ALEX Learning Activity

This learning activity should be used as an after activity to allow students to demonstrate their understanding of patterns and characteristics associated with the traditional Hero's Journey myth (mono-myth). This learning activity could be used with the learning activity "What Makes a Hero?" to introduce these concepts. The students will brainstorm ideas for a personal hero who fits the characteristics of the traditional myth using a My Hero's Journey Book Proposal and The Hero's Journey. The assignment is presented to students as a letter from a publisher asking them to submit their ideas for a book using the traditional hero's journey pattern and characteristics.  The students will answer questions and insert illustrations from The Hero's Journey to help them think through their ideas.  

This activity is a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

I can identify the characteristics of the traditional hero myth (mono-myth) and the typical pattern of his/her journey.

The student's goal is to demonstrate his/her understanding of and ability to apply the characteristics most often associated with a hero's journey.

The students will work independently to complete the interactive Google slides, My Hero's Journey Book Proposal. The students will have access to this Read-Write-Tool to help them review the characteristics through examples while they work.

The students will answer questions about a made-up Hero's Journey and illustrate each characteristic related to their Hero's Journey using My Hero's Journey Book Proposal.  

The students will use the My Hero's Journey Rubric to self-assess as their work as they go. 

The teacher will use the My Hero's Journey Rubric provided in this activity to assess each student's individual level of understanding.

• The teacher will need to introduce the idea that writers are often drawn on the works of writers of the past especially in terms of themes, patterns of events, or character types. 
• The teacher will also need to introduce the traditional hero's journey myth (mono-myth). The learning activity "What Makes a Hero?" could be used to introduce these ideas.
• The teacher will need to create a copy of the My Hero's Journey Book Proposal and personalize it by replacing the highlighted question marks with his/her own name and school name.
• The teacher will need to share his/her personalized version of My Hero's Journey Book Proposal with the students via Google Classroom or any integrated digital app.

• The teacher may want to make paper copies of the My Hero's Journey Rubric to share with the class.
• The teacher may want to shorten the assignment based on student need or allow students to work in partners.
• The teacher may want to provide a model of an illustrated slide to help students to better understand his/her expectations.
• The teacher can choose a different method of assessment.

Once the teacher makes his/her own copy of the Google slide and rubric, he/she can alter it to fit his/her students. 

Students should already be familiar with the idea that writers draw on themes, patterns of events, and character types from myths, traditional stories, religious works, etc. and the traditional Hero's Journey myth before they begin this assignment.  

This activity could be combined with the following learning activities on ALEX:

• "What Makes A Hero?"
• "Narrative Writing Revision Boot Camp"
• "My Hero's Journey Narrative"

The teacher will find the following instructions embedded in the My Hero's Journey Book Proposal:   

"You must stay true to the characteristics discussed in this unit. You do, however, have some creative freedom. You may choose not to include some of the characteristics (no more than 3 without permission), but you must include a clear explanation for why the omitted characteristic is not appropriate for your story. Your explanation(s) should be included in the slide of the characteristic(s) you chose to omit."

If the teacher does not plan on using the Learning Activities mentioned above to create a unit project, the following wording, "You must stay true to the characteristics discussed in this unit," will need to be changed when he/she alters My Hero's Journey Book Proposal.