Maximizing expression A LACK OF STRUCTURE FOSTERS CREATIVITY AND SELF RESPONSIBILITY A second technique leading to the maximization of expression is the providing of unstructured situations. To the extent that a situation is unstructured, the individual is confronted with his own choices. To the extent that no rules of interaction are laid out, or behavior […]
The quest for inner meaning SEARCHING FOR MEANING REQUIRES FACING OUR DOUBTS AND FEARS “Thought of the Week” for July 5, 2004 …although the quest for inner meaning may be realized to be the only viable form of existence, it is by no means a life of continuous comfort, ease, and spiritual joy. In accepting […]
Projections: Living in an illusory world PROJECTIONS ISOLATE US FROM OUR ENVIRONMENTAIN …it is not the conscious subject but the unconscious which does the projecting. Hence one meets with projections, one does not make them. The effect of projection is to isolate the subject from his environment, since instead of a real relation to it […]
Robbing ourselves of our present experience THE FUTURE IS AN ABSTRACTION, EXISTING ONLY IN THE MIND “Thought of the Week” for October 2, 2006 [Modern civilization] is insatiably hungry because its way of life condemns it to perpetual frustration. …the root of this frustration is that we live for the future, and the future is […]
Welcome to Harris Communications and The Hero’s Journey in Education. This site explores the hero’s journey pattern and its implications in education and in life. It is also the home of the award-winning curriculum The Hero’s Journey: A Guide to Literature and Life, an approach to using the hero’s journey pattern to teach language arts. […]
Reg Harris, co-author of The Hero’s Journey: A Guide to Literature and Life, began his teaching career in 1969 and has taught at most educational levels, ranging from junior high through college graduate. Harris just retired from teaching language arts at Vintage High School in Napa, California, where he had been teaching since 1986. Education […]
by Reg Harris Copyright © 2003 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied in whole or in part without my expressed written permission. Contact me for permission. Please respect my copyright. The Hero’s Journey challenge Each year for about seven years now, I challenge my classes to show me a […]
by Reg Harris Copyright © 2009 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied in whole or in part without my expressed written permission. Contact me for permission. Please respect my copyright. The Journey toward the journey Since 1986, which was the first year I taught the Hero’s Journey as a […]
by Reg Harris Copyright © 2007 by Reg Harris. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be copied in whole or in part without my expressed written permission. Contact me for permission. Please respect my copyright. The Journey and the Essay? The connections between the Hero’s Journey pattern and writing are most evident in writing […]
The Hero’s Journey: “The dialogue that we are” Campbell…and Beyond! The hero’s journey is famous as the mythical pattern described by Joseph Campbell, but it’s much more than that. The journey is a metaphor for the process that underlies all growth, learning, and self discovery ― the embodiment of what philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer called “the dialogue […]
by Reg Harris Copyright © 2007 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. Updated April 12, 2008. This article may not be copied in whole or in part without my expressed written permission. Contact me for permission. Please respect my copyright. Three quests in one film One of the films we have used most successfully in […]
From Paul Rubillot, The Call to Adventure: Bringing the Hero’s Journey to Daily Life. A Hero, whether in myth or modern day, is one who hears a call and follows it. This is difficult in our time, because we are constantly receiving pseudo-calls through advertising: to do something, to do it a different way, to […]
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Educating creative citizens
Preparing adults who can negotiate change HELPING STUDENTS DEVELOP SKILLS FOR A COMPLEX, DYNAMIC SOCIETY “Thought of the Week” for February 23, 2004 My own opinion is that what schools should do is neither prepare children for one specific community…nor make them rational, detached problem-solvers. What’s required if children are to become adults who can […]