Today’s exercise is to take one of the plot structures (standard or Hero’s Journey) and create an outline for a story based on that structure. You may use this in the future, and you may not. The point in this exercise is to focus on structuring a story and creating an outline that sticks to one of these plot structures.
Find the Hero’s Journey Structure at https://www.shortform.com/blog/heros-journey-steps/
Find the Three-Act Plot Structure at https://thenovelsmithy.com/intro-the-three-act-structure/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have already mentioned practicing the Three-Act Plot Structure with my latest attempt at a 1-act play. So for today’s exercise, I’m going to combine the ideas of curriculum writing that I begin tomorrow with my love of heroes and the Hero’s Journey.
I will focus on the Capstone Project that I assigned my 12th graders at the end of the year and use examples for how it is “Cultivating Genius” - the theme of our curriculum - and show several students’ Hero’s Journey in the process this spring.
The theme of the project this year was #ProjectBeenHere. A good friend and colleague had suggested adapting the name to an attendance initiative the school was doing called #ProjectBeHere. The difference here was that the project is meant to be left behind for other students to see as part of a legacy, something that shows you were there.
The project is simple: choose a topic that interests you and share it in your choice of media. The only catch is that it needs to include one of the English Language Arts standards - reading, writing, speaking and/or listening. In essence, students can do anything because anything can be tied into one or more of those standards. I have received good children’s books, quote posters, short stories, scenes for a TV screenplay, standup comedy acts, and more than one public service project on issues like animal protection, anti-bullying and suicide prevention.
Here’s a breakdown of how Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey applies to this project.
Step 1: The Call to Adventure
I allude to this assignment from the very beginning of the year. I am the herald for their final project of the year. The call to adventure is supposed to “introduce the hero to a hidden world of possibility, guided by mysterious forces which the hero will come to understand through the course of the journey.”
It’s the beginning of the year, though, so students don’t quite see me as a herald of possibility. (More like a harbinger of doom through hard work.)
As they come to realize who I am, they can start to see me a little more familiarly and not so mysterious. One of the things I found from the Freedom Writers and their teacher, Erin Gruwell, as I studied with them in Summer 2014, was that Erin got her students to: 1) believe in her, 2) believe when she said how great they were, and 3) believe in themselves. It’s another Hero’s Journey that I could try to outline, now that I mention it, but I will stick with my first idea for now.
Step 2: Refusing the Call
It might comfort students to know that even some of the greatest heroes frowned on their big-defining moments at the beginning.
In this step, heroes are reluctant to take that first step on their path to greatness. In folk tales and myths, this is usually a refusal “to give up one’s narrow, immediate interests in the pursuit of spiritual awakening or even the salvation of the universe.” It’s always safer to stay within one’s comfort zone, but it is the educator’s task to help students take those steps until they can accomplish it on their own.
Step 3: Supernatural Aid
Many heroes are helped on their journey by some “supernatural” type force. “This helper is the personification of destiny. Often, this figure takes the form of an old man or old woman, like the fairy godmother, wizard, shepherd, smith, or woodsman figures of European fairy tales.” That’s a teacher, even if I’m not necessarily an OLD man. (Not old; just more experienced.)
Step 4: Crossing the Threshold
It wouldn’t be as interesting a journey if it was a straight path from point A to point B. Even less so, if the journey was refused and never begun.
At some point in our Capstone Project process, early on or much later, students realize that this project is their defining moment, or rather the project that will help them get the passing grade so they can graduate. It is at this point where they are more receptive to help in brainstorming ideas, or structuring their project.
Knowing the outcome of the Hero’s Journey model, as well as many years of experience in facilitating students’ journeys in the Capstone project, this is an exciting moment because I know they have begun their journey to greatness.
Step 5: Trials and Tribulations
Just because a hero has begun a journey toward greatness doesn’t mean they face smooth sailing. Far from it. There are many obstacles that a hero faces on the road to becoming a hero. Just as with students with this final Capstone Project.
It’s not the number or size of the obstacles that determines a successful outcome, but rather the hero’s/the student’s willingness to overcome those obstacles.
Step 6: The Defining Trial/Battle
Every hero needs a defining battle, a Big Bad that seems impossible to overcome until they persevere and win the day. Every student faces a moment in their Capstone Project when they lose confidence in being able to accomplish it. Many want to give up, but their “supernatural mentor” - if given the chance - helps them through these rough spots. In the end, however, it is up to the hero/student to overcome this final obstacle.
Once they accomplish this, they can reach
Step 7: Crossing the Threshold
Unlike the first threshold, this final threshold brings them back to the “Ordinary World.” However, like any good resolution, the hero/student finds him/herself in a new spot that they hadn’t anticipated at the beginning.
In the best cases, the heroes find something unexpected in themselves. In the best Capstone Project journeys, the students discover something new about themselves - maybe a feeling of accomplishment, or a new skill, or a newfound confidence.
In the Hero’s Journey, the Ordinary World is distinguished from the journey through what Joseph Campbell calls the “Extraordinary World.” However, at the end of the journey is a new normal, or a New Ordinary.
Example #1: Caila’s “Pass on the Kindness” project from 2014. VIDEO LINK. I share the story of Caila’s hero’s journey on her project to inspire other students.
