My Heroine's Journey

Finding a new path toward a more humane teaching and learning experience.

I’ve been enamored with Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey since I read The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In any book or movie, I love rooting for the hero as they leave their ordinary world and descend into the extraordinary; overcoming obstacles and ordeals to once again return with the prized elixir or boon. In April of 2020, I decided to write a personal narrative blog series detailing my quest to be a teacher. I always felt a lure toward the Hero’s Journey. The structure is the skeleton embedded within some of my favorite books, movies, and TV shows (Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, The Iliad, Odysseus, Avatar). Even some of my favorite comic book characters have their own monomyth journey (Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman). I was at a point in my career where I wanted to catalog my personal story from pre-service teaching to becoming a veteran educator. I had no intentions of writing my memoir. I wanted to show how at different parts of my life, I was hitting the major plot points of the Hero’s Journey (Call to Adventure, Meeting the Mentor, The Ordeal, Return, etc.).

Luke Bujarski, Skift

For a while, my writing progressed. I noticed patterns in my narrative. I was telling a decent story using the monomyth framework. I wrote about my mentors and how they helped me cross into the public education threshold. I was reflecting and documenting my quest to be a maverick teacher, disrupting public education. I tried to keep writing, but the more I wrote, the more I got stuck. I was rambling; not telling a coherent story. My writing wasn’t moving forward. Then my writing stopped.

I abandoned the blog series. Months passed. Every so often, I would reread my old posts, and each time something didn’t seem right. I was forcing the narrative to progress in a certain direction. I couldn’t figure out why the words stopped flowing.

Then a global pandemic hit.

Everything stopped. I stayed home and struggled to navigate this terrifying airborne virus. The lockdown gave me an opportunity to reevaluate my mission as an educator: mentoring students and helping them find their voices in order to change schools and society. Years of mandated standardized curricula and dwindling resources had caused me to feel like an automaton: going through the motions, following the curriculum guides, and teaching the content. Now that the unspoken, social contract of public education had been disrupted and I wanted to reclaim my classroom. I wanted to create equitable and humane experience for all of my students. I wanted to teach.

In August, 2020, I documented my teaching during the pandemic. It was brutal. That first year back was the most challenging of my career. With the craziness of social-distanced teaching, I abandoned my Hero’s Journey blog posts and wrote monthly to keep myself grounded during that very difficult school year.

Something was nagging at me to return to those older blog posts. I wanted to get back on my Hero’s Journey, but a lot changed since I first started. The old path seemed stale.

Enter Gail Carriger.¹ I read her book, The Heroine’s Journey and things started clicking again. I started making connections to my teacher’s journey and realized that I had been wrong this whole time. I never was on a hero’s journey, but a heroine’s journey.

For those unfamiliar with this cycle, I highly recommend Carriger’s book. Here is a quick list of the major plot beats of the Heroine’s Journey.

Gail Carriger

I started reading the Greek myths of Demeter and Inanna and the Egyptian myth of Isis. I reread Twilight and Harry Potter. I lectured to anyone about the idea that Harry was on a heroine’s journey, not a hero’s journey. I gained a deeper appreciation for romance and young adult literature. I even rewatched some romantic comedies using this new lens. I couldn’t believe that this separate narrative structure existed and I had never found it before. My realizations came quickly: teachers are heroines, not heroes. Whereas the hero must go on his/her journey alone, defeating an enemy, heroines seek and receive assistance along the way. Instead of a hero’s self-reliance, a heroine’s strength lies in companions and allies. The Heroine’s Journey emphasizes networking, connection, asking for help, solidarity and unity, giving aid to others, and sharing achievements. Our collective success is valued more than individual gains.

As a male teacher, I can see why I was so drawn to the Hero’s Journey. With an emphasis on individuality, solo achievement, revenge, not asking for help, and vanquishing enemies, I liked the Hero’s Journey because that was how I was taught to be a successful man. Toxic masculinity pervaded my childhood and I learned early on to categorize men and women in binary archetypes. Men are strong heroes, women are weak seductresses. Men are capable of saving the world on their own, and their women will be there to welcome them at home when they return.²

As a white, male teacher, this upbringing exasperated my white knight complex. I wanted to save all of the disenfranchised and marginalized children from the big, bad racist public education system. I worked primarily with women and looking back on those first years as a teacher, I thought that my way of teaching was better because of my heroic qualities. I was reticent in asking for help and I wanted to do everything on my own. I was raised to be a Byronic hero just like Wolverine or Batman.

Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer by Caspar David Friedrich — 1818

Many called those early months of the pandemic The Great Pause. Everything shut down: schools, work, entertainment, restaurants. Every day felt like a Sunday. I was grateful to still have a job during those months. My privilege allowed me to hide away in my home. I read. I thought. I wrote. I asked myself a lot of questions: What type of teacher am I? Do I still want to be a teacher? What would another career option look like? Where am I of most value? To my family? To my community? To public education? Where can I have the largest impact? Is change actually possible? Is classroom teaching sustainable?

Many of these existential questions did not lead me to concrete answers. However, the act of thinking led me to better define my purpose. I’ve been a teacher for 22 years, and in that time, I’ve learned a lot about myself and what kind of teacher I am. The Great Pause allowed me to deepen my self-understanding and reclaim my humanity.

We love the Hero’s Journey because it is about striving, conquering, and victorious power. We love the Heroine’s Journey because it is about defeating adversity through connection and recognition of others’ abilities.

Gail Carriger

Teachers strive to make a difference in their students’ lives. Teachers are part of a broken system that forces them to succeed against all odds, sometimes at the expense of colleagues. This is why the teacher-hero archetype exists (and why so many teachers quit). I’ve learned that teachers need each other, now more than ever. Teachers need connection and community. If educators are going to actually disrupt public education to create truly equitable learning experiences for all students, we can’t do it alone. There is no boon that will fix the educational system.³ Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. In fact, this is exactly what makes heroines endure throughout mythology and history. Heroines are empowered through the connections they make with others. Most importantly for me, these traits are not inherently feminine. In order to break the toxic binary of strong men and weak women, we need more stories that question this bias. Teaching, like storytelling, provides comfort and connection. Teaching creates community. At its core, teaching is about promoting unity through a shared love of knowledge. Being critical of public education does not undermine this core tenant. Teachers must be able to be reflective. What does a successful teacher look like? What does a successful lesson look like? What does humane teaching look like? What does engagement look like? What does it mean if students are not engaged? How can I sustain and grown myself while navigating an unsustainable system?

I’m deep down the Heroine’s Journey rabbit hole. I see it everywhere, just as I saw the Hero’s Journey when I first discovered it. In terms of storytelling, there is value in both. Readers who love their Hero’s Journeys are looking for excitement through fast-paced, rough and tough plots. Readers who love their Heroine’s Journeys are looking for comfort through heartwarming connection. For me as an educator who designs learning experiences for students, the value in examining these journeys is in defining success and understanding that my definition may be at odds with others.

Carriger explains that in storytelling, “if success is defined by a struggle for rulership or power, a battle for dominance, and a redefining of superiority, then it is a Hero’s Journey.” This is not the type of classroom I want. I am not looking to dominate over my students in order to break them to my will. I am not trying to force my students to learn. You can’t force anyone to learn anything. All you can do is create a safe environment for students to want to learn for themselves. Carriger continues, “if success is defined by accomplishing an action together, by good humor and happiness, by ending up as a group or in an organized operation, then the chassis is the Heroine’s Journey.” This is my classroom! We are learning together. We are struggling together. We are a surrogate family. Teachers are more like heroines because most of us have the same goal for students, just different approaches.

So, where am I currently on the Heroine’s Journey? I’m not sure. I think I am going to spend some time reflecting on these post-pandemic years, and see if I hit any of the beats. I’m more hopeful this school year. All of the same stressors exist: no resources, a mandated curriculum, no time to plan or collaborate with teammates. However, I’m feeling more connected to my pedagogical practice. I’m growing my community with excellent educators and learning about all of the great things teachers are doing in their classrooms every day. I’m inspired and eager to use shared resources with my students. I’m feeling invigorated with my students who are excited to come to school.

Have a great week!

—Adrian

Resources

• I love using this video for teaching student about the Hero’s Journey. If you are looking for more resources, check out this great collection.

Why I Don’t Teach the Hero’s Journey By Michelle Kenney

• Here is an insightful article with a counterargument to teaching the Hero’s Journey to students.

• I love everything John and Hank Green create with Crash Course!

Learn the Hero's Journey in 13 Minutes

• I got this great PDF from Muse Storytelling. Unfortunately, it is no longer on their website. I guess it’s a good thing I downloaded it first!

• This is a great (albeit long) interview with Gail Carriger. Skip to 26:15 where she discusses the Heroine’s Journey and the writing process. I’m curious if anyone can make connections to her process, the Heroine’s Journey and teaching.

1. Actually, credit should first go to Maureen Murdock, a Jungian psychotherapist and a student of Joseph Campbell, published a self-help book called The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness in response to Campbell's Hero's Journey model.

2. I still cringe at my former toxic heteronormative values.

3. Especially not privatizing education with school vouchers.