Lesson One: The Hero’s Journey

Curriculum area & Content Recognise and analyse the ways that characterisations, events and setting
are combined in narrative; and discuss purpose and appeal of different
approaches. (ACELT1622)

Use a range of software to confidently create, edit and publish written

and multimodal texts. (ACELY1728)
Objectives By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

 Give account for the overall plot and story line of the novel they
read.
 Describe the qualities of a hero
 Describe “the hero’s journey.”
 Post on their personal class blog and comment on another
students blog post.
 Create a hard copy of the hero’s journey.

Overall duration (time) 60 mins

Student prior knowledge It is assumed that students have
kept up to date with reading of
their chosen novel (Harry Potter,
Hunger Games or I am Number
Four). They have had the last two
weeks and their own time to do so.
It is expected that students know
how to access and update their
blogs. These have been a constant
activity throughout the year so far.

They should have an understanding

of the central characters and be
able to name the protagonist and
antagonists of their novel and have
a solid idea of what those terms
mean.
Materials/Resources  The lap top trolley will be booked prior (this would be a usual Monday
practice)
 Printed out copies of ‘the heroes journey’
 Have Hero’s Journey video ready to play
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhk4N9A0oCA
 Write “SPOILER WARNING” on the white board before class.
Learning strategies & When students come in, “SPOILER WARNING” is going to be written on
activities: introductory the white board this is to let students know that they should have finished
(5 Minutes) reading their novel. After the roll is taken the teacher explains that for the
next week they will be working towards an assignment based on the book
they have just read over the last two weeks. (They will get the assignment
task sheet towards the end of this lesson). Teacher initiates a discussion
by asking “what qualities makes a hero?’
(5 Minutes)
The students are then going to move into three groups divided according
to the book they chose to read (Hunger Games, Harry Potter and I am
Number Four). The groups will discuss the plot and characters of the book
 they read within those groups so that any students who may have fell
behind in reading are caught up by their peers.
This is then brought back to a class discussion where the teacher has put
narrative terms such as “protagonist”, “antagonist”, “plot”, “setting”,
“climax” and “resolution” on the board which will direct the discussion.
Each group will give examples from their books for the terms which helps
give the teacher an understanding of how much the students know and if
narrative terms will need revision prior to the assignment.

Learning strategies & The questions is asked by the teacher if anyone knows what “the hero’s
activities: developmental journey” is. If someone knows let them answer before moving onto the
(5 Minutes) video, or if no one has an idea move onto the video (pause at 2mins 50
seconds)

(10 Minutes) After the video students get into pairs to discuss the heroes journey
theory by Joseph Campbell and if it reflects the story they read. The pairs
will then share with the class their thoughts on this and if the whole story
they read fits the hero’s journey formula or just some of it.

(15 Minutes) The class will now have time to work on their own individual blogs they
have been working on every Monday for the year so far. Their prompt for
the day is “Who was your favourite character in the novel you read and
why?”
They have the next fifteen minutes to write a response to that and then
choose a classmates response to add a comment to (They must comment
on a post about a character in a book they did not read).
These blogs can be accessed by the teacher to check everyone posted and
commented so there is accountability.

(Students who finish the blog task early can collect an assignment task
sheet and start planning ideas for the creative part of the assignment).

(3-5 Minutes) A copy of the next assessment is handed out and read through and
students can answer questions about the assignment.

Learning strategies & For the remainder of the class students will be creating their own copy of
activities: concluding the hero’s journey template on a provided worksheet. They can do this
(10 Minutes) with any character for any book, movie or show besides the ones they are
reading in class. (The given example to use is Star Wars with Luke
Skywalker). If this is not finished they take it home to be given in at the
start of the following class).

Modifications The students were allowed to read of the three books being used in the
class. This was so they were reading something they might enjoy rather
than having no choice and being bored.
It was also a way of differentiating via reading levels with Harry Potter
being quite an easy read and The Hunger Games being a little more
mature and challenging for those students who have a higher reading
level.
This decisions also meant that this differentiation was not as obvious to
students.
 The use of the blog task was to have an ongoing journal task for students
to collect their thoughts on class weekly but also work on writing with
computers and learning how to design a blog.

