Service Learning Inquiry Unit Template
Name: Nancy Chaffin
Email: nancyc@sd215.net
Grade: 9th Grade
Class: English
Essential Question:
What makes a life “epic”?
Describe how the essential
question accommodates service
learning: An inquiry into key
elements of a life that extends
beyond the usual or ordinary
Conceptual Knowledge: How our
thinking changes
Procedural Knowledge: How our
skills change
1. What makes a hero?
2. What experiences make up an
epic journey through life?
3. How are these elements evident
in stories, autobiographical
narratives, heroes’ lives
4. How can we experience empathy
for another person’s journey
5. How can we record heroic
journeys?
Identify CCSS connection
A. Recognize and understand the
characteristics of an epic hero
I. Analyze the definitions of a
hero/epic hero
II. Debate/classify characters
and their status as heroes
III. Debate/classify
friends/family status as
heroes
B. Recognize and explain the steps
of the Hero’s Journey
I. Apply the hero’s journey
archetype to self
II. Analyze a situation and
draw conclusions about the
epic qualities it possesses
C. Understand the steps of active
listening and practice them
I. Practice eye contact, body
position, nonverbal cues
II. Learn how to provide
feedback to clarify the
speaker’s position
III. Recognize bias
IV.
Identify blocks to effective
listening
V. Analyze empathy and
practice it
D. Understand elements of
interviewing techniques
I. Analyze effective
preparation for interviews
II. Brainstorm interview
questions
III. Role play interviews
E. Produce purposeful, clear
narrative writing
I. Identify and analyze
elements in a narrative
essay
II. Define well-chosen details
and practice writing them
III. Determine how to sequence
events effectively
Frontloading Activity:
 Journal: What makes a life “epic”? What makes it unusual or
extraordinary? What elements of your life are “epic”? What elements
make it epic? Family? Friends? Possessions? Power? Performance?
 Survey: Heroic Quiz Heroic Character Self Evaluation Have the
students fill out this survey which highlights heroic qualities. Do a
reflection afterwards
 Anticipation/ reaction guide-- The Hero’s Journey The Hero's
Journey - YouTube Have the students identify key elements
illustrated in the video clips. Introduce the heroic journey.
Scaffold of Activities:
 Explore, practice, and consolidate process, concepts, and attitudes
an epic poem, epic hero, and epic journey
 Research information on Homer, Greek Gods, Greek Society
 Use reading strategies to increase understanding of The Odyssey
 Move from small group work to individual work and identify “epic”
elements in individual life
 Write a narrative of individual life
 Leading to culminating project that allows students to interview and
create an epic poem for an “epic” hero in the community.
Scaffold of Activities:
Connection
to
conceptual
and
procedural
knowledge
Assessments
W9.7
Journal Entry
Exploration One – What makes a
hero?
Journal: What makes an epic hero?
Students share the characteristics of a
hero according to their own knowledge
and experience.
Mind Mapping: Students arrange key
ideas concerning an “epic hero” from
RI 9.7
their journal entry in the mind map. They
then do further research and build onto
their mind maps. After completing their
research, they meet together in groups
to share their findings and further their
understanding.
Mind Maps
See, Think, Wonder – Students look at RI 9.2
four pictures of heroes from CNN and fill
out the See, Think, Wonder. The
students will then learn the story behind
the pictures.
RL9.3
Graphic Organizer/Debate – The
students will begin reading The
Odyssey, Book 9, 10, 12. They will work
on the graphic organizer, citing textual
evidence to support the argument,
“Odysseus is an epic hero” or
Exit Ticket
“Odysseus is not an epic hero”
3-2-1 Bridge – Students will complete
the bridge after the first chapter.
RI 9.2
RI 9.5
Hot Seat – Students will assume
RL9.1
various roles in The Odyssey and
answer questions while in the role of the
character
3-2-1 Bridge
Guided Reading - Story of a Hero Karl Marlantes on the Truth About Being RI9.1
a Hero - WSJ.com Students will
SL9.1
complete the guided reading strategy as RI.9.4
they read this newspaper article.