Caila received the same Call to Adventure that I give my seniors every year. In that particular year, our theme was Fighting Ignorance. The task was to teach people about something that the student cares about and have them look at that topic in a new way.
When Caila began, she had responded to a prompt of her pet peeves saying she wished people would be kind to each other. The idea sprang from a video I had shared called “The Kindness Boomerang,” in which a worker in a brightly-colored vest helps a kid, who then performs a random act of kindness for another person, and so on and so on in a chain reaction of events that occur up one side of the street and back down the other until it cycles back to the vested worker at the end.
As we brainstormed ideas for her project, we discussed the video and the possibility of her creating her own Kindness Boomerang that cycled around our school hallway.
“But I don’t know how to do a video. And I don’t know anyone to be part of a video …” Her Refusing the Call was commonplace for any student for any big project. I suggested, as the Mysterious Mentor, that she start by jotting down a list of 10-12 acts of kindness she would like to see. I told her about some websites she could use if she had trouble.
She hemmed and hawed for a few days. Finally, she Crossed the Threshold and created her list. Her first hurdle? Getting people for her video. Since she was in the final class for the day, I took her to a popular after-school room and asked if anyone wanted to help and be part of her video. A handful of kids jumped up to help create her first couple of scenes.
The next class she questioned whether she could overcome a big hurdle: putting the whole thing together. “Let’s just get the rest of your scenes shot first,” I suggested. We went down to the same after-school room. There were even more kids there that day and they eagerly helped her out. At the end of the shooting, after she had shot the scenes all around the circle of the hallway, her biggest hurdle magically resolved itself. “Hey, do you need any help editing that video? I can help you out,” one of the helpers volunteered.
The next day, Caila came into my classroom early and told me excitedly that she had finished and posted her video on YouTube and had already garnered more than 40 views. (The assignment required them to show it to at least 50 people.) She had Crossed the Final Threshold and returned to her new Ordinary World. I would like to think that she learned a lot from the process, about herself, about others, about the power of kindness, and that she came out better for it. (I did have them write Project Reflections but I don’t have a copy of that anymore to check.)
EXAMPLE #2: T’monie’s interview with her favorite band.
T’monie had sought help for her project from the beginning. Her idea began as “something to do with dance or photography.” I thought we had brainstormed doing a photo album of how people in her graduating Class of 2021 had dealt with the COVID-19 quarantine, virtual learning, and sometimes being afflicted - or having someone they know become sick - due to the coronavirus. Using Caila’s example, I advised T’monie that she didn’t need to rely just on her own photos but could put out a call for other classmates to share photos that she could put together in some form to share.
Several days later, she was still looking for help. By that time, I had thought about her longtime love of K-pop music and the boy band BTS - an interest I could relate to because my 8th grade daughter was schooling me every day in Jimin, Jin, RM, J-Hope, Suga, V and Jungkook.
“What would you ask them if you could? And could you find the answers?” I asked.
“I could do that. I know a lot about them,” she said, excited about the possibility.
“And I want you to do a great job on this because it’s your passion and because I would like you to send it to BTS when you finish. I mean, the worst thing that could happen is nothing. And that’s not bad. The best thing would be if you got a response.”
She seemed even more excited about the project at that point.
Her final project showed off her knowledge of the group, her research skills to find specific answers to each of her questions, and her obvious passion for this project. It was a brilliant and colorful display with a single Question and Answer (with pictures) on each page.
We ran out of time to send it to the band, but we had looked up how to contact them in South Korea and it didn’t look easy. But I’d like to think that she might send it to them on her own initiative.
In this project, I saw how excited she was to develop this wonderful project and show off one part of her “genius” that was outside the standard ELA curriculum but did incorporate ELA standards.
EXAMPLE #3: Aiman’s “10 Arabic Phrases You Should Know”
Aiman had a lot of difficulty with this project. A wonderfully polite ESL student from Yemen, he had obvious difficulty with the English language. In some moments when he was unmuted and I was helping him, I could hear him using the Text to Voice option so he could hear the readings that I was giving him.
We had brainstormed a few preliminary ideas, but nothing was coming together. Finally, I was conferring with Sara Telban, my co-teacher, and struck on the idea of using Aiman’s natural language to teach to others.
Talking to him, I discovered that he spoke Arabic, a language of growing importance on the world stage. I had seen and shown him videos on “5 Phrases You Need to Know in French,” “20 Phrases You Need to Know to Get By in Spain,” and the like. Could he do that for Arabic? Yes, he said.
With the help of Ms. Telban, Aiman developed a Google slide deck that broke down 10 basic Arabic phrases like “Good Morning” (Sabbah alkhayr), “Yes” (Naaam) and “I don’t understand” (Anaa laa afham`). Each slide had the word in Arabic, its English translation, its pronunciation and a link to a YouTube video that allowed you to hear the word.
“That’s really good, Aiman,” I said. “But I’d really like to hear YOUR voice.” (In the virtual learning world, we did not see or hear students very often. The muted icon was about it. Although Aiman unmuted to say “Good morning” every day.)
And here, I have to thank my co-teacher for setting up a video Meet with Aiman that allowed him to teach her the Arabic phrases. It was a beautiful video and one I will always cherish. Skhrana, Aiman!
No comments:
Post a Comment