The group work used in this lesson plan is mostly think, pair, share
oriented so that students have the opportunity to consolidate their
thoughts individually, then with a partner before having to share with the
class which can be daunting especially for some in younger years.

Assessment of student The assessments made in this lesson are mainly diagnostic and formative
learning in the lead up to preparation for the assessment on this topic. The first
discussion was to gain an overall idea of the class’s knowledge of the
books they had read and narrative conventions. These conventions will be
revisited over the next three lessons.

By having the students hand in a copy of the hero’s journey on a

worksheet allows the teacher to check they have understood what the
hero’s journey is and how it relates to different narratives and stories.

The class blog can be accessed at any time by the teacher so progress and
work by the students can be easily checked and students are held
accountable for their work.

Evaluation The hero’s journey work was originally tacked onto the next lesson which
I felt was too much for one class so I split them and added the blog work
as some ICT learning.
Lesson Two: Character Construction

Curriculum area & Content Understand how accents, styles of speech and idioms express and create
personal and social identities. (ACELA1529)

Compare ways that language is used to create characters and influence

emotions in different types of texts.(ACELT1621)

Recognise and analyse the ways that characterisation, events and setting
are combined in narratives and discuss purpose and appeal of different
approaches. (ACELT1622)
Objectives By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
 Account for the differences in accents and how they are read and
construct a character.
 Describe and give examples of descriptive language.
 Compare and contrast the language used to describe two different
characters.
 Begin creating original character profiles.

Overall duration (time) 60 Minutes

Student prior knowledge It is assumed that students have an
understanding of what an accent is
and how they create differences in
speech; as well as how we can
make judgements about a person’s
place of birth or family’s place of
origin from an accent.
Materials/ Resources  Youtube Video (preloaded)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGS5KkZkIfU
It is expected that student who did
not finish the hero’s journey
worksheet in class will hand it in at
the start of this one.
Students should also have an idea
of what descriptive language is and
how it is used.

Learning strategies & This class is introduced to the lesson with a hook video of a YouTuber
activities: introductory doing impressions of well-known and iconic TV and movie characters. This
(10 Minutes) leads into a discussion around how accent help us made judgments about
people. The question is asked if any students (or the teacher) have an
accent or if parents/family members have an accent.

This leads to discussing the character of Hagrid in the Harry Potter book
and how when he speaks in the book they are read differently to that of
other characters.

Learning strategies & Students will pair up or get in groups of three with at least one person
activities: developmental who chose to read Harry Potter and find examples where the character of
(5-7 Mins) Hagrid spoke and each group will perform a short under 30 second scene
demonstrating how they think Hagrid would speak.

(3 Minutes) Teacher poses the question of “what do you think is descriptive

language?” and students have minute to think by themselves before in a
pair before they come into a group discussion.
(10 Minutes) Using the word “said” as an example the teacher is going to ask around
the room for each student to give an example of a word than can be used
rather than said that can give the reader a better idea of how the speaker
is feeling or how it is being conveyed. This will then be repeated with the
word “walked.”

(10 Minutes) A ven diagram is drawn on the white board with the names Ron and Harry
in each circle. Time is given for the students in the groups they were in to
find examples of descriptive language used to describe the two
characters. During the class discussion of this each students will draw
their own ven diagram and put compare and contrast the examples given
by the class.

(15 Minutes) For the next fifteen minutes the students are given time to work on the
creation of their character profiles for upcoming assignment. Students
must have a name, gender and age decided by the end of the class to
show the teacher when they leave.

Learning strategies & Before the end of class the teacher gives out two examples of short
activities: concluding scenes for students to look at to get an idea of what the second part of
(5 Minutes) the assessment is asking them to do.
It should be no longer than 500 words and gives an idea of what their
original character is like; how they talk, walk and interact with those
around them.

(The students have the remainder of the class to finish off the required
work needed on their character profiles).

