"The Hero with My Face": The Hero's Journey for 6th Graders

Introducing people of all ages to mythology... in pre-college educational curricula, youth orgs, the media, etc. Share your knowledge, stories, unit and lesson plans, techniques, and more.

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Taciturn
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Post by Taciturn »

For many years, I taught the 6th Grade in an Integrated Thematic Instruction style (per Susan Kovalic). It was very successful. I still have students who are college students or parents now, drop by to say hi. Invariably they ask me if I'm still doing the Hero's Journey. A new, coercive principal and "Leave No Child Behind" brought it all to an end, though I still slip it in wherever possible.

I began the project by taking The Hero with a Thousand Faces and going through the first half of the book and copying word for word each and every stand-alone quote from the book. Then I sat down and tried to restate each of the ideas for my kids. I called this little text, "The Hero with My Face." There were about 170 quotes that I felt I could use.

This was before computers in the classroom, mind you, and each morning, I would write one of these paraphrased quotes on the board. The kids would come in, open up their journals, and start writing it down in ink. These journals had plain white paper pages that had photocopied borders around each page, and more than enough pages in them.

On the other half of the board, I led the kids through a free-hand drawing lesson of something that would stand as an icon for what Campbell was getting across for that paraphrased quote. For example. If the passage was saying something about how each of us carry within us the "golden seeds" of our own potential, which are just waiting to come to fruition, We would draw a large bean seed in cross-section, and a cross-section of the earth with the stages that a seed goes through to a mature bean plant. The kids would draw in pencil, then copy carefully over it in ink, than with a pink-pearl eraser, they would erase all the pencil away, and then they would color it with their colored pencils.

As they draw I talk about a few of the kids and how this is about their lives and what potentials they have. I would personalize it by talking about their special gifts or talents that I knew of. The next day I would apply a passage to some of the other kids.

Then we would decorate the back side of the page with a few quotes that might have to do with seeds, talk about seeds and plants as metaphors, and a few quotes about potential.

The "as if" idea that Campbell talked about (The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology)was very important. I tried to get kids to live "as if" they were already the great man or great woman they would like to become someday. Very powerful stuff from Joe to the kids.

Lastly, the kids would go to the National Geographics (I collected donated magazines every year) and try to carefully clip images that would somehow relate or interpret the day's writings. They could flourish and garnish this to their hearts delight in spare moments throughout the day. They were all pretty proud of their work.

At the end of the year, they took their journals home and it was always pretty impressive to the parents and the brothers and sisters.

We did many other projects that were related to discovering the hero inside of us. Our motto was the signature at the bottom of my posts, which was adapted from P.L. Travers' chapter on the Hero in What the Bee Knows(I love her writings, a regular contributor to Parabola Magazine).

About the time I started doing this, I began to see a college course here and there on the Hero's Journey, then it started showing up in the High Schools. It inspires these 10-12 year olds (and they need inspiration).

I miss those days. It's hard to believe that my best years are over. Things aren't what they used to be for teachers. Too many "others" who want to tell us what is right for kids and always with final cut scores in the back of their minds. This ulterior motive that administrators right on up to the legislature to the president have of "looking good" is taking the heart out of education and learning, I believe.

(Stepping down off the soapbox . . .)

Thought I would share this. I'm new here, but this seems appropriate to this forum.

Pat
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Each of us is destined to become the hero in at least one story -- our own! (adapted from P.L. Travers)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Taciturn on 2006-08-17 13:36 ]</font>

Vissi
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Post by Vissi »

Pat,

Though not an educator, I concur with your findings on education these days. More importantly, I'd like to thank you for your years as a teacher. I can imagine no greater hero adventure than the one you've accomplished. The boon of your creativity and selfless devotion to learning must have added immeasurably to the lives of your students and all they encounter.

