from a little store, stocked with school supplies, toys, books, water bottles and snacks. As these students are entering early adolescence, they are best motivated extrinsically. [2] Friday is their “payday,” where they develop time management skills, concentration, and patience. This is the fourth year I have used similar incentives to encourage Lexile growth. A significant number of students raise their Lexile by more than 100 points. This year, several students have raised their Lexile by more than 200 points.

Topic Overview

This curriculum unit supports the life skills of understanding and overcoming fears, respect for the environment and ecosystem, and caring for living creatures. Snakes have a rich and ancient history of myth, lore, legend, medicinal, and symbolic history, [3] while the serpentine shape is embedded in imagination. [4] Reptiles in general bring in human thoughts of fear, revulsion and fascination. More than half of the general population worldwide have an aversion to snakes, and between 2 and 3 percent of humans meet the diagnostic criteria for a phobia. [5] The shape of snakes is a key factor. [6] Infants have shown the ability to pay higher attention to snake images in comparison to frogs and caterpillars. [7] When rating levels of fear, disgust and appreciation of beauty in reptiles, snakes stand out as a specific category invoking the most strongly felt emotions, both positive and negative. [8] In this study, even alligators and crocodiles were not perceived as negatively as snakes. Snakes are seen as cold-blooded, unfeeling, slow, mindlessly cruel and sometimes voracious. [9] They are generally believed to have primitive responses and lesser intelligence than mammals. In spite of all of this, recent scientific studies in behavior and neuroscience have shown snakes do, in fact, have the ability to learn complex tasks and bond with their caregivers. [10]

Reptiles are extremely popular pets, and in the last 30 years, snakes, especially ball pythons, have become increasingly popular in the pet trade. [11] Advances in brain research have shown reptiles have the ability to form attachments, [12] a fact most reptile keepers would verify experientially. The majority of reptile pets now are captive bred and do not have histories of exposure to the wild. Research has been shown they engage with their caretakers when kept in an enriched environment. [13] Class pets are engaging for students, support a positive and nurturing classroom environment and tend to engage their interest when the class pets are part of the curriculum.

Facing and overcoming a fear is empowering to middle school students. My classroom is open to all of the students at Rogers, and they are welcome to come by before and after school to interact with the reptiles. Students come by on a weekly basis to visit the pets and establish a bond with them. When one student sees another holding a creature, he or she is afraid of, they typically start to touch the snake and eventually become confident enough to hold it in their hands. They take pictures to post on social media and send them to their parents.

Demographics

Will Rogers College Middle and High School is a large, inner city magnet school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There are over 600 students in the middle school and close to the same number in the high school. It is fairly evenly split between genders. About 14% are identified as disabled. I teach in the middle school grades: 6^th, 7^th and 8^th.

For the 2023/2024 school year, 70% of Will Rogers Middle School students are Hispanic, 11.3% are white, 8.1% are black, 6.4% are two or more races, 3.7% are Native American, and 0.5% are Asian. Over 90% are considered economically disadvantaged. These are the most recent demographics officially reported, although it appears to be consistent for the current school year.

At least one third of our 200+ teachers are new to Rogers, including me. I can say our teachers, teaching assistants and support staff are all racially and culturally diverse. I have met teachers from Spain, the Philippines, Asia and East Asia, Africa, Jamaica, and the Ukraine. Many are pursuing alternative certification through a special program known as Tulsa Teacher Corps.

Unit Content

The Wise Serpent and the Seeker of Knowledge

Mythic serpents represented wisdom, healing and the pursuit of knowledge. [14] The cobra goddess of ancient Egypt, Wadjet, was a protector of women in childbirth and a symbol of justice. Our dominant culture learns, in part, to despise snakes due to the Augustinian interpretation of Eve and original sin, [15] as well as the belief Eve was seduced by the serpent. [16] Historian Elaine Pagels explained why the view of the serpent diverged from offering enlightenment to humans to being a creature of the devil who manipulates the woman to drag them both down to sin and degradation. [17]

Before Augustine developed the concept of original sin and blamed Eve for the fall from grace, the Gnostic interpretation of the serpent included a “benevolent female spiritual principle” [18] present to introduce Eve to the Tree of Knowledge. Once she accepts the teachings, symbolized by the fruit, she can then introduce the truths to her mate. Gnostics saw the Old Testament god as not the true God and father of Christ, but the bad god who deceives his followers and influences them to commit sins. Christ, and the New Testament God the Father, introduce peace, love and sacrifice.

