Embedded Files
Lesson Topic: The Hero’s Journey/The Modern Quest in Mythology
Type of Lesson: Introductory
By this unit day, the students are well-involved in the story of The Hobbit, so this lesson topic is to explore the deeper themes that the classic shares with other epic poems or stories. By the end of the class, the students should have the understanding that this book represents the archetypal hero’s journeys from Classical Literature (e.g., The Odyssey and Beowulf), and that it is part of a template for other heroic tales in popular culture (e.g., Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lord of The Rings Trilogy). The Hobbit expresses a common “formula” in Modern English Literature, while not being formulaic in itself. An appreciation of the formula that makes epic tales will allow the students to recognize and enjoy these aspects and themes when they encounter similar stories (namely, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, should they want to follow up this current tale with that in their free time). This formula was outlined by Joseph Campbell, an American cultural anthropologist and mythologist in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Context for Learning
The purpose of this lesson is to engage the students in thought about the originality of The Hobbit. Obviously, the tale is original, and it has inspired many other similar stories. The important recognition for the students is that there were similar stories that came before which outlined what was expected of a hero. The students should be able to note these aspects of characterization and plot that make The Hobbit comparative to classics like The Odyssey and Beowulf. The students will be successful consumers of literature if they recognize that novels and short stories can have genre-based themes or recipes that connect them.
Even though this new analysis of the book’s “formula” validates what the students already know about the story (developmental), I am introducing a lot of new information for them. This is essentially a lesson on comparative literature, or how to compare certain literature (and other media) that subscribes to a formula. The goal is to get the student to recognize the formula so that they can appreciate it for their own enjoyment in reading and writing.
The assessment of this learning will come in the form of an in-class creative writing project that has the students cast themselves as their own heroes who must follow the formula they have just learned. Additionally, the teacher will note if the students make any connections between the fantasy of the formula and the reality of facing “real” challenges in life.
Curriculum Standards Addressed
MD State and MCPS 8th Grade ELA Honors Inclusion Standards
Standard 3.0 Comprehension of Literary Text
Indicator
1. Refine comprehension skills by reading and analyzing a variety of self-selected and assigned literary texts including print and non-print.
Objectives
a. Listen to critically, read, and discuss a variety of literary texts representing diverse cultures, perspectives, ethnicities, and time periods.
b. Listen to critically, read, and discuss a variety of literary forms and genres.
Indicator
2. Analyze and evaluate text features to facilitate and extend understanding of literary texts.
Objectives
a. Analyze text features that contribute to meaning.
Indicator
3. Analyze and evaluate elements of narrative texts to facilitate understanding and interpretation
Objectives
d. Analyze characterization
Assessment limits:
Character's traits based on what character says, does, and thinks and what other characters or the narrator says
Character's motivations
Character's personal growth and development
j. Analyze the interactions among narrative elements and their contribution to meaning
Assessment limits:
Connections among narrative elements and meaning
Indicator
Indicator
6. Analyze and interpret important ideas and messages in literary texts
6. Analyze and interpret important ideas and messages in literary texts
Objectives
Objectives
a. Analyze main ideas and universal themes
Assessment limits:
Of the text or a portion of the text
Experiences, emotions, issues, and ideas in a text that give rise to universal themes
b. Analyze similar themes across multiple texts
Assessment limits:
Experiences, emotions, issues, and ideas across texts that give rise to universal themes
d. Reflect on and explain personal connections to the text
Assessment limits:
Connections between personal experiences and the theme or main ideas
e. Explain the implications of the text for the reader and/or society
Assessment limits:
Ideas and issues of a text that may have implications for the reader
Standard 4.0 Writing
Indicator
2. Compose oral, written and visual presentations that express personal ideas, inform, and persuade
Objectives
a. Compose to express personal ideas by experimenting with a variety of forms and techniques suited to topic, audience, and purpose in order to develop a personal style, a distinctive voice, and a deliberate tone
b. Describe in prose and/or poetic forms to clarify, extend, or elaborate on ideas by using evocative language and appropriate organizational structure to create a dominant impression
e. Use writing-to-learn strategies such as reflective journals, metacognitive writings, and projections based on reflections to analyze and synthesize thinking and learning
f. Manage time and process when writing for a given purpose
NETS-S
2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments
and media
b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats
c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures
d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems
NCTE Standards
2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.
