Introduction

Entry Document (Print two to a page)

Dear Student,

            This notice finds you in the familiar territory of your English classroom.  You have been specifically selected to undertake a Hero’s Journey of your very own.  Your Call to Adventure is to gain knowledge and understanding that you may claim and possess of your own by analyzing the Hero’s Journey of the Great King of Ithaca: Odysseus.  If you refuse the call, you may be asked to explain your reasons and the gods will surely punish you.  When you do decide to accept this call to your adventure, you may select two or three other crew mates and proceed to your most obvious ally to receive your list of challenges.

May the Gods’ Favor Shine on You,

Athena

(Print out the Journey Notes for each group.) 
Personal Hero’s Journey

Challenges –

1. Build your Journey Guide to sustain you through the journey.
1. Assemble your Crew, assign roles, sign contract for commissioning.  Present your plan to Athena to receive your orders.

                                                               i.      Captian – Entrusted with making sure that tasks are completed on time and the group runs smoothly

                                                             ii.      First Mate – Maintains contracts and may share responsibilities with the Navigator, the Scribe, or the Captain in the absence of any one of them

                                                            iii.      Navigator – Directs the group toward necessary information either from the book, the internet, or Athena.  May also take on the responsibility of the Scribe in his absence. 

                                                           iv.      Scribe – Takes handwritten notes on the journey, the encounters, and adventures. 

2. Create a cover – with your ship design, and crew names and roles
3. Carefully follow instructions for placement of materials inside
4. Leave the back cover free from obstruction so that the gods may have opportunity and a destination for commenting on your journey.
1. Analyze each story or challenge of the example hero: Odysseus.  These examinations will be stapled into the left inside of the Journey Guide.
1. Sailing from Troy and the Lotus Eaters
2. Cyclops
3. Aeolia and Circe
4. The Land of the Dead
5. The Sirens
6. Scylla and Charybdis
7. The Cattle of the Sun God
8. The Return
2. Summaries - Summarize each of Odysseus’ challenges on a note card and place inside the fixed envelope on the top right of inside of the Journey Guide.
3. Hero’s Journey - Match each part of your personal journey and the journey of Odysseus on note cards to be place in an envelope fixed to the middle right inside the Journey Guide.
4. Characters – Create your character cast on note cards to store in the fixed envelope on the bottom right inside your Journey Guide.

The gods will rate and evaluate you on the following scales:

Daily Grades: Story Evaluations

Test Grade: Journey Guide completion

Front Cover
1. Go online and locate a map of the Journey of Odysseus
2. Also locate a family tree of Zeus
3. Also include your design of your ship and your crew mates with ranks.

Inside Left – Staple the Story Examinations or Questions
Inside Right –
1. Odyssey Story Summaries
2. Hero’s Journey Note cards
3. Characters

(Copy and Paste onto paper to print out for your groups.) Group Contract

 

Group Members:

Name	Contact Information
	Home Phone: Cell Phone: Email:
	Home Phone: Cell Phone: Email:
	Home Phone: Cell Phone: Email:
	Home Phone: Cell Phone: Email:

Group Objective:

Students will create a Journey Guide in groups of three or four.  The Journey Guide will consist of such items as will help them to understand the journey of Odysseus as he is returning home after the Trojan War. 

Schedule:

Calendar

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Entry Doc. Social Contract Know/Need to Know	Folder Set Up Watch beginning	Sailing from Troy, Lotus Eaters	Cyclops	Cyclops
Day 6	Day 7	Day 8	Day 9	Day 10
Land of the Dead	Sirens, Scylla, Cattle of the Sun God	The Return	The Return	Summaries, Characters
Day 11	Day 12	Athena’s Wisdom Counsel Hours: Temple time daily, 7:30 – 8 am and 3:45 – 4:15 pm, lunch time upon request.
Hero’s Journey Cards	Finish Journey Guide

Responsibilities:

Member Commitments: It is recognized that members of the group have prior, time-consuming commitments.  These responsibilities are considered throughout the group effort; however, they will not be permitted to be used as habitual justification for incomplete work.

Member	Role	Responsibilities
	Captain	entrusted with making sure tasks are completed, maintains crew contracts, may take any role of absent member to ensure safe travel and no delays in the journey.
	Navigator	navigates the web, the book, and other sources for information, may be the scribe if the scribe is absent
	Scribe	taking handwritten notes on information, may navigate if the navigator is absent
	First Mate {other roles must be filled first}	As second in command, he will take on any role of absent members to ensure that the group runs smoothly.

Expectations:

Each group member is expected to

1. arrive in class on time and make the best use of class time. 
2. remain positive, on topic, and encouraging within the group. 
3. participate by contributing to the group the required assignments.
4. communicate with the group members if absent from class.