The snake is considered a male power symbol [19] so the symbolism in mythology shifts uncomfortably when a woman (or goddess) derives power from it, such as the Hindu goddess Manasaa, the snake goddess of fertility. She is portrayed as spiteful and angry at those who will not give her due sacrifices and sends her snake minions to bite and kill her enemies. [20] The Minoan snake goddess images described a hundred years ago are no longer accepted as goddesses, since their evidence disappeared. [21] Lilith, the mythological first wife of Adam, is portrayed as a faithless wife who deserts him, a demon who allies with the serpent, or even in disguise, as the serpent itself (Chakraborty, 2017). It could be argued Medusa is the most maligned in literature, cursed to be a monster with hissing snakes for hair (Riordan, 2015). For Medusa’s power to be acceptable, she must be hideous instead of beautiful. Eve must be portrayed as weak, manipulative, and untrustworthy (Pagels, 1998) and even treacherous (Chakraborty, 2017; Solevag, 2014).

As Augustine in 300 AD rewrote the Adam, Eve and the Serpent myth to satisfy the patriarchal and misogynistic Roman culture, I agree with Bowers [22] the Greek myths were also pulled through that biased lens. For instance, Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, eschews male influence and requires her priestesses to be virginal. It does not follow, logically, that she would punish a loyal follower like Medusa for sexual assault. When her actions are questioned, most sources just state she is self-centered [23] and that is just the way the Greek gods functioned. Humans were not valued and were completely taken for granted, used as objects of amusement and playthings by the Greek gods and horribly abused if they stepped out of line. The gods were capricious, all-powerful and inherently selfish. [24] Humans had to worship them, offer sacrifices and hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.

Even with the statement that Athena was basically egotistical and selfish, angered her because her follower was no longer a virgin. It seems strange she would give her so much power if this monstrous snake form was supposed to be a punishment. Also, it was men who would seek her out and men who she turned to stone. In Rick Riordan’s Greek Heroes, for instance, the myth of Perseus and Medusa questions why these warriors go out of their way to this isolated island where Medusa and her two sisters try to live in peace. In his version of Perseus versus Medusa, he hesitates because Medusa is obviously asleep and pregnant. She wakes up and endangers him, so he “has” to cut off her head instead of having the opportunity to ponder the ethical dilemma. The story spares him the stigma of being a murderer of unborn children by claiming they were born alive when her head was cut off.

Myths are part of a cultural collective [25] and the serpent mythos that Medusa may represent goes deeper into a lost matriarchal tradition. [26] Medusa is the ultimate female monstrosity in which every aspect of her physical beauty has been turned into something monstrous, [27] so monstrous, in fact, that she is stripped of an identity and is only worthy of decapitation. [28]

I have developed an interpretation of the Medusa story from the lens of a matriarchal mythology represented by the original story of Eve and the serpent as well as the Hindu goddess Manasaa. By understanding how the Medusa myth changed through time, students learn that myths are symbolic representations of the past and do evolve in the present based upon historical, cultural and religious beliefs. In a format appropriate for middle school, the exercise allows the student to stretch their critical thinking skills and re-write the myth.

Snakes historically have been seen as treacherous and evil or symbols of wisdom and healing. [29] Exaggerated accounts of snakes causing mayhem include urban legends of embedded fangs in the heels of boots poisoning the wearer to the claims of snakes “chasing” a mother and son. [30] Other tall tales include the hoop snake of Texas, a serpent with the ability to rise from the mud, form a hoop and roll toward its victim to sting him or her with its tail.[31] There is no snake that has the ability to do either one of these things. Because the coachwhip snake resembles its namesake, it supposedly can chase people and give them a good whipping. Hognose snakes, mainly known for playing dead, can flatten their heads to resemble cobras. This gave rise to claims they could also spit venom. Although the hognose has a mild venom, it is located in the back of its throat and is used to paralyze its prey while it is swallowing. [32] The hognose cannot deliver venom through a bite, let alone spit. Milk snakes have an even more interesting spin, as they invade the barns of livestock to drink milk from the udders of goats and cows. [33] Most likely milk snakes invaded barns to eat mice. People also believed snakes traveled in pairs and if one snake was killed, the other one would seek revenge. Due to these incredulous stories about the natural world, scientists made the study of snakes a priority before the turn of the century. [34]

Mythology can develop from a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the natural world, so it is important to separate fact from myth, but still respecting and understanding the mythological process.

