Teacher Process

Introducing the Hero's Journey

This is just a suggested method for using this WebQuest in your class.  Feel free to make any necessary adjustments based on your knowledge of your students.

Before WebQuest-ing 

Prior to going to the computer lab to go through the WebQuest, conduct a discussion about what students think it means to be a hero.  Next, have students create lists of people they consider heroic.  This is a good time to do the following:

  1. Students brainstorm independently for a short time
  2. Students share their lists with a partner and compile their lists
  3. Students move into groups of four to six and compile their lists into one master list that ranks the people from most to least heroic.
  4. Groups take turns naming heroes (without repeating those already named), these are quickly recorded on the board (students write the hero's name on a piece of paper and a "runner" tapes it to the board).  When all groups have exhausted their lists, groups take turns pairing up heroes (by genre, by gender, by topic, etc) in a way that makes sense to them.  Paired heroes will join other heroes until you have a few, solid groups of heroes by type.  Groups should then give a title to each group of heroes based on what the heroic people have in common.

By now, you should have a good idea of students' knowledge of heroes in real life and in literature/movies.  Their background knowledge has been tapped--this lesson may take an entire class period to complete, but it is well-worth the time in terms of pre-assessment and activating prior knowledge.

Using the WebQuest

Once you have gone through a pre-WebQuest process, you are ready to move on to the following process.

Instruction: tell student's about the five steps of the Hero's Journey, perhaps introducing the work of Joseph Campbell.  A graphic organizer or a standard plot-map would be a great way to represent the information visually.  Tell students that they will have a chance to trace the Hero's Journey by reading and watching information online.  It will be important that they pay attention and stay on-task during computer time, because that will be the major way in which they become familiar with the information needed to complete their project.  This would be a good time to show an example of a Travel Log for a Hero's Journey that you have created.  Prior to doing the WebQuest, it is also a good idea to familiarize students with how they will be evaluated.  Now, you're ready to go to the lab and go through the WebQuest!  Suggestion: have students wear headphones during the video portion, so that each student is able to move at an appropriate pace. 

After the WebQuest

Students will need time to identify the text they wish to use and it may even be a good idea to check with each student to make sure they choose material that is appropriate and that will give ample material for completion of the task.

Students will also need time to construct the Travel Log itself, but it is up to you whether or not you would like to give them class time to write and decorate their Travel Logs.

Having students present their Travel Logs to the rest of the class accomplishes two things: one, students practice presenting to a group and two, you will be able to assess and assign grades without the laborious task of reading through every Travel Log in order to determine whether or not the student has mastered the material and produced an acceptable product.

At the end of any WebQuest, it is a good idea to de-brief the process with students.  Find out what worked, what could have been better, and how they can see the technology used in other areas in your curriculum.