Seniors in Mrs. Brittain’s English Literature class visited the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History for a research, writing assignment. Students have been reading narratives and studying the Hero’s Journey template, a term coined by American scholar Joseph Campbell for story structure of tales in which an adventurous character triumphs over adversity. As an assignment Mrs. Brittain had the students visit the Shiloh Museum to meet curator, Rachel Whitaker, who shared the museum’s photography collection to serve as a prompt for students to develop an original story that follows the Hero’s Journey formula.
Students sifted through photographs from the 1890’s-1950’s century to find an image of an individual that would serve as the primary character. Students studied the photographs to develop a storyline from the era in which the image was taken as well as the secondary characters, objects, or props accompanying the main character in the photograph. Students then visited the Museum’s campus of structures and buildings ranging in date from a mid-19th century log cabin to a home preserved from the 1950’s as inspiration for descriptive writing of the character’s location and storyline.
To learn more about Joseph Campbell’s Hero's Journey check out this article https://blog.reedsy.com/heros-journey/
