What Makes a Classic?

Sophocles' Ancient Greek play Antigone was written 

around 441 b.c.e., almost 2,500 years ago.  

Shakespeare is still the world's most quoted writer in the 

English language, despite the fact that he died 400 years ago. 

Why are those details important? That's what we've been asking ourselves this quarter in Writ Lit. Essentially, we have sought to find out what makes a classic. Is it how long it has been around? Does it depend on the author/creator? What about the historical context or how much influence it had? Students studied the works of Sophocles and Shakespeare as a way to consider these and other questions. They considered what makes a classic character (archetype) and how artists, poets, and songwriters try to modernize classics, with varying success. 

As a culminating way to show what they understand about classics, students chose things that they think should be considered classics and developed museum exhibits (inspired by our visit to the DIA in February) to teach their visitors all about them, focusing on what makes them timeless. The resulting exhibits were displayed the week before spring break. 

Several students chose classics connected to their own cultural backgrounds. Sophie (above) has her ancestry rooted in England, and she wanted to share an exhibit about why British Tea is a classic cultural practice. Donna (right) built an exhibit about the Western Wall, a religious and architectural classic connected to her Jewish heritage. Anna created her exhibit to teach museum visitors about Carnivale, an annual Italian Celebration, and Antigone taught guests all about the classic Albanian Plis, worn by men in Albania, where her family is from.

Some students chose exhibits based on their various hobbies and interests. Elijah (left) shared why the B-52 is a classic military plane. Tamia, interested in the law,  discovered a classic police case in the story of Marie LaFarge, whose murder of her husband in the 1800s was the first case to use toxicology for conviction. 


About half the students used physical displays for their exhibits. Ramsha (right) loves architecture, so she built a model in her exhibit to teach students about the classic Twin Towers. Taylor (below) highlighted what makes Coca-Cola the classic American beverage. 


Other students chose a virtual space to entertain and educate their museum visitors. Jacob (right), coded his own game on his website to educate museum visitors about the classic video game Pong. Lara created a PowToon to showcase the New York Times as a classic publication; Annie explored what makes a classic board game, focusing on a family favorite, Monopoly, also in a web exhibit; and Maxym created a virtual museum to explore a classic novel, Ender's Game.

Over the course of two days, each student had a chance to act as a museum docent as well as a museum guest. We enjoyed learning about a variety of classics, from classic musicals to classic shoes, as a way to tie this unit together. Thanks to all the students for sharing their classics!