Dr. Mike DowningAssistant Professor of English

Kutztown University of PAOctober 2009

This session is intended as a roundtable discussion.

Each of us—myself, Anne, and Ellesia—will deliver a short presentation and then we will open the discussion to the group.

We call upon you to share strategies that enable your students to grow—beyond the boundaries of textbooks and classrooms.

We were inspired by the following questions in the EAPSU CFP:

As educators, how do we present artistic vision as a means toward understanding identity?

How do we use our artistic visions as teachers and scholars to “make and remake” our classrooms, our research, and/or our surrounding local communities?

What role do artists or visionaries have in shaping our educational/intellectual culture?

What is the current status of writing and reading in the context of accountability-driven education, changes in youth culture, and digital technology?

“On the official level the accent is on economics and practical politics, and there has been a systematic elimination of the spiritual dimension. But it exists in our poets and our arts.”

Mythic Reflections: Thoughts on Myth, Spirit, and our Times. An interview with Joseph Campbell, by Tom Collins. The New Story (IC#12). Winter 1985/86, Page 52. http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC12/Campbell.htm

“A poet participates in the eternal, the infinite…Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.”

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. A Defence of Poetry. 1821. http://www.bartleby.com/27/23.html

“English teachers are well positioned to synthesize and translate spiritual information to students. It is the English Professor who is able to contrast one vision with another, to provide more than one answer to a question, and prompt students to push forward with additional exploration—all the while considering the unique situation(s) and best interests of the students.”

Spirit Guidance is a delicate thing. Therefore, my personal approach is not intended to force unwilling students to change the way they live their lives. Instead, I have found that many students arrive at university thirsting for spiritual knowledge, eager to define themselves in new and exciting ways. I strive to respond to this need.

That said, if a student thinks my ideas are pure nonsense, he or she is free to say so and to hold his or her current position.

In addition, I offer much of this information as an aside, outside the boundaries of the classroom, to those who are seeking such information.

Thesis: By creating writing assignments that encourage students to wrestle with questions of self and personal development, English teachers can go a long way toward helping students develop functioning personal mythologies.

1. Metaphysical function: awakens us to the mystery and wonder of creation

2. Cosmological function: to describe the "shape" of the cosmos, the universe, our total world

3. Sociological function: to pass down "the law," the moral and ethical codes

4. Pedagogical function: to lead us through particular rites of passage that define the various significant stages of our lives.

Mythic Reflections: Thoughts on Myth, Spirit, and our Times. An interview with Joseph Campbell, by Tom Collins. The New Story (IC#12). Winter 1985/86, Page 52. http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC12/Campbell.htm

A character‐type that recurs in different times and places in literature so frequently as to suggest that it embodies some essential element of ‘universal’ human experience.

Source: Answers.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/archetype

HeroMentorShamanHeraldThreshold GuardianShapeshifterTricksterFool – Jon StewartShadowDivine CoupleGolden ChildMagicianWizard – Harry Potter

Virgin/Maiden/High PriestessMedicine Man or WomanHermitWandererHunterJudgeWeaverWisemanScholarSoldierPolitician PoetRogue – Video Games

Listology.com: http://www.listology.com/list/character-archetypes

1. The Ordinary World. 2. A Call to Adventure. 3. Refusal of the Call. 4. Meeting a Mentor.5. Crossing the First Threshold. 6. Tests, Allies and Enemies. 7. Belly of the Whale8. Approach to the Inmost

Cave. 9. The Supreme Ordeal. 10. Elixir Theft.11. Reward. 12. Rebirth. 13. Return.14. Restoration of Order.

“I see the heroic journey everywhere now.”

“I watched a movie over the weekend, and there it was: The Heroic Journey…every detail!”

“No matter how hard things get in my life—how many tests—there always seems to be a helper.”

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word2. Don't Take Anything Personally3. Don't Make Assumptions4. Always Do Your Best

“I really need this, because I take EVERYTHING personally.”

“I find that I make assumptions all the time, and that it gets me into trouble. It leads to miscommunication.”

“I love the idea of always doing your best…no more, no less. Then you can walk away knowing that you did your best.”

You are not your mind You can achieve

enlightened relationships Authentic human power is

found by surrendering to the Now

Freeing yourself from the worry and pain of past and future

“At first, I didn’t think it would work. But I have been able to re-direct myself to live in the present. Not all the time, but as much as I can. It’s such a relief.”

“I’ve learned that my mind is a tool. I can take it out and use it when I need to. Then, when I’m done with it, I can put it away and just take life as it comes.”

“I find myself living in less pain because I am not reviewing the past or fretting about the future.”

Anodea Judith Deepak Chopra James Hillman Gary Zukov DJ Conway Kerr Cuhulain

In conclusion, by creating writing assignments that encourage students to wrestle with questions of self and personal development, English teachers can go a long way toward helping students develop functioning personal mythologies.

I am hoping to create an online bibliography for anyone interested in pursuing this approach in their writing classrooms.

My email address is

downing@kutztown.eduMy faculty website is:

http://faculty.kutztown.edu/downing/

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Cowden, Tami, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders. The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines. Lone Eagle Publishing, Hollywood, CA. 2000.

Hillman, James. The Soul’s Code. Judith, Anodea. Western Body; Eastern

Mind. Portable Jung, The. Ed. Joseph Campbell. Ruiz, Don Miguel. The Four Agreements Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now. Zukav, Gary. The Seat of the Soul