I’ve been studying the Hero’s Journey with my students in a variety of ways. We started with The Odyssey and then wrote our own fictional hero’s journey, and these were filled with all manner of: everyday gang thugs to kings to young girls who must avenge their family or find the secret ring or travel to far off castles in order to hear the voice of long dead grandmothers. There were sword fights and ragged clothes, and in one beautiful story, two sisters on a journey to find their mother and then all three were reunited at the end of the story in heaven.

My students can write when decide to. Yes, there a few who still have not done the work, but those who did made mine and each other’s lives richer. Mine, of course, involved horses and mountain trails and a rugged heroine.

But now, my students and I begin the harder work. In the last weeks of school, we will write the hero quest of own lives- so far. Today we will begin to create our life maps and move from there to discover the first of our hero quests to tell. And I wonder, who will we discover as mentor or trickster, where will that call to adventure have come from, who will accompany us on this first telling of journey, will we find that there was faith, talisman, angels by our sides and that we persevered, like Odysseus, to find our way back home to love and family? I love the journey of this unit.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4: 8,9