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Lesson 1 · Taking Inspiration

Stage 1 — Finding and planning ideas

📝 This is a lesson blueprint — the plan to build into a full interactive lesson. Adjust and add to it freely.

The Text

Greek Myths

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne retells the classic Greek myths — Midas and his golden touch, Pandora’s box, Perseus and the Gorgon — for younger readers. The famous stories are reshaped with warmth, wonder, and a storyteller’s eye for vivid detail.

Activity Ideas

Find either a favourite book, or a book you have read recently.
Choose your favourite sentence from these different writers.
Stealing! Words and phrases.
Continue the story game (take it in turns, in the same style).
Choose your favourite myth - how might it be modernised?

Key Terms

Influence

When one writer’s ideas, style, or techniques shape another writer’s work.

Imitation

Deliberately practising or echoing another writer’s style; in classical rhetoric, this was encouraged as a way to learn.

Emulation

Adapting another writer’s techniques while trying to make them your own.