Overview

This learning module is the transformation of a single, multi-session lesson plan within a full year curriculum that I designed in 2016 while lead teacher, educational consultant, and administrator at Newport Academy. This overview consequently will provide the following context:

Newport Academy: student population and pedagogical approach
The Full Year Curriculum: title, content, purpose, and history of execution
Original Lesson Plan: inspiration and relationship to course ideas and principles
This Learning Module: how it transforms the original lesson plan into further practice

Newport Academy: student population and pedagogical approach.

Newport Academy is a therapeutic day school providing a student-tailored education for young people 13-20 years of age, academically from middle school to early college, who are in recovery from any number of individual or co-occuring addictive behavior disorders (e.g., substance abuse, eating disorders, self-harm, etc.). All students are participants in one of Newport Healthcare's residential or intensive outpatient/partial hospitalization programs, which mandates the provision of education so that falling behind academically does not compound students' psychological and social stress. Newport Academy works with students and their families to develop an optimal academic track for each individual’s specific needs, while also focusing on raising self-esteem, improving executive function, and establishing healthy friendships. More specifically, Newport Academy provides:

An accredited curriculum nonetheless designed to fit the needs of each student
High staff-to-student ratio (1:5) for individualized attention and tutoring
Daily therapeutic groups and weekly individual therapy
SAT/ACT prep and college application support as appropriate
Twice-weekly drug testing and ongoing monitoring of other self-destructive behaviors

At Newport Academy students in recovery are not set apart from their peers; students in recovery are their peers, supported by faculty and staff in an environment of abstinence and acceptance. Consequently, Newport Academy's pedagogical approach is to guide teens and their families to:

Embrace and learn from setbacks
Boost resilience and tenacity
Engage in both mastery-based and inquiry-based learning
Learn self-advocacy
Improve critical thinking
Establish kind and supportive relationships with peers and staff

(Monroe, 2020).

The Full Year Curriculum: title, content, purpose, and history of execution.

This learning module and the original lesson plan on which it is based is from the full year curriculum "Laughing at Life: Exploring Existential Questions through (mostly) Funny Films", with the further subtitle "a curriculum of 14 viewing lesson plans with extensions for credit -- suitable for all students, adolescent to adult, but especially young people in recovery." The purpose of this curriculum was to provide alternative lessons in the humanities that would be more relevant, and therefore more engaging, for Newport Academy's student population. The members of this population were often gifted, always well-resourced, but unfortunately dogged by issues that made engagement in standard activities difficult or even alienating. This is discussed in philosophical and practical detail in the appendices.

In terms of execution, some lesson plans -- like the first one in the curriculum -- were used in a non-graded, not-for-credit manner as part of a student's initial three day orientation to their program. As such, that lesson plan has been executed over a hundred times with groups of 1-4 students due to Newport Academy's rolling admissions. A few other lesson plans, this one included, were used dozens of times -- usually with an individual student -- as a frequent substitution for other (typically English Language Arts) course materials. The reason for this substitution is because these lesson plans were deemed to resonate with the replaced materials in terms of rigor, skill, and content requirements, but were more pertinent to our population and less "triggering" for the particular student to whom it was assigned.

Substitution was always with explicit authorization from Newport Academy's accrediting body (AdvancEd, which is now Cognia) for those students directly enrolled, or with the permission of the assigning institutions for those students enrolled elsewhere but in residence at Newport (i.e., many Newport students were seniors, already accepted to college, attending on referral from their elite public or private high school, which would remain their academic institution of record upon graduation).

The full curriculum has been instructed start to finish three times, as personalized instruction at the 7th grade, 12th grade, and college freshman level. These students participated with others for select lesson plans when they coincided with other students taking those same lessons under one of the other scenarios described above.

Finally, instructors at other of Newport's locations nationwide have used these materials, although not in full, and typically more for SEL-oriented supplement without assigning the extensions for credit.

Although systematic analysis has never been performed, these materials, their instruction, and students' productions therefrom were almost uniformly and unanimously praised by students, their families, therapists on the clinical side of the program, and the outside educators who in some of the circumstances described above were the necessary recipients and reviewers of student work for ultimate (transfer) academic credit.^[1]

Original Lesson Plan: inspiration and relationship to course ideas and principles.

