First off, congratulations to Jen for her job at Aurora Central High School! Woo!
The Hero's Journey
Joseph Campbell coined the term. Joseph helped to number the steps and provide summaries of each category -- the hero's journey is cyclical and may not always follow the steps
Emma read The Odyssey.
The hero's journey should be clarified by visuals. Students can make their own hero's journey (visually) and describe how the characters and plot fit each step. Students can make their own representation of the hero's journey about their favorite artist, musicians, parents, friends, family...e.c.t...
Some steps in The Odyssey are missing; another text can be used to fill in the "gaps".
But what about modern texts? How do they fit the hero's journey?
A lot of times kids do not know what they're looking for; for this reason it is important to focus on specific things like steps of the Hero's journey.
Alex read The Hobbit J.R. Tolkien and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Interestingly, The Hobbit literally fits many steps of the hero's journey.
Sometimes it may seem difficult finding the hero's journey in books that are not obviously about a "hero" -- however, in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian Junior leaves the mundane word, enters a new world, meets new challenges and difficulties, and not only survives but gains new understanding by the end.
Gwen read Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. This book would be easily adaptable for middle schoolers and ninth graders. It is an exemplar of the hero's journey -- it has mystical creatures, archetypes of allies and villains (the names of characters match their personalities and traits). It is a quick read.
Brianne read Beowulf and admits that it may not be fit for high school students but could definitely be adapted for advanced students. Beowulf is similar to The Odyssey as far as matching the cycle of the hero's journey.
Tarayn read the last Hush Hush book called Finale (the 4th book of the series). Tarayn read it along with some of her previous students. It is a modern hero's journey, with a female perspective. It becomes a little "mushy" and the main character is male-dependent -- however many of the steps are followed.
With the modern hero's journey is another step standing up to society?
It is important to figure which books will attract which students -- some books will attract both genders but teachers must recognize the impact of choice books on students and how different genders will be attracted to different qualities in a book.
Thank you to everyone for coming!
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