Daphne and Apollo Detailed Greek and Roman Myths Analysis for Middle & HS ELA

Engage English Language Arts Students with the ancient Greek Myth of Daphne and Apollo — a tale of unrequited love gone a bit tree-y!

The story of Apollo and Daphne is categorized as a love myth, but there is not a lot of love going on in this story of pursued and pursuer.

Use this Digital Download for a Three-day English Language Arts Lesson

Using my tested-in-the-classroom resources, high school kids will want to discuss the role of gender and power as it relates to Apollo’s unrequited love for the nymph Daphne. So I have loaded this resource with discussion questions that will get your students talking and writing! N.B. — No copyrighted material of the myths are included in this educational digital download.

Aligned with Common Core Standards, this individual lesson pack prompts students to discuss the myth, to compare it to other works of art, to work in groups, to learn new vocabulary in context, and to complete a writing activity. This resource aligns well with the reading literature standard: “Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden’s “Musée des Beaux-Arts” and Breughel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus).”

This Resource Includes the Following Features:

• 1 Teacher Three-day Lesson Calendar
  • With a teacher-tested-stamp of approval, follow my suggestions on how to teach the myth of Apollo and Daphne in a three-day block. Start with artwork, read the text, engage in questions and quick writing and sharing, and cap off the lesson with a writing activity.

• 2 Illustrated Reading Cards
  • Dictionary Entry: Daphne
  • Apollo Feeding a Hind
• 3 Art + Literature Connections (with Visual Aids)
  • Compare the text with famous works of art by Bernini and Turner.

• 1 Key Character and Places Worksheet
  • Orient your learners by identifying the key characters and the geographical location of the story.

• 9 Reading Comprehension Questions
  • Either use these questions as a quiz for after reading or in a discussion or small group setting.

• 7 Critical Thinking Questions
  • Use these questions for whole-class discussion but I also like to spice things up and get my middle school students moving by having a carousel-style discussion.

• 8 Frayer Model Vocabulary Cards (with student sample)
  • Frayer models are a way to get kids to think about vocabulary visually in a four-section square —- A square for meaning, one for examples, another for non-examples, and a sketch. It is amazing to see the work they produce. A great way to decorate your classroom to showcase your kids’ vocabulary-in-text understanding. The cards contain terms, geography, and challenging words (as well as contextual entries that fit the story).

• 2 Exit Tickets
  • Exit tickets are a way to get data about your students’ understanding of the lesson right before the class is finished. Collect these exit tickets and quickly see what ideas your students picked up about the myth of Sisyphus. I also provide two different tickets to offer academic choice for students.

• 1 Essay Writing Activity (with visual starter and prompt)
  • Cap this three-day lesson with a fun writing activity that has students reimagining the myth in a modern-day high school — with Daphne as a member of the swim team and Apollo as the high school bro.

• 1 Further Reading List
  • Don’t disregard this further reading list if you think it is merely a bibliography. Share the list with your students or have them do projects based on the research that is available. Assign different sources to students and organize presentations where learning can go deeper into this popular myth.

• Standards Alignment Chart (Common Core, TEKS, VA SOL)
• Answer Keys for all student-facing documents
  • Teachers always ask for answer keys for my products so I made sure I gave you plenty of guidance on what to expect from students in their written and oral responses.

I created this resource with high school students in mind. It is designed for an English Language Arts Mythology unit —

• Use it also in a genre unit on love tales or of unusual lovers in history!
• Use this resource as a stand-alone lesson or, pair it with a larger unit on Myth, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Robert Graves’s Greek Myths, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, or J.F. Bierlein’s Parallel Myths.

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