Archetypes are recurring types of characters, events, or symbols found in stories, artwork, religions, and mythologies throughout the world’s cultures. They’ve been present in folklore and stories for thousands of years, and have garnered attention largely due to the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung and Professor Joseph Campbell. In his seminal books The Hero with a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth, Campbell compared myths from around the world and highlighted many common themes among them. He was particularly interested in heroes, and the archetypal heroic journey portrayed in world literature, art, and religion. Campbell found that many myths and stories present heroes’ journeys in similar stages. The hero begins in the everyday world and receives a “call to adventure” that enables him (or her) to leave his familiar life (“crossing the threshold”) and enter an unfamiliar world where he must engage in a series of tasks or tests. Sometimes the hero must face these trials alone, and sometimes he receives assistance from companions or other loyal helpers. The tasks ultimately conclude in a final battle, after which (if successful) the hero again crosses the threshold to re-enter ordinary life. In all, Campbell identified 17 distinct stages of the archetypal hero’s journey, which he dubbed the “monomyth.”
The study of archetypes and the heroic journey is a fascinating addition to the classroom, as it pulls elements from art, literature, religion, world cultures, and mythology. Younger students can be introduced to common archetypes through fairy tales, such as the wise old woman or man characters, the “trickster” (usually a fox), the child(ren), and the villain. Young students don’t have to be told about archetypes per se, but may be encouraged to think about the types of characters and situations that frequently occur in fairy tales and other stories. Older students are able to delve much more deeply into the texts, relating them to similar journeys in other texts as well as in films. The Star Wars films are famously based on Campbell’s monomyth, and many other films such as The Lion King, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, Avatar and others also feature the heroic journey. Higher level students can also examine how archetypes and the hero’s archetypal journey can be viewed as man’s search for self-knowledge.
This week’s Joann’s Picks column on the Gateway’s home page, www.TheGateway.org will feature three resources from the Gateway’s collection on the archetypal hero and the heroic journey for a range of ages. Peggy’s Corner discusses ways to use the heroics found in current events and films to introduce the concept of the archetypal heroic journey to your class.
In addition, we will also be featuring many more lessons, activities, and resources on Heroes on the Gateway’s Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/TheGateway.org) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/Gatewaytoskills) pages. Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook so you don’t miss anything.
Discussions will continue on last week’s theme of the Civil War on both pages. All of the weekly Gateway columns and resource selections are archived on the following blog site: http://thegatewayto21stcenturyskills.blogspot.com/.
Resources covered in this week’s columns include:
Identifying Supporting Evidence from a Text - What is a Hero?
Subjects: Language Arts
Grade: 1-4
Students watch a 3-minute video about Ping, a young hero who proves himself worthy to be the emperor of China. Students identify what makes Ping's behavior special using evidence from the story. This lesson is designed for grades 1-4. It includes video and support materials. This resource was produced by PBS LearningMedia, an online site offering educational materials and public media content for PreK-16 teachers.
A Story of Epic Proportions: What Makes a Poem an Epic?
Grade: 6-8
Students learn about the epic poem form and to its roots in oral tradition. They study the epic hero cycle and will learn how to recognize this pattern of events and elements in both ancient and modern texts, including Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. This lesson is a product of EDSITEment, an educational outreach program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. EDSITEment offers lesson plans and activities for social studies, literature and language arts, foreign languages, art, culture, and history classrooms.
I Need a Hero
Grade: 9-12 Gifted
The heroic archetype features prominently in literary analysis at the high school level. A clear understanding of, and the ability to manipulate and apply, this idea is critical to any approach to world literature for the high school student. This series of lessons was designed to fulfill the needs of gifted children for extension beyond the standard curriculum with the greatest ease of use for the educator. The lessons may be given to the students for individual self-guided work, or they may be taught in a classroom or homeschool setting. This lesson was produced by Mensa for Kids, part of the Mensa Education and Research Foundation. The Foundation is committed to the pursuit of excellence in the areas of intelligence, and focuses on scholarship, education, and awards.
About The Gateway to 21st Century Skills
The Gateway has been serving teachers continuously since 1996. It is the oldest publicly accessible U.S. repository of educational resources on the Web and the oldest continuously operating service of its kind in the world. The Gateway is sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA) and supported by over 700 quality contributors. The Gateway to 21st Century Skills is the cornerstone of the Global Learning Resource Connection (GLRC) which is a JES & Co. program.
About Joann Wasik- Author of Joann’s Picks
Joann is the Metadata Cataloger for The Gateway for 21st Century Skills. Her primary responsibilities for The Gateway include locating and cataloging standards-based K-12 lessons and activities for The Gateway, as well as writing the “Joann’s Picks” weekly column. Before joining The Gateway in 2006, Joann had been involved with numerous projects at the Information Institute of Syracuse at Syracuse University, including virtual reference with the Virtual Reference Desk (VRD) project; virtual reference competencies and education with the Digital Reference Education Initiative (DREI) project; and metadata cataloging with the Gateway for Educational Materials (GEM). Her previous experience also includes technology training and positions in academic libraries. She also conducts freelance research for business and educational clients. Joann holds B.A. and M.A.T. degrees in English from Boston College, and an M.L.S. degree from Syracuse University.
About Peggy James- Author of Peggy’s Corner
Peggy received her B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from The University of Arizona, and continued on to earn her M.Ed. from the U of A as well. She has taught Physical Science and Chemistry at the high school level. She is working toward her endorsement in Gifted Education, and has been actively involved in coaching and volunteering in Odyssey of the Mind and Academic Decathlon. She has a passion for teaching critical thinking and creativity in the classroom. She has done work evaluating and aligning lesson plans to standards as a curriculum consultant with the National Education Association Health Information Network. She is very excited to help create a collaborative environment for educators to discover new resources that will enhance their teaching!
About the GLRC
The Global Learning Resource Connection (GLRC) is a public-private collaboration which brings to fruition ongoing work between JES & Co., a U.S. 501(c)(3) education research organization, corporate sponsors and education agencies worldwide. Leading the initial corporate involvement are founding worldwide partners Microsoft, Cisco, Cengage/Gale, the National Education Association (NEA), and other leading corporations in process. The GLRC ties together several significant semantic web technologies developed through funding from the National Science Foundation and is designed to support cyber learning. The GLRC supports the implementation of the mapping of major collections of learning resources in systems around the world to the machine-readable expressions of the learning outcomes based on the Achievement Standards Network (ASN) modeling and technical framework. The work will implement the international linking of those resources through trans-jurisdictional mapping of learning outcomes by means of Semantic Web/Linked Data principles for teacher/learner access and use. For more information about the GLRC, contact Terry Smithson at
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or visit us www.JESandCo.org.
About JES & Co.
JES & Co., a publicly funded 501(c) (3) education research organization, is a leader in research and deployment of education programs based on open standards. With 20 years of experience in interoperability and portability of educational resources, organizations around the world come to JES & Co. for leadership and guidance on education programs and initiatives. Since its establishment in the early 1990s, JES & Co. has led and managed The Achievement Standards Network (ASN), The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, The Gateway to 21st Century Skills (formerly known as GEM), the Dell Academy, the Intel Student Certification Program, and Microsoft’s Partners in Learning. For more information about JES & Co. or the Global Learning Resource Connection, visit www.JESandCo.org.
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