Teaching Strategies

Universally, students love most creatures, especially in a school setting where few teachers have class pets. Unfortunately, a class pet is time consuming and comes with varying expenses that are rarely supported by cash-strapped schools and busy teachers. Students have endless questions about snakes, most frequently asking “Does it bite?” They are often surprised to find out the snake has bones, lays eggs and how it swallows its prey. They may not know the difference between a venomous snake and a constrictor. In fact, there is still a lot science does not know about reptiles. [35] New species are discovered every year.

Students will first learn about the classification in the animal kingdom, starting with the study of taxonomy, illustrated with the biology and neurobiology of reptiles with interactive media and live examples in the classroom. The animal kingdom is classified by kingdom, phylum, class, order, suborder, infraorder, family and species. [36] The most common families of snakes are colubrids, vipers and pythons. The most common colubrid pets are king snakes, milk snakes and corn snakes. In the classroom we have ball pythons, arguably the most popular pet snake in the US. They have calm dispositions and do not get much longer than 5 feet as adults and weigh 5-6 pounds.

Common misconceptions about snakes can be addressed with various fun and engaging activities. Snake skeletons and the placement of the vital organs are studied. For example, the difference between poison and venom is that venom needs to be injected into the bloodstream to cause harm. [37] Poison can just be ingested. The family of vipers and elapids have frontal fangs to bite and inject their venom. Snake venom is usually a neurotoxin, and treatment needs to be immediate, or the victim can die. There are four venomous snake species in Oklahoma. The water moccasin (aka cottonmouth), copperhead and diamondback rattlesnake are vipers, and the coral snake is an elapid. Australia, Africa and Asia have the most venomous snakes in the world. The cobra and the black mamba are also elapids, not vipers.

Teaching students how to identify venomous and non-venomous snakes in their home environment is an important component of the life skill portion of the curriculum. Mythological dramas contrasted with true science spark fascination with both subjects.

Classroom Activities

I plan to approach instruction in the first week by introducing the students to the study of herpetology using live snakes, crested geckos and sulcata tortoises as well as the popular YouTube channel Snake Discovery (see appendix). We will compare and contrast Emily from Snake Discovery and Joan Proctor, an early herpetologist who designed the reptarium at the London Zoo in the 1920’s.

Joan Beauchamp Procter (1897-1931) was born in London and grew up among her family’s gardens with her older sister Chrystabel. [38] The girls were encouraged to study natural history and while Chrystabel liked plants, Joan collected reptiles. She had a crocodile as a pet and often brought her pet lizard to the dinner table. [39]

Joan’s scholarship earned her a position at the Zoological Society of London in 1917. She worked hard there as a taxonomist and a designer of display cases and reptile enclosures. She also had artistic talent and painted illustrations of reptiles that were sold as postcards. She studied tortoises, boa constrictors and Komodo dragons.

Many of the reptiles, taken from their natural environment, suffered from malnutrition, bone disease and various bacterial infections. Joan was the only one who was brave enough to put her hands in the mouth of a large Komodo dragon who had a serious infection that took months to cure. Eventually, the dragon established a bond with her, and followed her everywhere she went.

In 1923 she became Curator of Reptiles and completely re-designed the reptile enclosures to emulate the natural environments of the reptiles within. When this was accomplished, the snakes, lizards and dragons became healthier and friendlier. Her reptile zoo is still used today. [40]

They will first watch and take notes on a Google slide presentation about Ball Pythons facts, learning the differences between pythons, boas, venomous and non-venomous snakes, colubrid snakes and sea snakes. Many students do not realize snakes have spines and ribs–they think they are boneless. We will also debunk the many myths about snake behavior, such as the assumption they attack and chase people.

