Rebecca Moxie

ELA
UbD Lesson with RTI Component

Title: The Universal Journey Subject/Course: ELA

Topic: The Hero’s Journey with Grade: 7th Grade Designer(s): Rebecca Moxie
Six Trait Focus on
Organization/Textual Evidence
(and later lessons on all Traits)
Prior Knowledge:
Prior to this unit the students would have finished a unit on myths & traditional literature—therefore, they
would display understanding of historical story telling/fantastical elements. The students would also have been
introduced to the Six Traits + 1 of writing terminology, plot, would have already used these traits to ‘read like a
writer’ and will now be asked to apply it to author style in contemporary literature, and the unique
organizational pattern of The Hero’s Journey/Monomyth.
The students would have taken a pretest over the basic aspects of myths and plot characteristics.
Stage 1- Desired Results
These will be emerging goals throughout this lesson and the lessons that follow this introductory lesson; at the
end of the unit the students will have these goals/standards mastered.
CCSS:
 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.1* Required for interview
Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences
drawn from the text.
 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.3
Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
Understandings: Students will understand that…
 The Hero’s Journey/Monomyth is an Essential Questions (throughout all lessons):
organizational pattern of human experience  What defines a hero?
reflected in literature and film  Why are quest narratives told?
 Lesson 1: The 3 stages of the Hero’s Journey  How can an individual mature and change
with specific focus on Stage 1 through taking heroic action?
(Separation/Departure), and the first two  How can we relate our human experiences to
aspects (ordinary world & call to adventure) those portrayed in quest narratives?
 We all go through many journeys in our lives
as we grow and learn & the pattern of these
journeys are universal
 Challenges we face offer potential for
personal growth
Students will know… Students will be able to …
 Who created the Hero’s Journey/Monomyth  Identify the stages of the quest narrative in a variety of
genres (Lesson 1: fantasy & steampunk genres); other
 The stages of the journey archetype (Lesson lessons will use different genres (historical fiction,
1 covers first ½ of 1st stage) graphic novel, film, etc.)
 Quests have dual nature: physical &  Connect the stages of the quest narrative across genres
emotional/spiritual (future lessons)
 Cite textual evidence identifying stages of the hero’s
 The Hero’s Journey/Monomyth structure is a
journey including in Lesson 1, the hero’s ordinary world
way to follow an effective organizational & call to adventure
pattern (organization trait)  Make text-to-text connections

Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks:
 Lesson 1: After reading, the students will find
textual evidence in novel passages to
demonstrate their understanding of how the
Hero’s Journey is established in terms of the
first ½ of stage one of the journey
 Future Lessons:
 Students will act as photojournalists to create
an interactive scrapbook using interactive
tools like Instagram, SeeSaw, or Facebook to
show the hero’s journey as both a physical &
emotional/spiritual experience w/ supporting
textual evidence showing character change
over course of novel and connecting theme to
other hero’s journey texts
 Students will create a fictional narrative
following the organization of the hero’s
journey, as well as, the Six Traits + 1 of
writing
Other Evidence:
 Anticipation Guide Discussion as warm up
 Fill-in-the-blank PPT
 Close Reading/’Mark-up’ of text
 Sell the Journey—poster w/ textual evidence
(would use technology instead in my regular
classroom) w/ the app Padlet, Flipgrid, or
iMovie
 Quiz with recall, summary, &
application/analyzing questions
 Data will be shown in chart form from
quizstar.com
 Anticipation Guide Discussion as connection
activity to close lesson (answer the statements
based on what they know about their passage’s
character so far OR yarn ball text-to-text
connection game