Relationship to Course Ideas and Principles

This lesson plan -- the year-long course's penultimate -- is, amongst the fourteen, the one that most explicitly asks students to construct their own meaning, as it explicitly requires a careful consideration of their own personal narrative. This reflection affects the educator's expectations from and is consequently and integral part of the unit's formative and summative assessments. (cf. Cope and Kalantzis, 2016).

Furthermore, beyond being based on a film, the post-viewing and post-discussion "assignments" educators and/or their students are allowed to choose from are redolent with the language of the multiliteracy paradigm (Kalantzis et al., 2019):

students are required to create their own meaning from the film, with no reward for serving up set answers
multiple means of engagement are provided, from technical to tactile, and the use of informal versus formal learning structures, including collaborative, community based service learning
even many methods of the gaming community are running in the background like a ghost in the machine (see below), perhaps best enabled by this amongst the course's fourteen units due to its explicit ties to "The Hero's Journey". (Campbell, 1949).

(cf. Cope and Kalantzis, 2016).

In summation, this lesson -- which takes several days -- has proven a powerful, experiential (however vicarious) tool for students' reflective self-assessment in the context of social-emotional learning.

But maybe that's not surprising considering how this full year, fourteen lesson plan called "Laughing at Life" was inspired.

Inspiration for the Full Year Curriculum

The summer of 2015 there were two young women among Newport Academy's small school environment at its Darien, CT location (maximum 20 students). Neither were coming from one of Newport's residential programs. One was an 8th grader who had missed most of her spring semester due to psychiatric hospitalization, but was conditionally accepted to an elite private boarding school in the region based upon her prior academic record, family's advocacy, and her satisfactory completion of multi-subject coursework at pre-matriculation. Her attendance at Newport was so that she could remain under clinical observation during the day and receive instructional assistance with that coursework. The other was a senior who had missed most of her spring semester due to a challenging period at a non-Newport rehabilitation center for substance abuse during which she refused any academic engagement. Based upon her prior academic record, family's advocacy, and her satisfactory completion by August 1 of abbreviated coursework across multiple subjects, her relatively local, prestigious public school was willing to send to her intended college a complete transcript reflecting graduation. For English Language Arts, each of these schools separately sent novels and related writing assignments, the plots for which centered around dysfunctional families in which the dramatic tension was resolved, in one case, by a father's suicide, and in the other, by a daughter's patricide. The counselors at both of these schools who forwarded the assignments were sufficiently aware of these students' circumstances to know that these were not appropriate works, but also unyielding in their requirement, claiming an inability to contact the assigning teachers during the summer holiday. Although we sought to expedite and ameliorate the assignments, both teaching and clinical staff noted the negative impact they were having directly on these two students, and, through their changed demeanor, the overall spirit of the student body.

Therefore, once these texts and their assignments were completed (on a Thursday), I decided something different needed to be provided for these two students to close out the week. Even though clinical and academic staff joined students in a fun outing every Friday afternoon after school, this alone seemed insufficient. I deemed that the students needed similar content -- i.e., literary, centered on family dynamics, and that dealt unflinchingly with challenges -- but which was uplifting, resolved positively, and, as such, was not a distraction from, but an actual alternative to the material and life view they had been forced to digest all week.

With this in mind, I remembered a colleague -- the campus minister at another school I had helped launch -- who reported frequently using the film Big Fish to work with students with troubling parent-child relationships. I also recalled a professor and Jesuit priest who had been my colleague at Fordham University, and who had written a book about finding spiritual meaning in unlikely secular, commercial spaces, including silly (in his case, Adam Sandler) movies. (Mossa, 2009).