Conflict Resolution:

If a crew member does not follow the expectations and assigned role, shipmates may confront the individual to devise a plan to restore the member to good standing.  If the individual cannot or refuses to follow expectations thus delaying the journey, the other group members may present the case to Athena for wisdom and good counsel.  The individual may be tossed overboard if a resolution cannot be reached. 

            If a group member is tossed overboard, that individual will take on the journey completion alone with the help only of Athena.

Signatures agreeing to the journey and the crew:

Print Name	Signature

Workshops

Possible Workshops may be presented in small groups, from your laptop, or in the library on power point by visiting http://www.herosjourneyadventure.blogspot.com/.  Ask permission before allowing students to access the blog from a cell phone in class. 

Trojan War Workshop – notes on the blog (present with notes or in small group discussion with teacher)

Homer

Homer was traditionally a blind minstrel or bard, who sang or performed to music epic poems set in the Heroic Age. The story of the Trojan War is related in Homer's epic, The Iliad. This 10 year conflict pitted Greek heroes against the city of Troy, on the western coast of what is now Turkey. Homer's other great epic, The Odyssey, narrates the homeward journey of the hero Odysseus after the war.

Trojan War

The Trojan War began when a prince of Troy eloped with the wife of a Greek king. The woman's name was Helen and she became infamous as Helen of Troy. Hers was "the face that launched a thousand ships," according to the playwright Marlowe, because all the kings of Greece rallied to get her back. Sailing to Troy, they besieged the city for 10 years. Homer's other epic, The Iliad, concerns this siege and the many individual battles that were fought between heroes on both sides. It also chronicles the involvement of the supreme gods, who descended from Mount Olympus to take sides in the contest.

Odysseus’ Plan

The Trojan War was over. The clever Greek Odysseus had tricked the enemy into bringing a colossal wooden horse within the walls of Troy. The Trojans had no idea that Greek soldiers were hidden inside, under the command of Odysseus. The Greeks had been laying siege to Troy for ten long years, but suddenly it looked like their whole army had departed, leaving the horse behind.  

That night, while the Trojans slept, Odysseus and his men emerged from the horse's belly. Opening the city gates, they admitted their comrades, who had snuck back in the dark.  

Troy was sacked and the Trojans utterly vanquished. Now it was time for Odysseus and his fellow warriors to return to their kingdoms across the sea. Here begins the tale of The Odyssey, as sung by the blind minstrel Homer.  

Hero’s Journey Workshop – notes on blog and in students’ spirals.  Make note cards for envelopes to go in Journey Guide.

Characters Workshop – notes on blog among the story summaries (These also go on note cards in Journey Guide).  {Teachers, use discretion about which and how many characters students need to know and remember.}

Characters	Description
Athena	goddess of wisdom, skills, and warfare, who occasionally comes to help Odysseus
Odysseus	The hero of the Odyssey, son of Laertes and king of Ithaca, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, Without last names, people were known by their parents and the land from which they came.
Penelope	Wife of Odysseus, separated from Odysseus for 20 years after he leaves to fight in the Trojan War, faithful
Telemachus	Son of Odysseus whom he has not seen for 20 years: 10 years of Trojan War and 10 years at sea by angry gods
Character/Place	Description
Achaeans	Greeks who were shipmates of Odysseus
Cicones	Islanders on Ismarus who attacked the men of Odysseus
King Aeolus	King of the winds
Lotus-Eaters	Men who live on the island and eat the lotus flower
Nohbdy	The false name that Odysseus gives Polyphemus
Phaeacians	Offer Odysseus a ship to sail home in exchange of hearing about his adventures over the last 10 years
Polyphemus	A one-eyed monster, Cyclops, “a wild man ignorant of civility”
Poseidon	God of the Sea who is upset with Odysseus because Odysseus refuses to acknowledge that he had help to win the Trojan War.  “Without the gods, man is nothing.”
Zeus	King of the gods and god of the sky, works in conjunction with his brother Poseidon by raising winds to blow Odysseus off course
Character/Place	Description
Anticlea	the mother of Odysseus
Circe	sorceress-goddess who turns men into pigs, Circe both helps and hinders Odysseus on his journey and is considered both ally and enemy
Elpenor	Odysseus’ shipmate, got drunk and fell off the roof in Circe’s hall, Odysseus does not know he is dead until he meets him in Hades
Laestrygonians	cannibals
Tiresias	Blind prophet
Character	Description
Calypso	sea goddess, cares for Odysseus
Charybdis	whirlpool that sucks in any ship that comes near
Eurylochus	crew member, convinces Odysseus’ men to eat the cattle of the sun god
Helios	sun god, also known as Apollo
Scylla	sea monster
Sirens	monsters who sing a beautiful song to lure sailors to their death
Character	Description
Antinous	the head suitor
Eumaeus	sheppard and servant of Odysseus
Eurycleia	nurse who raised Odysseus
Melantho	maidservant having an affair with Eurymachus