Adventure Time in the Classroom

I really want my future classroom to be full of fun and new ways to look at life through the perspective of literature, so when I came across this blog post about Adventure Time and the Hero's Journey, I knew I had to hold on to these ideas. Adventure Time is a crazy kid's show that seems to have very polar reactions from people that view it (or at least from the people I talk to about it). I personally love the show for its commentary on society, hidden humor, and absolutely random story lines that blow my mind when I figure out what it all meant. The recurring jokes are also great, like the snail that is somewhere in every episode, but it also has a vast history that is weaved throughout the show in small pieces during its five seasons (and they're going to have a sixth!). I can somewhat see where people are coming from when they say it's complete trash and worthless and makes no sense, but that seems to only come from people that have only seen one episode or don't see the implied meanings and whatnot. I always tell people to look for the hidden messages when they watch another episode.

But I think this is a good example of a show that I could possibly work into my classroom because of its short length (eleven ish minute episodes) and appeal to kids around the age I want to teach. I haven't put too much thought into other episodes I could use in the classroom, but the author of the blog that I'm referring to chose Season 1, Episode 5: The Enchiridion as an example of the Hero's Journey. Now, if you're not familiar with this narrative pattern, I won't kill you, but I'll be a little sad. Basically, it breaks down stories into somewhere between twelve to seventeen steps (depending on what version you're working with) that detail what the protagonist is going through at specific points. Ryan's blog uses the twelve step version that include these steps (also taken from his blog):

1.  Ordinary World - At this point in the narrative, the reader or viewer sees the world as it exists for the hero before the introduction of the primary conflict.

2.  Call to Action - The hero faces some sort of challenge or change to their ordinary world.

3.  Refusal of the Call - Unsure of him-/herself, the hero(-ine) expresses uncertainty about or refuses to participate in the journey or quest.

4.  Meeting the Mentor - The hero meets an individual who trains or advises him or her on beginning the quest.

5.  Across the threshold - The hero abandons their ordinary world and the quest begins in a place where he or she encounters challenges not usually faced in the ordinary world.

6.  Tests, Allies, Enemies - As one might expect, this is the part of the journey is where the hero undergoes various tests, learning who his or her allies and enemies are along the way.

7.  Approach - The hero and his/her allies prepare to confront their primary challenge.

8.  The Ordeal - The hero faces this primary challenge; the stakes are high.

9.  The Reward - The hero accomplishes the goal they set out to achieve, but there is often a chance that the reward he or she receive for his or her troubles may be lost.

10.  The Road Home - On the way back to the ordinary world, the hero is confronted with the possibility of losing the reward.

11.  The Resurrection - The hero faces one final challenge, this time with often higher stakes than before.

12.  Return Home - The hero arrive at home with the reward or treasure they fought to secure.

So take a story you're familiar with and plot it out with these steps. You'll probably find a lot of similarities and scenes that directly connect to these ideas, but not every story will follow all of these steps. This pattern is a nifty way to teach students how to break down stories or even build their own. Watching an episode of Adventure Time after learning the steps can help reinforce the pattern and let students see the it happening in their own lives. I'm thinking this would easily fit into a single class period, but it'd be nice to expand it a little bit so the students can have some time to work with the steps by either applying it to a story in class or having them write their own (short) hero's journey. I'd like to see if I can work this in during my student teaching just to see if it could actually work in a classroom, but I'm not sure how I'll do it since I don't even know anything about my teaching assignments next semester/year. At least I'm thinking about it, right? Maybe if I'm really bored I'll try to write an actual lesson plan with an Adventure Time episode to highlight the content. I'm sure I can use other episodes for other English-y stuff, but I really loved how Ryan wrote out the Hero's Journey in his blog. If I find a good episode that complements something I'd want to teach, I think I'll try to break it down like he did.

Which shouldn't be too hard since I'm always looking for new things to potentially use for teaching, and when I do find things, I try to update my links page with them. I'm thinking about elaborating on some of the links through some more blog posts so I can keep a record of my ideas (good or bad, haha) somewhere. Let me know what you think of my ideas or if you've got some more to add!