Parodies, satires, and modern day adaptation are rich with literary elements. They are valuable assets for teaching students about literature. Through creative writing, students learn to use literary elements in context, committing them to memory. This activity is an alternative to the modern god spider map activity, and students will create a poster of their modern god.
During a unit on Greek mythology, you can have students create their own Greek god. They can turn themselves, someone they know, or even a celebrity into a god. Students will create storyboards depicting their new god. For this assignment, have students go over the elements of a Greek god to create their own.
For additional templates to add to this assignment, see our biography poster templates page!
Elements of a Greek god:
What do they rule? What do they have power and influence over. For example, Apollo is the god of the sun, poetry, and healing.
What is their power item? Examples: Zeus’s lightning bolts, Poseidon's trident, Athena’s spear.
What natural occurrence do they control? For example, Aeolus controls the winds, and Demeter, the seasons.
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Due Date:
Objective: Create a poster to represent your original Greek god.
Student Instructions:
Engage students by connecting Greek gods to real-life character traits. Students analyze how gods' actions reflect courage, wisdom, or flaws, making mythology more meaningful and relatable.
Choose stories where gods display courage, cleverness, or kindness. These classics help students easily identify and discuss character traits in context.
Facilitate a group reading and ask students to point out moments that reveal the god's character. Encourage active participation and support with guiding questions.
Ask students to write down specific actions or words from the myth that show a particular trait. This builds text evidence skills and deepens comprehension.
Encourage reflection by having students share times they or someone they know demonstrated a similar trait. This makes learning personal and memorable.
To create a Greek god poster, have students invent their own god with a unique domain, symbol, and powers. They should illustrate their god, write a short myth, and include key elements like weaknesses, symbols, and real-world connections. Use poster templates or storyboards to organize their ideas visually.
Include your god’s domain (what they control), a distinctive symbol, their powers, a weakness, and a brief myth about them. Visuals like images or icons help bring the god to life and connect the activity to Greek mythology themes.
Making a Greek god poster helps students apply literary elements, foster creativity, and deepen understanding of mythology. It encourages critical thinking, storytelling, and personal connections to ancient myths, making learning more meaningful and memorable.
A Greek god poster focuses on visual storytelling, having students design and describe a new god, while a spider map organizes information about existing gods or myths in a diagram. Posters emphasize creativity; spider maps focus on structure and analysis.
You can find biography poster templates on dedicated educational websites or the linked biography poster templates page in the lesson. These templates help students organize key information and design their modern Greek god posters easily.