This is an on-line classroom that I have created for my 9th grade students.  They partake in The Sixty Day Sojourn project before beginning their short story writing.

During The 60 Day Sojourn, we work through each of the steps of the Hero’s Journey a few days at a time.

The first day a step is discussed, I share examples from movies, television, mythology, poetry, novels, etc. These will be listed in the Forum where students can join in the discussion and respond with examples of their own. The idea is to create a vast pool of examples to draw from when we move on to the next phase.

The second day will offer a quotation from Joseph Campbell and a guided visualization that will lead students to discover specific examples from their own lives. Again, this will be in the Forum where students will be able to share their experiences with the guided imagery. The Forum discussions are meant to be a sharing of examples that came to mind while reading or listening.

The third day is for the blogs. I will ask introspective questions so that students can examine where they are on their own journeys and share insights with the community. As we are all the heroes of our own life stories, these stories deserve to be heard. The more we share, the more we will see how much we all have in common.

The 60 Day Sojourn is an effort to draw people of various nations, cultures, ages, and genders together to examine the things that make us similar. So much effort is spent on diversity (which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong) that we are more conscious of how we are different from one another than of how we are alike.

Be sure to peruse our video collection. I’ve begun a Hero’s Journey series, so look for the various steps!

With a bit of tolerance, perhaps finding the hero within can help create positive change in this troubled world.