11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
Objectives
The students will be able to list the major stages and characteristics of the epic journey/modern quest as outlined by Joseph Campbell (using PPT and handouts).
The students will be able to apply these themes to recognize other books or media which utilize this formula (within Animoto video).
The students will be able to use these stages and strategies to write short synopses of an original epic tale during the class period (with SPAWN writing prompts).
Materials
The Hobbit Text
Highlighters
Writing Utensils
Joseph Campbell/The Hero’s Journey PPT
Promethean Board
Project Packets
Student Individual Writing Journals
Proactive Behavior Management
Please refer to Unit Plan Header under “Proactive Behavior Management.”
Provisions for Student Grouping
Please refer to Unit Plan Header under “Provisions for Student Grouping.”
Procedures
Model for Teaching
Warm-Up/Opening (5 minutes)
Students start off with the “Word of the Day.” Word selected is usually SAT level word taken from the current reading. Since previous day’s discussion was on Greed, the vocabulary word could be “Avarice” or “Cupidity.” Word will be displayed on the Promethean Board in the front of the class. Students will be asked to guess the meaning of the word and briefly state why they made their guesses. After enough students have attempted to define the word, teacher will give definition.
Reading Homework Recap (10 minutes)
Teacher will ask students if there are any remaining questions from the previous day’s lesson on Greed in The Hobbit. Teacher will use this time to check in also for understanding of the previous night’s reading before moving on with the new lesson. Teacher might ask a question about greed based on previous day’s lesson: “Who do you think was greedier: Gollum or Smaug? Why?” Students will answer this in their writing journals (which are collected periodically).
Motivator/Bridge (5 minutes video; 10 minute discussion leading into activity)
Students will segue into watching an Animoto video (See Video Above) made from various images from different epic fantasy movies. The soundtrack for the video is “Holding Out For A Hero,” by 80’s sensation, Bonnie Tyler. The video was created to entertain, rather than teach. The video zips through quickly, but the students will be asked to see if they recognize most of the individual stories. The thrust of the video is to make the students think about all the different movies could have in common. I will make sure that everyone has an unobstructed view of the Promethean Board to view the video. (This video can also be viewed on the class website.)
a) Review prior learning.
Students will be asked which characters, objects and settings in The Hobbit match the key archetypes in these other movie. For example, if any of the students have viewed the The Lord of the Rings movies, they might make the easy comparisons between Bilbo’s and Frodo ‘s quests. (Obviously, Gandalf is still Gandalf.) Students will be asked to consider reluctant heroes, magical weapons/artifacts, and the descent into the underworld that goes along with this genre of story.
b) Tie new learning into students’ prior knowledge.
Most students will easily see that these movies follow a certain pattern like The Hobbit. What - or rather who - they will not know is Joseph Campbell. The teacher will have the opportunity to introduce Campbell through the PPT and the corresponding handout. (Please refer to Project Packet pages 21-22.) Teacher will directly instruct the students about the idea of comparative mythology, or “monomyth.” Students will refer to the handout for Campbell’s 17 steps of the Hero’s Journey. The teacher will see if the students can come up with their own examples of Campbell’s formula during the instruction.
This is also an opportunity for the teacher to give some background of J.R.R. Tolkien. The students will not have learned a lot about the author, but it will help them to put the night’s reading homework (i.e., the “War of The Five Armies” chapters) in context to know that Tolkien was a veteran of WWI. (The teacher will ask the students to pay careful attention to how Tolkien describes [word choice and tone] the war for these fictional races.) The teacher will make the connection for the students that a lot of soldiers experience the Hero’s Journey by going off to fight in foreign lands. These brave men and women come out of combat “different” or “changed” because they had to fight for their survival. The teacher will ask the students if they can think of similar types of situations they think change people forever (e.g., experiencing parents divorcing, death of a loved one, leaving home for the first time, etc.).
c) State the goal(s) and objective(s) for the lesson.
