Altered Reflections

It is my pleasure to share with you the culmination of a very long project. Faces in the Mirror is a group of 9th grade students at Webster Schroeder High School in upstate New York who spent about six months researching the Hero's Journey pattern as outlined by mythologist Joseph Campbell. Using references to mythology, literature, television, and film, the students began to see how the Hero's Journey permeates not only our culture, but all cultures across time and geographic location. From there, the students explored how the pattern is part of the human condition and how it can be used as a tool to examine their own lives. After completing The Sixty Day Sojourn and after reading a wide selection of cultural myths, each student modernized a myth or fairy tale of his/her choosing. By seeing these old stories through new lenses, the students' characters demonstrate that they are Altered Reflections of the originals.