Teaching Heroism in an Inner City Drama Class

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Bensajo
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Teaching Heroism in an Inner City Drama Class

Post by Bensajo »

Good evening or morning, everybody (if there really is a difference)

My name is Benjamin Sajo, a teacher candidate in a bachelor of education program. All my life I've been a lover of comparative mythology and Joseph Campbell's writing--incidentally inspired by own mother, a drama teacher--and have the opportunity to prepare a six class lesson unit on heroism in a mixed-grade drama class in a multicultural, inner-city school in Ottawa, Canada. The students are extraordinarily varied in background and attitudes. My background is in music composition, as well as in drama.

It begins with this Big Idea: “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles” (Christopher Reeves). Students will explore the idea of heroism through dramatic pedagogy, and how the heroic process—or monomyth—is experienced in their own lives. Students in urban communities face varied degrees of adversity, and by creatively examining how heroes are presented in the myths and legends of global traditions as well as in the modern world they may discover their own personal heroism, acquiring empowerment."

I've divided the lessons into six stages, with three pairs exploring departure, initiation, and return, with a cumulative drama piece.

I'd love to hear from anybody who's had a similar experience as this?

Kind regards,
Ben

JamesN.
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Post by JamesN. »

Greetings Bensajo; A most hearty welcome to the forums and glad to have you with us.

A noble undertaking you are pursuing. Our moderator Clemsy is an excellent go to source concerning your query; and as it just so happens he is a teacher himself and is involved also in your particular area of interest.

As I'm sure at some point he will be by to check on you; but in the meantime I will leave a couple of links that you may enjoy that address this very topic.

As you are new to here I will mention that there is also quite a bit of material from which to survey which may give you some further ideas if you have not already done this; so relax, get comfortable and wander around a bit to become more familiar with the place.

There are nice folks here and if you need assistance just ask and someone should be able to help you.

Warm Regards. James

Cheers


http://www.jcf.org/new/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4056

And:

http://www.jcf.org/new/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4922
What do I know? - Michael de Montaigne

Bensajo
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Post by Bensajo »

Hi James!
Pleasure to meet you, and thank you for the welcome!
I'm having a look at the conversations you mentioned...it's just that in such a sea of so much information--as they, "if you're going to fall, dive,"--I frankly don't know where to start!

In Ontario, the drama classes are not associated with the English curriculum, but with the Arts Curriculum (which includes music, visual arts, dance, integrated arts)--which is interesting, because my second teachable is in English, not technically in drama, aside from some courses and extra-curricular activities, I don't have an "advanced qualification" to teach drama.

I'm in the library, browsing at the books...

Cheers,
Ben

JamesN.
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Post by JamesN. »

Greetings Bensajo.

I left a message for Clemsy of your request so I'm sure you will be hearing from him soon. Of course being a teacher himself it may take a moment to get to this. ( Although not speaking for him of course ); he is quite knowledgeable about this area so I'm pretty sure he can be of some help in advising you on what direction you might want to pursue with this.

A couple of things I might suggest concerning feeling a bit overwhelmed; ( You are not alone :lol: ). I've been rambling around here for years and yes it's big but you'll find your way around quicker than you realize. :wink:

As to choice of where to start; ( well ); while you are contemplating the first place I would look would be ( What excites " You "? ) and go from there. What is it that excites you in Joseph Campbell's work and what informs you? What message would you want to deliever that you think might help your students? What works of literature or great storys or themes deliever or contain this? This is only a suggestion and of course there are certain " realities " to contend with; but I would start there. ( There is nothing that excites learning quite like hearing about it from someone who is already excited about it and has something to say. ) From what I already read in your earlier post it sounds like you've already got some nice ideas with this.

Clemsy's Dream Class thread talks about how he uses writing; AmythstRose has a very interesting results-based approach you might want to check out. Your music background sounds like it has some excellent possibilities. As you wander around and read some of these threads of these different forums something will catch you I'm betting. :wink:


You are in a good place here. :)

Cheers
What do I know? - Michael de Montaigne

Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Greetings Bensajo, and welcome to the JCF's Forums!

I'll get back to you later today in more detail, but I wanted to let you know I'm aware of your presence and interested in helping out in any way I can.

Cheers,
Clemsy
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

Bensajo
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Post by Bensajo »

Hi Clemsy!
Thanks for getting back and the welcome! I'm excited! :D
Cheers,
Ben

Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Ben,

Your unit sounds wonderful and your timing is fortuitous. One of my roles for the Joseph Campbell Foundation is as "curator" of the new Mythic Classroom project. Here is the project's mission statment:
Part of the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s (JCF) mission is to promote the study of mythology and comparative religion, to implement and/or support diverse mythological education programs and to utilize the Foundation's website (www.jcf.org) as a forum for relevant cross-cultural dialogue. To these ends, the JCF is inviting educators, at all levels and disciplines, who have incorporated myth into their curricula to share their work in a searchable database to be used as a resource for teachers and researchers.

Although the use of Joseph Campbell’s work is not a pre-requisite for inclusion in this project, we are looking for those whose work with myth:

• provides young students with a rich narrative experience
• incorporates the study of metaphor and symbolism
• encourages students to construct personal meaning
• views myth as a product of the human psychological landscape which connects us across cultures.
Right now we're collecting exemplars on an Excel spreadsheet, as we await the launch of the JCF's new website. At that time the data will be uploaded into the data base. please let me know if you would like your work included in the project and I'll forward the file to you.

If you've looked through my Dream Class thread you'll know I also do some in depth hero journey work in my senior classes. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

I look forward to your reply, Ben!

Cheers!
Clemsy
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

Welcome, Ben.

You've got your work cut out for you. I expect that your progress will be interesting. Looking forward to updates and feedback.

~
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

Great mission statement, Clemsy. The work is awesome.

~
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

Bensajo
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Post by Bensajo »

Fortuitousness favors the lucky!

I love the idea of the Mythic Classroom.

Nice to meet you, Bear!

I've sent an e-mail to Clemsy with my Unit Plan; I don't feel comfortable posting this freely online yet. Is there a way to share this on the message boards?

Regards,
Ben

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