Learning about hero’s stories or archetypes? Have students practice this with a creative writing assignment! This product will have students write a short story about a hero who goes on all 5 stages of the hero’s journey plot pattern archetype. It has an outline for that, dialogue guides, a rubric, and more.
There is an additional outline to expand the project to include other archetypes as well such as character archetypes, symbol archetypes, etc. The different outlines in this packet allow you to differentiate learning and challenge more advanced or older students. The basic outline is perfect for younger or average students. You can buy this project at my TPT store here.
10 pages!
– Plot Pattern Overview handout (explains all 5 stages)
– Instruction sheet with room for page length and deadline due date
– hero’s journey 5 stages outline (2 pages)
– other archetypes outline 2 page version
– other archetypes outline 1 page version
– Rubric
– Dialogue How-To (2 pages)
– A teacher’s guide explaining how it can be differentiated and how I have used it.
The outline: You will definitely want to use the 5 stages part of the outline. Whether you use the other archetypes is up to you. Things to consider are your students grade level and your goals. For middle school the 5 stages could be enough. For G/T middle school students or for the high school level you may want students to use additional archetypes. There are two versions of the other archetypes: a long version and a short one page version. The long one is for older grades or to challenge G/T students.
Normally I make a due date for the outline, then a separate due date for the story. I want to see the outline before students proceed to writing the story so I can make sure they are on track. Reviewing the outline allows you to make sure students understand the different parts of the assignment and allow you to clear up any points of confusion. For the story part you could assign a rough draft and have students peer workshop it in class before turning in a final draft. Or you can just do one final draft.
The rubric has a blank spot for points so you can weigh some categories more than others depending on your objectives for this assignment. I give students a copy of the rubric with the assignment prompt so they know what is expected of them and how to obtain the grade they want.
I included a handout over viewing the basics of writing dialogue. I find that some students have difficulty formatting their dialogue correctly and this handout can help.
There is a TED Talk* about the hero’s journey that could help explain the five stages of the hero’s journey. Just search What Makes a hero? – Matthew Winkler on YouTube or try this link: https://youtu.be/Hhk4N9A0oCA or this one: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makes-a-hero-matthew-winkler
*Note: I am not selling this video, I am merely listing it as an additional public resource you can check out to supplement this lesson.
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