Stage 3- Learning Plan

 Prior Knowledge:
 Students will have completed a myth unit; therefore, they would be able to apply their knowledge of
traditional literature to the contemporary novels used in this lesson
 Students have been taught and have applied their knowledge of plot development (exposition, rising
action/conflict, climax, falling action, resolution)
 Students have been pre-tested to see if they are able to identify and apply the elements of plot
development prior to ‘digging deeper’ into a more complex organizational pattern of The Hero’s
Journey
 Students have been introduced to and have incorporated the Six Traits of Writing into their writing, and
active reading strategies of ‘reading like a writer’
 Anticipatory Set
 Anticipation Guide with statements that generate higher-leveling thinking skills… students agree or
disagree with statements and state their reasoning behind the agreement or disagreement; these
statements will later be connected to the passages read by students
 YouTube video used to ‘hook’ the students and help them to connect with the topic being introduced
 Unpacking the CCSS:
 Establishing the Common Core Standards being introduced in this lesson—helping students to
understand the end goals for the lesson/unit
 Mini-Lesson:
 PowerPoint presentation:
 Introduction to the Hero’s Journey/Monomyth
 Introduction to Joseph Campbell
 Introduction to universal stories
 Review of Organization Trait for 6+1 Traits of Writing with focus on new organizational pattern of
Hero’s Journey
 Modeling:
 YouTube video in Anticipatory Set models simple examples of the first ½ of the first stage of the Hero’s
Journey *If more time, I would have read a children’s story, as well
 Examples of first ½ of first stage of Hero’s Journey throughout PPT/Finding Nemo graphic org
  Guided Practice:
 During Active Reading/Close Reading ‘Marking up the Text”:
 Students will highlight the hero, a description of the hero’s ‘ordinary world’, and a description of the
hero’s ‘call to adventure’
 Formative Assessment: *due to time, I would create this as a Google survey for students to complete as
HW—if had more time in class, this would be done on computers/ipads
 Interactive Quiz on Internet (gives me baseline data immediately for student understanding)
 Focus: Recall, Summary, and application/connection, & analyzing of organizational trait with The
Hero’s Journey
 Enrichment/HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills)
 Comparing/Contrasting The Hero’s Journey across text & film
 Comparing/Contrasting/Analyzing The Hero’s Journey in complex works such as the Bible to analyze
how the hero’s journey is a universal motif
 Move beyond the pattern of The Hero’s Journey into The Hero’s Growth Cycle which requires HOTS
because it requires deep analysis and attention to the transformation of the hero in a physical &
emotional/spiritual manner
 Connect a Hero’s journey to a real-life journey that a real person encounters
 Across-Genre/Curriculum studies
 Creation of Hero’s Journey narrative & evaluation of narrative based on 6+1 Traits & Hero’s Journey
elements/rubric
 Reading Like a Writer—focusing on the writing quality/technique of author and mimicking those
techniques in writing pieces (chunk the writing focus to Hero’s Journey & 3-5 smiley-face writing
tricks)
Possible RTI – Tier 1 Planned Interventions
Differentiated Instruction:
 Preferential Seating (if needed)
 Kinesthetic/Tactile: Movement during Anticipation Guide (other lessons would include Yarn
Ball game for text-to-text connections, and Onion Game for comprehension/analytical
questions)
 Visual Cues (PPT, YouTube Video, fill-in-the-blank on student PPT)
 Redirection (Turn & Talk; Back-to-Back & Sketch-to-Stretch)
 Reteaching (Cornell Notes; Graphic Novels/Children’s Picture Books)
 Flexible Grouping (Based on Interest [genre/gender of hero or heroine], Rdg. Level [leveled
books available], Content [recall to analysis – many options available to reach HOTS)
 Modify Assignments/Tests (chunked assignments, rubrics, one trait @ a time vs. all traits; pair
assignments to promote class community and deeper thinking through communication, use of
interactive technology to promote student interest and availability)
Peer Partners:
 Students work in pairs while reading same novel passages, discuss their findings, and help each other
find textual evidence for The Hero’s Journey
Collaboration w/Colleagues:
 Non-Fiction Unit w/ history teacher; historical heroes
 Technology Unit w/ computer teacher; interactive final projects
 Across-Genres w/ media specialist; graphic novels, historical fiction, fantasy, film, comics
Home/School Communication:
 Information for unit posted to class website
 Research-Based Practices/Theory-Driven Practices
These research-based/theory-driven practices appear in this lesson
 Unit Backward Design Theory (UbD) Grant Wiggins educational theories (format of this lesson)
 Evidence of understanding is revealed through performance – when learners transfer knowledge and
skills effectively, using one or more “facets” (explain, interpret, apply, shift perspective, empathize, and
self-assess).
 UbD transforms Content Standards and other goals into focused learning targets based on “big ideas”
and transfer tasks.
 Multiple Intelligences (M.I.) Howard Gardner educational theories
 Provides opportunities for authentic learning based on your students' needs, interests and talents. The
multiple intelligence classroom acts like the "real" world: the author and the illustrator of a book are
equally valuable creators. Students become more active, involved learners
 This lesson used verbal, visual, auditory, kinesthetic—if the class time was longer tactile would be
included with the use of Yarn Ball or Onion learning games
 Bloom’s Taxonomy (levels of thinking) Levels of questions on quiz were leveled from recall, to
identify, to summarize, to beginning to analyze and connect
 Helps students develop higher level thinking skills
 Increases the permanent acquisition of learning
 Prepares students to be successful on the assessments
 Data-Driven Teaching: Lesson included different types of formative assessment (use of interactive quiz
program allows for automatic feedback to teacher based on each student, whole class, and analysis of
questions)
 Help the teacher more efficiently measure and promote student learning
 Provides teacher feedback to measure student understanding prior to moving forward
 Diversity
 Lesson can be accessible for diverse learners through reading materials from different cultures, time
periods, in two-column format with both home language and second language, and connections to other
content areas, interactive Blogging assignments can also open communication between
cultures/experiences

Materials
 Anticipation Guide
 PowerPoint (copies or projector) (teacher form & student form)
 Highlighters (x 30)
 Novel Passages (copies x 30)
 You Tube Video
 Quiz on interactive website (copies if Internet is not working)
 Plane Tickets with students usernames/passwords (copies x 30) *If students were completing this in
Class
 Computer access or iPad access
 Internet connections
 Packets if there issues with Internet & Computer access

Technology Use
Teacher
 PowerPoint for Mini-lesson
 YouTube video for modeling/examples
 QuizStar for developing assessment
 Class Website for communication, samples, and
interactive planning
Student
 YouTube video for modeling/examples
 QuizStar for taking assessment
 Using Class Website for review, help at
home, parent communication
 Future Lesson Technology Use:
 Word Processing, Instagram, Social
Media outlets, apps such as ‘In a World:
Drama app)