While students hold the snakes, we will discuss how they see, breathe and smell each other. We will discuss their feeding habits. Some students want to watch videos of them constricting and swallowing rodents. I censor these types of videos, even though they are prolific on the internet. To demonstrate the snake’s ability to dislocate its jaw, I use videos showing the Dasypeltis species (who are Colubridae like king and rat snakes) swallowing eggs.

We will have a lesson on snake habitats, environmental issues affecting reptiles and discuss how and why so many people fear snakes. These strategies are best suited for the unit because they use a mixture of visuals, humor and physical activity to keep students engaged in the material. One of many humorous aspects include the absurd beliefs mentioned earlier—how milk snakes got their name and the idea that snakes whip people.

The middle stages will begin with an introduction to neuroscience and neuroplasticity. We will discuss human/animal bonds and relationships. There will be a lesson on proper husbandry for snakes and tortoises. The video and article “Potential Neural Consequences for Snakes Under Captive Management,” [41] will be one of the sources for this lesson. Then students will also learn about Dr. Joan Proctor and her early work with reptiles. The class project would be designing and building the ball python’s habitat based upon the lesson from Torrini.

The exit ticket (or summative assessment) at the end of the first unit will be a vocabulary worksheet and an interactive online quiz, such as Kahoot, covering all of this information.

Essential Question: How Does My Snake Become a Monster?

After understanding the biology, habitat, and behavior of snakes, we will move to the second week and discuss monster theory. Cohen (2007) [42] discusses why our culture creates and adopts our monsters as something to be feared, vanquished and adopted, sometimes as a surrogate child. The monster’s body transformation is a projection of cultural values and fears. We will discuss historic and cultural traditions that made snakes monsters, specifically female monsters. The classic story of Medusa, who is punished and cursed for her beauty, will be studied through the lens of the “monstrous feminine.” [43] Middle school students are experiencing the major transitions of body development and feelings of both shame, empowerment, fear and hope. In this context of adolescent body transformations, they can develop empathy for the monster and change the narrative.

Medusa’s True Story: Evolving Mythic Interpretations

In ELD, teaching strategies revolve around building the domains of reading, writing, speaking and listening in English. Every lesson has an aspect of these four domains. We will read excerpts from Rick Riordan’s Greek Gods & Greek Heroes. [44] His series of juvenile novels are popular adaptations of the Greek myths, featuring the main character Percy Jackson, whose mother had an affair with Poseidon. Percy Jackson and his demigod friends train in a special camp when they reach adolescence because the Greek monsters target them, having ancient grudges against the gods. The series is a well-written fantasy that engages students in reading and learning about mythology. Many students may have already read the series and/or watched the first season on Netflix.

Students will do a “think, write, pair, share” in which they will discuss the why people see snakes and other reptiles as monsters. This strategy utilizes a graphic organizer in which each student writes what they think about the question for five minutes. Then they turn to their table partner and share their ideas with each other. Then they have to write about what their partner said and how it may have changed or added to what they believe. After that, we have a class discussion. This will segue into the next section about history and mythology.

Students will analyze the traditional version of the Medusa story in the Riordan books, then read the alternate version shown below. They will write their own ending to this story. This strategy, while building critical thinking and writing skills, also empowers students by showing they can change their narrative, they do not have to accept the monstrous and they can overcome bias, prejudice and fear.

Medusa’s Gift or Medusa’s revenge?

Danaë was the only living child of King Acrisius of Argos when his wife died. The king of this small Greek city-state had suffered one tragedy after another. His three older sons died in a war against a neighboring city-state. His wife died in childbirth. Only Danaë remained. She was a beautiful princess of marriageable age. King Acrisius, in his sadness, could not decide if he should take another bride and have more children, or find a suitable prince for his daughter to marry so she could provide the heir.

Like a good Greek king, he travelled to the Oracle of Delphi for advice. Unfortunately for him, the oracle told him his beloved daughter would give birth to a son who was destined to kill him. King Acrisius was further devastated by this prophecy. Ancient Greeks took the prophecies to heart and believed every word. They also believed by knowing the prophecy ahead of time, they could thwart it. King Acrisius believed every word. With the death of his sons and his wife, it pushed him over the edge.

