Health & Fitness
From Odysseus to Luke Skywalker: The 12 Stages of the Hero's Journey
May the Fourth Be With You!
After finishing The Odysseus in his ninth grade English class, teacher Rob Scotlan took to social media to make the 12 stages of the hero even more relatable—by applying the lesson to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars IV: A New Hope. In honor of Star Wars Day. Read more about Mr. Scotlan's online lessons below.
Social media dominates the lives of students these days. They have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Kik, Soundcloud, Tumblr, YouTube—and whatever the next big thing is. I am always trying to find ways to engage my students through the things that matter to them.
In the past I have created music and posted it on iTunes and Soundcloud for download (it's still there!), tweeted about grammar and mythology, and created music videos for YouTube. I have also had students make music and videos themselves. In my ninth grade English class, we recently finished. The Odyssey, and as part of the overall unit, we exam Joseph Campbell's theory about the hero's journey and how it is exemplified by Odysseus. The next step is to see how the hero's journey plays out not only in a 3,000-year-old epic but also in the current books and movies that enamor us today. My favorite example is that of Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars. George Lucas wrote it specifically to follow the mythology of the hero, and I thought that a YouTube video explaining each stage and how it pertains to Star Wars would give the students an engaging lesson that they can reference over and over again.To see Mr. Scotlan in action, click this link to watch his videos.