Students will share their findings with
their group
Collage – Students will complete a
collage to illustrate their analysis of an
epic hero and peer review two other
students work.
RL.9.7
Students will
post their
collage on the
board.
Exploration two: Students will
recognize, understand, and apply the
steps of the Hero’s Journey to their lives
and the lives of their associates.
Frayer Model: After viewing, The
Hero's Journey - YouTube, students
will address the question, “What is a
heroic journey?”
Three-Level Questioning Guide:
Students will view an image of Joseph
Campbell’s hero’s journey template and
answer the following questions :
On the lines:
 What does the template
represent?
 What specific details stand out?
RI. 9.3
Journal Entry
RI.9.3
W.9.8
Muddy
Moments
Between the lines:
 Can you explain what each point
represents?
 What generalizations can you
make?
Beyond the Lines:
 What experiences have you had
that link you to a hero’s journey?
 What recommendations do you
have for a hero?
Jigsaw Reading: In groups, Students
will read The Odyssey, Books 21, 22, 23
and prepare to share what they learned RL.9.1
RL. 9.2
about Odysseus epic journey in their
groups. Students will prepare questions RL. 9.3
for Socratic Seminar.
Socratic
Seminar
Questions
Socratic Seminar – Students will apply
The Hero’s Journey template to The
Odyssey and discuss connections
Reflection
SL.9.1
Picturing Theme – Using technology,
portray your own Heroic Journey and be
W.9.6
prepared to share it with the class
Personal Heroic
Picture
Exploration Three: Understand the
steps of active listening and practice
them
Active Listening Quiz: Quiz – Students
will take this brief quiz to test their
L.9.6
understanding of active listening
Questioning Circle: Students will read
the following article on active listening:
Language Article - Active Listening The English Magazine and complete a
questioning circle:
Text: Why is it important to
develop good listening skills?
RI.9.2
Reflection
Marvy Moment
What keeps us from listening to
others? What can we do to
become better listeners
Self: How do you react when you
think people are not listening to
you? How do people respond
when you don’t listen to them?
What prevents you from being an
active listener?
World: What problems in our
society are directly connected to
poor communication? In our
culture, what is the biggest
obstacle to communication?
Two circles: Students will practice
listening to one another for 30 seconds
each and then rotate. Students will
brainstorm possible topics for
discussion
SL.9.1
Project Implicit: Students will identify
SL.9.2
biases that prevent them from listening
with understanding by responding to the
prompts in Harvard Gazette: Brain
shows unconscious prejudices
Role Play – Effective Listening/Elderly
SL.9.2
Exploration Four: Understand
elements of interviewing techniques
Introduction:Dean Martin & Goldie
Hawn - YouTube Humerous Interview
SL.9.2
Panel Discussion: Have students
prepare questions and bring in Social
SL.9.1
Exit Ticket
Reflection
Metacognition
Stem: As a
result of today’s
activity, I will..
Reflection
Worker, Historian, Elderly man, and
Care Giver.
Radio: Teaching Interviewing Skills
Through Story Games
W.9.3
L.9.1
 Story Games
 Role Play
Anticipation/Prediction Reading
Guide:Student Guide for
interviewing the elderly
Grandparent/Elder Project
Student Guide
Exploration Five: Produce clear,
effective narrative writing
Autobiographical Writing: Write about
one of the following:
a. a point in your life when you
realized that everything was going
to change
b. A trial or ordeal that changed you
Jig Saw Reading: Assign each group a
story element including plot, conflict,
characters, setting, and point of view
W.9.3
RI.9.1
W.9.3
RL.9.1
RL. 9.2
RL. 9.3
Low Key Drama: Students will take one
W.9.2
autobiographical story and create a
group story using the questions:
a. What do we know?
b. What do we need to know to
enrich the story?