Danaë was oblivious to her father’s mood, as she was also mourning the loss of her mother. She wore a plain robe and placed ashes on her hair and face. Her father sent her up to a lone watchtower on the Aegean sea that had not been used in many years. He told her to pray to the gods for her mother and brothers. While Danae was praying, guards sealed the exits and left only a small shaft to send her food and supplies. Confused and scared, she dutifully prayed every day for answers, and eventually, freedom.

Athena was the goddess of wisdom and the protector of women. She heard Danae’s laments and knew of the prophecy. Athena decided to make Danae a priestess to solve the dilemma of the prophecy. She sent her packets of food, scrolls, clothes and writing utensils. She sent her wise owl to teach Danae to read and write, and instruct her in the temple arts.

Zeus became curious about what the owl was up to and discovered Danae. He was intrigued by the idea of such a beautiful virgin so alone, with only an owl for company. When he saw what Athena was up to, he decided to play a game of his own. Zeus appeared in the lone tower room as a white cat with golden eyes, pretending to be her new teacher. After he gained her trust, he showed his true godlike form and pretended to care about her. Instead, when she got pregnant, he deserted her to find someone new.

Danae was not as upset as she could have been because, like most Greek girls, she knew the gods never stayed with their mortals. After all, she would not have to be alone in the tower anymore. She was more concerned about the anger of Athena when the goddess found out she was no longer eligible to be a priestess.

Zeus and Athena though, had a long-standing feud because of Zeus’s sexual assault of Athena’s high priestess Medusa centuries before. Athena had the most beautiful mortal virgins in her temple and the Greek gods Apollo, Poseidon and Zeus had a bet about who could seduce the first one. They were all rebuffed in short order, and her priestesses were certainly not diplomatic about it, telling the gods to go pound sand. Zeus, being the king of the gods, had the biggest ego problem and decided they should be punished for such blatant disrespect. He decided to rape their leader, Medusa, out in the open on the steps of the temple, traumatizing the priestess and defiling the temple.

Athena was enraged, but she did not have the power or authority to go up against Zeus. Instead, she gave Medusa the powers of the ancient matriarchal goddess Melania, or Manasaa, so she was reborn as the ancient protector of mothers and childbirth, as well as having power over the serpent, symbolized by her hair transforming into snakes and her ability to turn men to stone with the sharp gaze from her eyes. Medusa was also pregnant with twins, who would be loyal to her and not to Zeus.

Danae, however, had been seduced, not forced like Medusa. She was a novice priestess, and she had shown herself not to have the willpower to withstand a seduction. When Danae’s son Perseus was born, Athena placed them in a chest and asked her uncle Poseidon to convey them to the shores of Seriphos, an island far away from Argos. The chest was delivered to King Polydectes, who needed a royal bride. Danae, at this point, did not have a lot of options, but she remained steadfast in refusing to marry the king unless he made Perseus his official heir. He refused to do so, but for the next 17 years he could not figure out how to get rid of Perseus. He was the son of Zeus, and a mortal could not cause him harm without incurring the wrath of the gods.

He took care of Danae just in case he was able to marry her and claim the kingdom of Argos. Finally, he got Perseus, now a hot-headed teenager, to brag about how he could get the head of Medusa. Many warriors had tried and never came back. Perseus, who was known as a demigod, could outrun and out fight the strongest and most seasoned warriors. What he lacked was discipline.

Before he set off on his quest to decapitate the Gorgon “monster” Medusa, his mother had a private talk with him. She was the only person he would usually listen to, and she had learned the matriarchal wisdom of Athena.

“Medusa is not a monster, my son. She is a powerful goddess who can turn any god or man to stone with her gaze. Her hair was not turned into snakes. She has a crown of 12 golden serpents and long black hair. Her eyes are as dark as a storm and her gaze turns men to stone. Around her neck is the serpent of wisdom, who whispers your innermost thoughts and desires into her ear. Nothing can be hidden from her. She knows you like you know yourself. She will ascertain your intent and punish you accordingly. Zeus hates Medusa and Athena because they do not desire or respect him. They do not need male energy, and Medusa is powerful enough to destroy Zeus. If you seek the head of Medusa, you will die, because no living man or god can defeat her.”