Modifications The class discussions are always after students have had a time to think
and discuss with a partner or small group so that no students are being
asked questions they may not know the answer to in front of the class
which could be embarrassing. It also allows for students to get different
opinions and share there in the comfort of a smaller group to gain
confidence in their own thoughts, opinions and feelings.

Using the Ven diagram was a choice I made to bring more visual learning
into the lesson for those students who learn best through visual cues and
being able to organise their thoughts through a graphic organiser.

Assessment of student A lot of the discussion work is gaging where the class as a whole is in
learning terms of understanding the difference in accents and descriptive
language. Having each student give a verbal example of a descriptive
word keeps them accountable and the teacher knows they have an
understanding of the concept.

The Ven diagram being drawn and filled in by each students means the
teacher can move around the room and check that everyone has done he
work. This is achieved by given the class a set amount of work they must
complete on their character profiles by the end of class. If they get the
required amount of work done, they won’t have any homework.
 Evaluation My original lesson did not have as much catering for diverse learners so I
added the ven diagram activity as well as the short acting activity to break
up from the writing. This allowed students who may not have been the
best writers an opportunity to express their ideas on a different form.

Lesson Three: Events and Setting

Curriculum area & Content Recognise and analyse the ways that characterisation, events and setting
are combined in narratives and discuss purpose and appeal of different
approaches. (ACELT1622)

Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations to promote a point of view or

new way of seeing. (ACELY1720)

Objectives By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

 Give examples of description language for setting
 Create a flow chart showing the sequence of events in a novel
 Continue creating character profiles

Overall duration (time) 60 Minutes

Student prior knowledge It is assumed that students have It is expected that students know
finished their novel and know the what descriptive language is and
sequence of events and what takes how it can be used to give more
place throughout the novel. information to the reader.
Materials/ Resources  Large A3 paper for flow charts
 Pictures of different landscapes and scenery for student
responses

Learning strategies & When the students come into the class on the white board is a black and
activities: introductory white photo of a grave yard. This is meant as a hook to bring students
(10 Minutes) into the class with something interesting.
The teacher poses the question “what could make this image more
interesting?” If and when a student replies with colour the slide changes
to images of landscapes that are bright and colourful. The teacher
explains how this is the same in stories and that descriptive language can
be used to describe what a place in a story looks like in more detail. This
can be through colour, sounds and what things like buildings look like.

Learning strategies & In groups of four the students will be given different things to respond to
activities: developmental like colours (red or blue), sizes (small or large) and feelings (happy or sad)
(10 Minutes) and have they will brain storm as many descriptive words as they can for
those words. After 3-4 minutes they will share with the class and then
the class can offer other examples maybe not said.

(15 minutes) For a bit of fun the class will then move into a game called space jam
where a small group of 3-4 students at a time will get given a place, an
activity and problem (the beach, volley ball game and a storm’s about to
hit) and the group will have to act out the scene. The students can give
 ideas for the scenes as well. This can go on for as long as the student are
participating and depends on the culture of the class.

(20-25 Minutes) On A3 paper provided by the teacher students have an opportunity to

get creative and draw a comic strip outlining the key events of the novel
they read. The comic strip is to be handed in at the end of the lesson or
beginning of the next.

Learning strategies & In the last five minutes and for those who finish the comic strips faster
activities: concluding they have time to work on their character profiles and have a go at
(5 Minutes) drawing their character based on the features they have described.

Modifications The comic strip and space jam games I added to again add some
elements that were not purely writing in the lesson. This gives the
students an opportunity to express their ideas in another way rather than
just writing.

Assessment of student The comic strip will be handed back to the teacher so they can check
learning work was completed by the students and they understand the sequence
of events in their novel.

The space jam activity allows students to act out scenes like the ones
they will be writing in the assessment. They get to think about setting,
characters and plot/events in a fun activity.

