The Modern Hero: Inspiring Teenagers to be Good Readers
My students need books about heroes to analyze how Joseph Campbell's hero's journey fits in modern literature as well as ancient and classical literature.
My students are diverse, but driven. Many of the students I teach are part of the English Learner Immersion program. Some come from war-torn countries. However, they are also students that take AP and concurrent credit courses, which helps them earn college credit.
It is amazing to be surrounded by these diverse backgrounds and experiences where we have a community of learners (including myself!) that are driven to achieve more.
Learning about these hard-working and diverse students and helping them see that they can all be heroes in their own way has inspired me to be the best teacher that I can be for them.
My Project
My freshmen English curriculum includes a unit called Responsibility that focuses on Joseph Campbell's hero's journey as it applies to ancient, classic, and modern literature.
Students will be reading a modern novel of their choice that they will trace the traits of that hero as well as how that hero follows the steps of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey.
The purpose of this assignment is to help students draw connections between ancient heroes like Odysseus to Native American heroes like the The Boy who Lives with His Grandmother to young adult novel heroes like Katniss Everdeen. Drawing these connections between heroes of all genres, ethnic backgrounds, and eras will help students see the rich connection that literature has to culture.
Students will be using these independent novels to write a dialogue journal where they discuss these connections with a peer who is also reading the same novel. I hope that this will foster good readers as well a collaborative atmosphere in my classroom.
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