This is a download link for a unit I created based on Joseph Campbell's Monomyth, or the Hero's Journey archetype.
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Prefatory Statement:
Many people are a little familiar with mythology, but few people understand the importance of the genre. Many do not understand how mythology can relate to their own lives and the modern society that we now live in.
In this unit, we will be examining the structure typical to many mythological stories, “The Hero’s Journey”. This structure is not only present in mythology, but can be found in the narratives of many modern novels, movies, and comic books. This unit will not only cover mythology, but it will look at the connections between the Hero’s Journey in past and present context.
Through this unit, I hope to help my students look at aspects of our media in a new way. Understanding the Hero’s Journey archetype can help students further analyze books they may read or movies they may watch in the future. I also hope to instill an understanding of how one archetype can connect stories throughout cultures, as well as time periods. In addition to adding this new lens to their learning, students will use other lenses (such as gender, race, etc) in tandem with the Hero’s Journey to look at given material in the class.
Learning the Hero’s Journey not only helps students when dissecting various media, but it will also help students learn more about their own lives and the struggles and trials that each person overcomes on their journey to happiness or to an end result.
Students will begin this unit with a WebQuest, in which they will research the Hero’s Journey by means of the internet. Working technology into any unit is important, as it’s the world that many students have grown up in. Later in the unit, students will explore other cultures and time periods through short readings based on or related to the Hero’s Journey. After they are more familiar with the theme, they will form small reading groups to choose a more modern novel that follows the Hero’s Journey archetype. We will also explore the portrayal in film and comic form. To conclude the unit, students will create their own Hero’s Journey story.
In this unit, we will be examining the structure typical to many mythological stories, “The Hero’s Journey”. This structure is not only present in mythology, but can be found in the narratives of many modern novels, movies, and comic books. This unit will not only cover mythology, but it will look at the connections between the Hero’s Journey in past and present context.
Through this unit, I hope to help my students look at aspects of our media in a new way. Understanding the Hero’s Journey archetype can help students further analyze books they may read or movies they may watch in the future. I also hope to instill an understanding of how one archetype can connect stories throughout cultures, as well as time periods. In addition to adding this new lens to their learning, students will use other lenses (such as gender, race, etc) in tandem with the Hero’s Journey to look at given material in the class.
Learning the Hero’s Journey not only helps students when dissecting various media, but it will also help students learn more about their own lives and the struggles and trials that each person overcomes on their journey to happiness or to an end result.
Students will begin this unit with a WebQuest, in which they will research the Hero’s Journey by means of the internet. Working technology into any unit is important, as it’s the world that many students have grown up in. Later in the unit, students will explore other cultures and time periods through short readings based on or related to the Hero’s Journey. After they are more familiar with the theme, they will form small reading groups to choose a more modern novel that follows the Hero’s Journey archetype. We will also explore the portrayal in film and comic form. To conclude the unit, students will create their own Hero’s Journey story.