Dixie

Taciturn
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Post by Taciturn »

Well, thank you, Dixie. Those are kind words. I'm not really bitter, just think the teachers know more about education than principals, district administrators, or legislators: kids have been happier.
Each of us is destined to become the hero in at least one story -- our own! (adapted from P.L. Travers)

nandu
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Post by nandu »

Om!
Sah naavavatu
Sah nau Bhunaktu
Sah Veeryam Karvaa vahai
Tejasvee naav dheeta mastu
Maa Vidvishaa vahai
Om! Shanti Shanti Shanti

Om! may He protect us both (teacher and student)
May He look after us, so that we both enjoy (the fruits of our study)
May our study acquire a lustre
May we never quarrel with each other.
ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

I offer my respectful obeisances unto my Guru, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the torchlight of knowledge.
I can think of no nobler profession than teaching.

Thanks for sharing!

Nandu.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu

A J
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Post by A J »

On 2006-08-16 21:54, Taciturn wrote:

I miss those days. It's hard to believe that my best years are over. Things aren't what they used to be for teachers. Too many "others" who want to tell us what is right for kids and always with final cut scores in the back of their minds. This ulterior motive that administrators right on up to the legislature to the president have of "looking good" is taking the heart out of education and learning, I believe.
I hear what you are saying, Pat. What a great idea, to take The Hero's Journey and apply it to the hero within! I, too, in my classes, relied heavily on Campbell, but never so completely from the students' perspective. During the last years before I retired, I was teaching in a computer-based setting, and one of the uses we made of the computers in English classes was internet research. I was pleased to find quite a few sites which related The Hero's Journey to literature.

I get, too, that you are not bitter, but you are right on the nose about what is happening in education today. It's one of the main reasons I found the means to take an early retirement.

Have you thought of writing about the plans you've outlined above for other teachers?

AJ

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: A J on 2006-08-17 08:44 ]</font>

Taciturn
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Post by Taciturn »

Thanks for the mojo and kind words, Nandu.
Nice to hear from you again, AJ (good luck on that Audie Murphy book).

I still have several options, but get this: I am in the process of reading Pathways to Bliss (I am savoring it and really taking my time to reflect and digest), and last night after posting this, I came across these propitious passages from Joe (p.120):
". . . What you have to bring is something that the world lacks -- that is why you went to get it. Well, the daylight world doesn't even know that it needs this gift you are bringing. There are three possible reactions, then, when you come to the threshold [on the return], carrying your boon for the world.

"The first is that there is no reception at all. No one cares about this great treasure you have brought. What are you going to do? . . . You go back into your own newly unified whole and let the world go stink.

"The second way is to say, "What do they want?" Now you've got a skill, and you can give 'em what they are asking for. . . . Because you've created a whole pitch for your expression that doesn't allow you to get out what you had before; it gets lost. But you have a public career, which is something.

"The third possibility is to try to find some aspect of, or some portion of, the domain into which you have come that can receive some little portion of what you have to give. This is the pedagogical attitude of helping them to realize the need, what you needed and have got to give. Those are the only possibilities.

"The first is the refusal of the return, you see. The second is the return in terms of the society, so you're not giving them a goddam thing: they're only getting what they want. And the third is a pedagogical attitude of trying to find a means or a vocabulary or something that will enable you to deliver to them what you have found as the life boon in terms, and in proportions, that are proper to their ability to receive. You can always do this, but this requires a good deal of compassion and patience."
That was uncanny, to me. I intuited the third path, in my case, and it was nice to hear Joe validate it. The dead truly do speak.

I just had to share that with you all, too.

Pat
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Each of us is destined to become the hero in at least one story -- our own! (adapted from P.L. Travers)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Taciturn on 2006-08-17 15:16 ]</font>

bodhibliss
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Post by bodhibliss »

On 2006-08-16 23:37, Taciturn wrote:
Well, thank you, Dixie. Those are kind words. I'm not really bitter, just think the teachers know more about education than principals, district administrators, or legislators: kids have been happier.
True words, Pat. That's why i "dropped out" of teaching full time, moving in the direction of writing - a different form of educating.

And what a stellar lesson plan, Pat!