Thus, I thought of a couple open ended discussion questions, showed the film Big Fish, (which subsequently became the fifth film/lesson plan in the curriculum) and watched what happened. The two young women not only engaged with the film, but through the questions also engaged with each other -- which they had never done before -- in a fun yet meaningful manner. The fruitful direction in which they took the conversation prompted the initial notes, later research, and resultant lesson plan that became the structure for all future lesson plans in the final, full-year curriculum that was created. Meanwhile, it completely changed the tenor of the week, not because these two students had repressed the texts and emotions they had been struggling with the prior four days, but because they had transmuted them, seeing that although conflict and difficulties are unavoidable in life, they do not always have to end like a Greek tragedy.

This Learning Module: how it transforms the original lesson plan into further practice.

As described above, Newport Academy's pedagogical approach is clearly not that of the traditional classroom, and is at least in principle aligned to many facets of "new learning" (Cope & Kalantzis, 2014). These affordances were explicitly leveraged in the design and execution of the original version of this lesson plan (see Appendix II):

Montessorian mixed age classroom (Montessori, 1912).
Dewey-derived project based learning (Wikimedia Foundation, 2021)
Personalized, adaptive learning (Cope et al., 2015)
To varying degrees, albeit not in an exclusively e-learning environment, all seven affordances of collaborative/reflexive learning: ubiquity, active knowledge making, multimodal meaning, recursive feedback, collaborative intelligence, metacognition, and differentiation (Cope & Kalantzis, 2014)
To varying degrees, 19 of the 36 principles characeristic of good online games that are drawn from learning design, specifically: attentive/active learning, semiotics, psychosocial moratorium, identity, self-knowledge, ongoing learning, regime of competence, multiple routes, text, intertextual, multimodal, incremental, discovery, transfer, cultural models about the world, cultural models about learning, distributed, dispersed, affinity group, and insider. (Gee, 2003).

Adaptations for this learning module for purposes of this assignment were largely to make this learning more ubiquitous, enabling peer collaboration to occur across wide geographies and asynchronously, which also means not necessarily in physical or temporal proximity with its facilitator.

In terms of assessment, the grading rubric (again, see Appendix II) was already aligned with the philosophy behind CGScholar's analytics as well as current theories on self-assessment. Consequently, this facet of the class was less changed than made more efficient by the use of technology. Note that, despite discreet assignments -- required comments and updates that often give explicit direction to guide expected peer collaboration and/or constructive criticism, as well as the larger work productions requested by administrative updates 6 and 8 -- this grading rubric really constitutes a method for continuous assessment that is highly reflective (i.e., it is akin, if not identical, to self-assessment; see Wilson, 2021). As such, Laughing at Life's grading rubric is not separate from but an integral part of the student's learning process.

In other words, prospective facilitators of this class should not look for a separate artifact that looks like traditional testing; the entire learning module is both instruction and assessment, which is appropriate: this course is not about the history of existential philosophy or film theory or anything else of the sort -- it's asking students to "commit philosophy". Therefore, as indicated in its original materials provided in Appendix II, by the necessity inherent to its materials and objective, "this course is rigorous with regard to evaluating a student's process and progress, but without emphasis on identifying any single set of 'right' answers ... [and in that context] a student should only be held accountable to their inherent capabilities and their realization."

Finally, and commensurate with that approach, significant work had to be done to chunk lessons into updates in a manner to ensure peers could both work at their own pace, but without getting so out of sync as to frustrate some or require spoiler alerts for others. To also ensure engagement that would support those aims, the absence of in-person conversation and dynamics required increased incorporation of interstitial visual elements as well as writing assignments. Considerations for future transformation would be how to incorporate more of Gee's (2003) 36 principles of good learning design gleaned from online gaming, 17 of which were not identified as existing in the original lesson plan or the curriculum in which it resides.

Footnotes

^ Specifically, this course has been accepted for transfer credit in satisfaction of the following Common Core standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1-10, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1-10, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1-10.

Intended Learning Outcome

Students will explore -- through pre- and post-viewing discussions and activities regarding the movie It's a Wonderful Life, including related essays, video shorts, podcasts, visual arts, and physical (embodied) classroom activity -- the first of our Unit 5 (Does Wonder Create Beauty?) existential questions:

Is yours a wonderful life? Why or why not?

Update 1: Introducing our essential question

For the Student

IMAGE 1: (Republic Pictures, 1947)

Take a look at this movie poster.