Students will know they are successful on this lesson when they can remember the major events in the formula for the hero’s journey and demonstrate how this formula applies to similar stories. During the discussion part of the instruction, there will be an exercise where the students give examples of the journey stages. For example, if asked to give an example of “Atonement with the Father,” they might say “when Thorin dies after reconciling with Bilbo.” Students should be able to easily spot the formula of the epic journey and discriminate from stories where this is not used. This should be an appropriate lead to the in-class writing assignment.
Activities for Assessment (10-15 minutes)
This day’s lesson plan is a combination of direct instruction with opportunities for Constructivist activities after the key information has been disseminated. The student should have acquired the pertinent information from their source text, the brief lecture with Animoto video and PPT, and the handout they should keep in their writing journals. From all of this information, they should be creative and knowledgeable enough to create their own epic tales. The students would not be expected to write a whole 300 page novel, but in the allotted time they should be able to draft a synopsis of their personal epic hero’s journey. Following the guidelines of the assignment handout, these students should write a 1.5 page synopsis of a legendary tale - starring them - that uses several of Campbell’s formula steps. This would assess their lesson comprehension and writing skills. The students would be familiar with this in-class writing from SPAWN prompts. SPAWN is a free writing technique where students discover ways to manipulate or extend the known literature, or create brand new writing of their own.
Adaptations
Even though the students will be encouraged to use the hero’s journey formula they just learned, this is still a creative writing exercise that does not require a lot of research from the book or the handout. Some students who have diminished writing abilities will not be expected to write long narratives. (In fact, these all should be synopses that get the students interested in how stories are told this way, and not a means to get a best-selling young adult book published.) Some struggling students or some ELL’s should attempt to tell their stories orally to ensure that they understand the concept outside of the ability to create the narrative. Some students who are not as adept with either the written or verbal communication will be allowed to draw comic panels of their stories. If a student cannot create verbally, write or draw an original tale, the teacher will have him/her retell a story from memory and ask shaping questions for the student to see how it might fit the epic journey. All students who require extra time will receive it, as the completion/revision of this will be their night’s homework assignment (in addition to reading) that will go into their writing journals for collection.
*Generalization/Extension Activity
The students who finish early the in-class SPAWN writing assignment will be encouraged to work on their group projects. As an alternative to working on the group projects, some students might want to read the first few pages of The Fellowship of The Ring, and make comparisons between Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Or, they might compare the older Bilbo in Fellowship to the younger Bilbo from The Hobbit. They can list their impressions in their writing journal. If there is computer access at this time, there is an appropriate video about the Hero’s Journey as it applies to the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. This video will have a link to the website but can also be found here.
Assessment (5 minutes)
After the students have mapped out their own hero’s journeys, the teacher will have some of them volunteer some of their stories. After the student reads his/her quick synopsis, the teacher will ask other students if they could spot the elements of the formula. For example, “William, what sounded like the Supernatural Aid in Sarah’s quest?” This type of assessment would be mainly formative as it would be asking the students “how” they came up with the answers, or “why” they thought as they did. More summative questions like “Does the ‘Ultimate Boon’ come before or after ‘The Call to Adventure?’”can be asked as well. Mainly, the teacher wants to assess that the students include some semblance of the Campbell formula in their original stories. Students who volunteer or answer questions will receive credit, but, ultimately, the grade for the assignment will come from the amount of work they put into their journal writing assignment. These writing journals will be collected every Friday to allow for swift feedback at the beginning of the next week.
Review/Reinforcement (Homework) (5 minutes)
Because the students are given additional time outside of class to complete the writing assignment, it would be expected that they take caution to use pre-writing and post-writing strategies. The final products would be assessed like any other writing assignments (although its length would be considerably shorter.) In addition to this homework assignment and the reading assignment, the students should continue to plan for their class presentations on Friday. (Any remaining time after the summary/closure would be allocated to this group project preparation.)
Summary/Closure (5 minutes)
The teacher will wrap-up the day’s lesson by doing a final check in for understanding of the new material covered (or questions about any older material). Teacher will remind the students of their commitments to the homework, plus their preparation for the class presentation. Throughout the lesson and especially at the end of the period, the teacher would make sure to give appropriate and positive feedback to students for their attention and participation during the class. Teacher will finally dismiss the students at the bell.
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