Currently the JCF is putting together a mythological toolkit for teachers and students - the goal is to create supplemental lesson plans that address each standard in Language Arts, Literature, and Social Studies at each grade level. What follows is the description of our Mythology Curriculum Project posted onsite:
The Joseph Campbell Foundation is embarking on a project to create a website that will make educational materials on mythology available to teachers and students, K-12. If you have ideas or materials you would like to contribute, or if you wish to be added to our mailing list, please e-mail Project Director, Gerald McDermott, with your contact information: name, e-mail, mailing address, phone, etc.

Gerald McDermott
Director, Mythology Curriculum Project
zomo2000@earthlink
Two of Gerald McDermott's books have earned Caldecott Honors, and one - Arrow to the Sun - won a Caldecott Medal for its contribution to children's literature.

Would you do the foundation a favor and forward the description above of your lesson plan to Gerald? It's a wonderful idea that would address several standards in sixth-grade art as well as literature.

You might even eventually consider sharing your 170 paraphrased quotations from Hero with a Thousand Faces, if appropriate.

AJ - and all teachers here, including Clemsy and Mark and others - please do the same, if possible. Many creative ideas and lesson plans have been introduced here over the years, but i'm not sure Gerald and his collaborators have the time at the moment to troll the message archives - so sure would help to bring some of these ideas directly to his attention.

Thanks, Pat, for sharing!

namaste
bodhibliss

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Bodhi_Bliss on 2006-08-17 23:24 ]</font>

Taciturn
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Post by Taciturn »

BodhiBliss,
Thanks for the understanding. You wrote how you "dropped out" of teaching. From what I've been reading around here, it sounds like you dropped back into teaching. Keep up the good writing. I enjoyed your "Practical Campbell, too." The question of originality should never come up regarding Joe.

I will send something per your request. I will have to gather some materials and figure out a way to send it off, electronically.

Pat
Each of us is destined to become the hero in at least one story -- our own! (adapted from P.L. Travers)

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Post by Clemsy »

Hi Taciturn!

Last year was my first as a Language Arts teacher, after 20+ years in special education. Mythology is part of the 7th grade curriculum so I spent a bit of time on it, you might say. I describe the unit HERE.

Unfortunately I've been moved to the 8th grade this year, so I won't be able to refine the unit. However, I do plan on incorporating the concept of the Hero's Journey right from the get go in Mr. Clemsy's Expectations on Student Performance.

The first day of school, after all, is The Call to Adventure. <IMG SRC="/forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif">

Hey, did you ever make a e-file of those Hero w/ 1K Faces quotes? I'd love to see them!

Cheers,
Clemsy

PS: No matter where you go, teachers complain of NCLB sucking the creativity right out the profession. However, there's always elbow room if you spin the performance standards just right!

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A J
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Post by A J »

Clemsy,

Have fun with your 8th graders and the Journey. After using it as the focus of my mythology unit for my 10th graders, I developed the concept so that we took a Hero's Journey all through the first semester. The second semester focus, then, was on cultural diversity, showing how we all take the same journey. That way I was able to please TPTB and still get in a good dose of "Joe."

AJ

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Post by Girlpapa »

Pat,
I'm a clinical social worker and play therapist who works with kids. I would sure like to use your idea in my work. I have used a workbook titled "what do you stand for?" but often find workbooks a little boring. Using metaphors (such as the hero) is far more effective and and fun. Thank you. And may I copy your idea?

Taciturn
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Post by Taciturn »

Girlpapa,
You bet give it a go. I won't send you the materials as they have never been made web-ready or e-mailable. That would be quite a project. I don't feel any ownership for my idea. It was merely an adaptation of Joe's original work.
Pat
Each of us is destined to become the hero in at least one story -- our own! (adapted from P.L. Travers)

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Post by Moondog »

Just to put in my two cents, I am a highschool student who has just recently been introduced to Joe. Even I wish that teachers would take some of the liberties of teaching outside of the box because having facts drilled into your head will help you get smarter but it won't make you a better person in the end. I think it's great what you guys are doing.

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