Qwiller Teaching Unit: The Hero’s Journey (NSW English Syllabus for the Australian English Curriculum V.9)

This unit provides students with an opportunity to explore how composers use various devices to tell a story through the lens of Joseph Campbell’s ‘The Hero’s Journey’ and Maureen Murdock’s ‘The Heroine’s Journey’. By engaging with a diverse range of texts—including literature, film, mythology, and real-life hero narratives—students will develop an understanding of how these structures shape storytelling and reflect cultural values.

Students will analyse the mythology of stories and evaluate the representation of hero and heroine figures across fiction and non-fiction texts. They will explore how traditional and modern narratives challenge or reinforce societal perceptions of heroism. Through this, they will critically assess the role of gender, identity, and purpose in shaping heroic figures.

The unit includes generic lessons on the hero’s journey, allowing students to study the structure within a novel, short story, or film of their choice. By examining their selected text, students will compare the structural elements of different hero’s journey narratives, develop character voice through stylistic analysis, and examine how themes such as sacrifice, transformation, and resilience contribute to compelling storytelling.

Additionally, students will engage in creative and analytical tasks that foster deeper comprehension and practical application. To demonstrate their understanding, students will create a storyboard depicting a scene from a film—either an original composition or an adaptation of an existing scene—that illustrates the arc of the hero or heroine’s journey. This hands-on activity will allow students to apply their knowledge of narrative devices, visual storytelling, and thematic development while refining their creative expression and analytical thinking skills.

By the end of the unit, students will have gained a nuanced appreciation of the hero’s journey as a universal storytelling framework and its relevance to contemporary narratives and real-world contexts.

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