Perseus, usually so full of bluster, was quiet. “What should I do Mother?” he asked.

“You may ask for Medusa’s help in the name of Athena. It is a worthy goal to restore your mother to her rightful place in Argos and your rightful place as heir to your grandfather’s throne. You must approach her with no weapons and kneel, offering your service.” Danae gave him further instructions, and Perseus felt he was ready.

Until he was on the ship the king had provided, telling him he was not welcome back until he had the head. The captain laughed, telling him that the king did not expect him to get the head, because if he did, he would be powerful enough to come back and take the whole kingdom for himself.

Perseus was abandoned on Medusa’s island with just a bronze shield and a short sword. He remembered what his mother taught him and went to the caves of the Gorgon sisters. Medusa was asleep, but he left his sword outside and kneeled, with his shield in front of his chest. He noticed she had a beautiful face, and the golden snakes rested curled up around her neck and her cheeks.

Medusa had the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a long serpent. She could probably raise herself up to eight feet tall. Perseus did not dare look past her belly button as she rose up to her full height.

He shuddered slightly when he felt her burning hand grasp his chin. He kept his eyes closed. “What have we here, a child, but a demigod. Who are you, and why have you disturbed my rest?”

“I am Perseus of Argos, son of Princess Danae and Zeus. I come in the name of my mother and the goddess Athena to petition for your help. I need the weapon of your gaze to use against my enemies and restore mine and my mother’s rightful place in Argos. I will complete the labor you require of me. I beg your indulgence in this request.”

Medusa circled around Perseus and pondered his words. Her large python whispered in her ear. Medusa smiled as she listened. “You are quite fearful of me, but fortunately you request is sincere. Danae was a weak and silly woman to succumb to a terrible rogue like Zeus. Why should I help you and your mother, Perseus of Argos?”

His mother had prepared him for that question. “I will take back my land and be a strong, but fair leader for my people. I will accept my mother’s guidance and Athena’s wisdom to become the best king I should be. I shall build a temple to you and a temple to Athena, and dedicate the island of Argos to your worship”

“I have but one task for you, princeling, and that is to rescue the princess who will be your queen. Her father should be taught a lesson, but I think you will come to that conclusion when you see what he has done to his lovely daughter.”

Perseus murmured, “I take a sacred oath to honor your request.”

“Hold strong, Perseus of Argos, and accept your gift of power.” Perseus barely had enough time to brace himself when he felt a white-hot fire hit his shield. Although his arm burned, he dare not run away. He could not see it, but Medusa’s gaze was sending hot golden light into his shield, and her likeness was forming on its metal surface. “Rise now, warrior of Medusa.” Perseus stood up, and Medusa branded his forehead. “Open your eyes now, Perseus, because you now cannot be harmed by my gaze.”

Students will finish the story of Perseus and Andromeda with at least 5 paragraphs of 5 sentences each. They have graphic organizers for writing narrative essays. The strategy of rewriting the story helps to build their critical thinking skills. They develop the understanding that mythology is fluid through time, interpretations reflect the dominant culture, and mythologies can be adapted to reflect philosophical, spiritual, cultural and traditions. The culminating activity to wrap up the unit will be a class discussion with the following questions:

Why must there be a monster?
Who made Medusa a monster?
Is she truly monstrous?
Why or why not?

Then each student will give a short presentation, building upon speaking skills, and explain how they answered these questions in their essay:

After reading Percy Jackson’s version of the Perseus myth, should he have killed Medusa? Why or why not? What could he have done differently?

Resources and Bibliography

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Bowers, Susan R. “Medusa and the female gaze.” NWSA Journal (1990): 217-235.

Campbell, Joseph: Myths to Live By. Viking, 1972

Cappiello, Mary Ann. “Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The Woman Who Loved Reptiles.” Language Arts 96.3 (2019): 192-192.

Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. “Monster culture (seven theses).” Gothic horror: A guide for students and readers (2007): 198-216.

Creed, Barbara. The monstrous-feminine: Film, feminism, psychoanalysis. Routledge, 2001.