Evaluation The Space jam activity could possibly not work if the culture of the class
is not inviting or accepting and students don’t feel comfortable to
“perform” this would need to be worked towards from the start of the
year.
Lesson Four: Revision and Preparation

Curriculum area & Content Recognise and analyse the ways that characterisation, events and setting
are combined in narratives and discuss purpose and appeal of different
approaches. (ACELT1622)

Objectives By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

 Describe key narrative terms
 Use descriptive language appropriately
 Respond creatively to writing prompts

Overall duration (time) 60 minutes

Student prior knowledge It is assumed that students have It is expected that students (who
been at class over the last three have been at class) have an
days and have participated in class understanding of the concepts and
discussion and activities. (If terminology for narrative writing.
students have been away this
lesson designed to allow content to Students should have finished or
be caught up on). nearly finished their character
profiles.
Materials/ Resources  Descriptive language word sleuths
 Writing prompts
 Dictionaries
 Character sketch example

(The class will be set up prior with the desks moved to create four
areas of the classroom which will be four different work stations
that students will work through during class).

Learning strategies & When the students come in they are separated up into four groups
activities: introductory (these groups will be decided by the teacher and would depend on the
(2-3 Minutes) group of students and if the teacher believed some might need more
direct attention from them; or if putting them in a group with higher
ability students would help them). The teacher explains that for this class
they are going to be doing a round robin sort of lesson and the class will
all have time at each of the four stations.

Learning strategies & (For the purpose of this plan I’ll follow group one through all four work
activities: developmental stations to explain them all)

(15 Minutes) At the first work station students will have two minutes to find as many
of the description words as they can. After they have done this, in pairs
they will define the words they found (using a dictionary if they need to).
Student will then get to read an example of a ‘character sketch’ which is
a short piece of writing (200 words long max) that quickly describes a
character. They can then have a shot at writing their own, either using
their original character or one from the novel they read.

(15 Minutes)
 The second station allows the students to get creative with their original
character. They are provided with a series of writing prompts which they
will respond to over the next fifteen minutes. They can do more than one
if they want but must have at least one written down before they have to
move to the next station activity.
(15 Minutes)
The third station is working with the teacher on paragraph structuring
and writing practice before the assessment in the first class next week.
TEEL is used to describe how a paragraph should be structured with a
topic sentence, an explanation followed by an example (from their text)
and then linked back to their main idea. Student will have a practice at
writing short paragraphs with practice questions and the teacher can give
feedback.
(15 Minutes)
The last activity (this group get to) is switching the perspective of the
story they read and as a group choosing one of the three novels and
briefly retelling it from the protagonist’s point of view. They will make
note of how this could change how the audience feels about the
antagonist and how they predict the story might change.

Learning strategies & Before the class is dismissed the teacher reminds them that in the next
activities: concluding class (following Monday) they will be sitting the in class assessment. They
(2-3 Minutes) are allowed to have the novel they read and the character profiles they
made on the desk with them during the assessment so they are
reminded to finish that over the weekend if they have not already.

Modifications Classroom and behavioural management would be important for this

lesson because the teacher is relying on students to behave appropriately
while they work with one group of students at a time. I’ve done this kind
of round robin set up with two lots of year 7’s before and it worked but
consideration into the groups and the activities needs to be made. (The
lesson can be adjusted to fit any type of class).
In this hypothetical class there is a mix of higher, lower and medium
English levels which I would have mixed up in the groups. I believe
putting lower ability students around other higher ability students can
help other grow and development their skills through social and
cooperative learning.
This could be altered if there was a large group of students with low level
English skills, spoke English as a second language or had a specific
learning disability. Grouping these students together would allow the
teacher to use strategies that specifically target them while students in
other groups continued on.

Assessment of student The group with the teacher is easy to monitor and the teacher can offer
learning assistance and check how those students are progressing.
The other activities all require some form of written work that the
teacher can follow up on to makes sure students are not just mucking
around but also that they are understanding the tasks.

Evaluation This class relies on the teacher building a culture in the classroom where
the students can get on with work on their own or in small groups. This
class would be in the middle of the school year where the teacher would
have had time to get to know the class and would know if this activity
would work.