Reflection
Posters
Reflection
c. Who might be able to answer the
questions?
d. Students will take on the roles of
the people listed and will answer
questions in those roles.
e. Students will reassemble and
share the new information they
now have
Autobiographical Writing – With the new W9.3
knowledge, students will revise their
initial autobiographical writing.
Personal
Narrative
End of Unit
Culminating Project and/or service learning
The Epic Journey of
or
The Life Story of
or
.............. (Insert your title here!)
Carefully consider the elderly people in your family, in your neighborhood,
or in your community. Contact one of them and ask if he/she would be
willing to talk with you about his/her life. Set up a time for an interview and
prepare a notebook, pencil, and, with the hero’s journey in mind, a list of
questions. The purpose of the interview is to determine how the person’s
life mirrors elements of the epic journey; with that in mind, you will need to
take take careful notes in order to write the narrative.
Some ideas for content:
 You could highlight events that mirrored each point of an epic journey
 You could focus on a particular period of his/her life that illustrated
one point of an epic journey.
 You could highlight one intensely memorable experience in detail that
illustrated one point of an epic journey.
Your unit project is a narrative of your subject and your audience is the
person’s family. You are writing the narrative from the person’s point of
view.
In your narrative, you’ll want to make sure that you
 Enjoy the interview and express appreciation
 Center your interview around exploring, questioning, and wondering
about the person’s epic journey
 Compile your notes into an effective narrative with dialogue,
description, reflection, and sequencing.
 Technicalities:
 3-4 pages, double-spaced, normal fonts and margins.
What’s due the day this is due:
In a stapled packet, you’ll want to turn in
 [written last, but first in the packet:] a Cover Letter, addressing
some/all of the following: An introduction to the person you
interviewed. What challenges did you encounter? How did you
address, or attempt to address, those challenges? What
breakthroughs did you have? What do you wish you’d have done but
perhaps you ran out of time, or you didn’t quite know how to do?
Also, revisit the strategies (below) that we worked on this unit. What
strategies did you especially gain confidence in, do you think? What
made that happen? [3/4 page, single-spaced]
 Your Writing Project (4 pages, double-spaced, normal fonts and
margins, Works Cited page, if necessary.)
 Your class colleagues’ written response
 Pick at least four learning activities that you think really contributed to
this unit project. Please let me know, in your cover letter, how these
activities helped you in your final project
What We’ll Be Working On Throughout This Unit:
You should be able to answer these questions by the end of the
unit:
1. What makes a hero? After analyzing qualities of real life heroes,
what are the key characteristics of heroes?
2. What experiences make up an epic journey through life? What
experiences are common in every man’s life? How does a
person’s reactions to these experiences affect his/her fate?
3. How are these elements evident in stories, autobiographical
narratives, heroes’ lives? Can you recognize this pattern in books,
movies, your own life, other people’s lives?
4. How can we experience empathy for another person’s journey?
How can you feel compassion for others as you learn of their
journeys?
5. How can we record heroic journeys? What are the key elements in
an effective narrative?
How does the sequence and the culminating project develop an
attitude of service and provide actual services? I believe that the
project will provide an opportunity for students to connect with someone
outside their peer group. The student will provide service by listening to
someone’s story and compiling for them and their posterity.
Resources
Heroic Quiz Heroic Character Self Evaluation
Hero Characteristics –
Story of a Hero - Karl Marlantes on the Truth About Being a
Hero - WSJ.com
The Hero’s Journey The Hero's Journey - YouTube
What is True Heroism What is True Heroism? - Article |
Heroic Journey Consulting
Interviewing the Elderly
http://www.legacyproject.org/guides/lifeintquestions.pdf
Student Guide for interviewing the elderly Grandparent/Elder
Project Student Guide
Interview Tips Interview tips
Specialists to talk with students