Dexter, Miriam Robbins. “The Monstrous Goddess: The Degeneration of Ancient Bird and Snake Goddesses into Historic Age Witches and Monsters.” The Journal of Archaeomythology 7 (2011): 181-202.

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Linnean Society (2019). Joan Beauchamp Procter FLS. https://www.linnean.org/news/2019/03/08/8th-march-2019-joan-beauchamp-procter-fls

Lobue, Vanessa, and JudyS. Deloache. “What’s so Special about Slithering Serpents? Children and Adults Rapidly Detect Snakes Based on Their Simple Features.” Visual Cognition, vol. 19, no. 1, Jan. 2011, pp. 129–43. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2010.522216.

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Oliveira, A.L., Viegas, M.F., da Silva, S.L. et al. The chemistry of snake venom and its medicinal potential. Nat Rev Chem 6, 451–469 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-022-00393-7

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Polák, Jakub, et al. “Fear the Serpent: A Psychometric Study of Snake Phobia.” Psychiatry Research, vol. 242, Aug. 2016, pp. 163–68. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.05.024.

Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods. Disney-Hyperion, 2014.

Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes. Disney-Hyperion, 2015

Robinson, Kristy A. “Motivational climate theory: Disentangling definitions and roles of classroom motivational support, climate, and microclimates.” Educational Psychologist 58, no. 2 (2023): 92-110.

Stott, R. Jeffrey. “The Sacred Serpent: Old Symbols and New Ideas.” Journal of American Culture 1.3 (1978): 638-647.

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Websites

The 24 Types of Snakes With 57 Examples – Reptile Jam

Kahoot! | Learning games | Make learning awesome!

Snake Discovery: https://www.youtube.com/@SnakeDiscovery

Appendix: Oklahoma Academic Standards

English Language Proficiency Standards for World-class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA)

(WIDA) ELD Standard 1: English language learners communicate for Social and Instructional purposes within the school setting.

Having an academically based conversation about learned topics is an integral part of ELD for MLL’s. Every lesson must incorporate the four domains of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Students will have class discussions about the concepts of reptile biology, neuroscience, comparative mythology, and monster theory. Students will practice expressing in-depth thought verbally while learning about these concepts.

WIDA ELD Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Language Arts.

For students who are between 3.5 and 4.7 in their WIDA scores, they are proficient in social language but lag behind their peers in academic language and Lexile. Students will learn and use new vocabulary in science and literature to explain concepts. They will describe the evolution of myth in their writing, and present their ideas to the class. They will also listen to their peers and provide feedback.

Notes

[1] (Westerlund & Besser, 2021)

[2] (Robinson, 2023)

[3] (Azevedo et al., 2022; Yang, 2022)

[4] (Yang, 2022)

[5] (Polák et al., 2016)

[6] (Lobue & DeLoache, 2010)

[7] (Bertels et. al., 2020)

[8] (Janovcová et al., 2019).

[9] (Stott, 1978)

[10] (Torrini, 2022)

[11] (Valdez, 2021)

[12] (Torrini, 2022)

[13] (Krishnan, Sneha, et al., 2011)

[14] (Stott,1978)

[15] (Pagels, 1988)

[16] (Solevåg, 2014)

[17] (Pagels, 1988)

[18] (Chakraborty, 2017 p.157)

[19] (Bowers, 1990)

[20] (Datta, 2018)

[21] (Taylor, 2019)

[22] bowers

[23] (Riordan, 2014, 2015)

[24] (Riordan, 2014, other citations).

[25] (Campbell, 1972)

[26] (Bowers, 1990)

[27] (Bowers, 1990; Creed, 2001)

[28] (Riordan, 2015).

[29] (Dexter, 2011; Stott, 1978).

[30] (Stott, 1978).

[31] (Stanley, 2008)

[32] (Ruiz-Campos et al., 2021)

[33] (Stanley, 2008)

[34] (Stott, 1978)

[35] (Janovcová et al., 2019)

[36] Linnean Society, 2019)

[37] citation

[38] (Linnean Society, 2019)

[39] (Cappiello, 2019)

[40] (Cappiello, 2019)

[41] (Torrini, 2022)

[42] (Cohen, 2007)

[43] (Creed, 2001, p. 67)

[44] (Riordan, 2014, 2015)