Classroom Strategies

Before my class began discussing the story, I introduced Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey.” Though none of my students were familiar with Campbell’s work, they could immediately identify Classical texts which fit the model. I asked my students to consider the protagonist’s experiences, especially as he is identified as a type of hero for his community, against their expectations of a traditional hero and Campbell’s elements of that character type’s experience. The approach both framed that day’s discussion well and has contributed to students drawing increasingly more connections between types of characters and experiences in the texts we have read since. [Kerry Delaney, kerry-delaney@uiowa.edu]