Have you seen this movie?

If not, have you heard about it, whether from other people talking about it or hearing it referred to by some other show, movie, video short, podcast, or meme, of which there are too many to count, or even just having seen it playing on a TV at a store display around the Christmas holiday?

If you have watched this movie, then let me ask: have you seen it in its entirety, start to finish, without interruption, in one sitting, versus as background noise on the television during holiday activities?

The point of my questions is to point out that although many people are aware of this movie, they often have a mistaken impression of what it's about, because they only know it at a glance, from a distance, without ever having fully engaged with it. In that way, contemporary public misconceptions about this 70-year old movie could be a metaphor for life itself: we are often aware, but lack awareness.

In that same metaphorical manner, knowing a film is like knowing a person. It is ironic that we can sometimes feel like we don't really know the members of our family or that they don't know us, or that we feel we can spend a lifetime getting to know a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse, and yet we often act like we think we have all of our casual acquaintances at school or work pretty well summed up. However, in reality, if we took the time and effort to really get to know those casual acquaintances, I am certain we would be astounded at every stage by just how much more would still be left to learn about them.

In this lesson, "Is Yours a Wonderful Life?", we're going to take that concept -- that we are often mistaken about the things we take for granted --one step further.

I'm going to posit that most of the time, most of us don't really know even ourselves: that there is a lot more to us, a lot more adventure, even a hero, beneath each of our day to day surface appearance.

To understand that, let's first take a second, deeper look at this movie that we only think we know, that we probably feel we have pretty well summed up as overly happy, maybe even sappy, holiday fare.

Let's stary by reading the 2 page article in the PDF attached below:

It's a Wonderful Life: Think You've Seen It? Think Again!

Now that you've read this article, a few things to higlight -- actually, we're going to have a discussion highlighting what was literally highlighted in that article!

First, the two highlighted sections on the 1st page emphasize our initial point: that even if you have heard a lot about this movie or seen it many times before, it is worth an intentional rewatching, as common perceptions are completely incorrect. It is not a holiday fantasy, but actually a realistic film noir completely at odds with most Christmas movies ever made.

Second, though, that stated, the two highlighted sections on the 2nd page should not be mistaken for characterizing such fantasies as un-redeeming – after all, despite pointing our its noir-ish roots, this article does laud It's a Wonderful Life as a fantasy/fable. However, the authors are making a distinction that there are two types of fantasies: those that are merely illusory/escapist and those that might help us arrive at higher truth(s) than we would have realized had we just “stuck to the facts/reality”.

There are many more recent examples than this 1947 film of “redeeming/higher truth” fantasies which you may have encountered. Such "hero's journeys" are often read or shown to children before they fully become teenagers: The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Harry Potter, just to name a few.

However, in contrast to this list or others you may have thought of, not all fantasies need to be “fantastical.” Some fantasies have illustrated profound truths through more subtle “magical” elements having been added to depictions of everyday existence. We saw this in earlier movies we have watched in this course, most noteably Groundhog Day and Stranger than Fiction. Did you notice parts of the article you just read that suggest this may also be the case for It’s A Wonderful Life?

Through the video below, let me give you a 4-minute example that is perfect illustration of what I am talking. This example is taken from another movie, which you don't need to have seen to understand this example. In fact, it's probably better that you haven't seen this movie to really feel the point we're trying to make, and that's partly why I chose this clip -- it's probably the first time you'll have ever seen it. However, there are a few things about it I do want you to know before we watch. First, that this is a scene towards the end of the film, during which, other than singing and dancing, nothing “actually” magical has occurred. Second, notice at the outset of this clip that its setting contains all strongly "realist" elements: there are two, literally old, friends slowly walking down a long flight of heavy looking, concrete stairs, beside a canal at night in a scene that (despite being Paris) is overall gray in tone, and in which the leading man decidedly does not look anything like a leading man -- he is short, balding with frazzled hair, frail and diminutive, with poor posture and nerdy glasses. The third thing -- well, I'll make that point after you watch it. I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Media embedded February 24, 2024

VIDEO 1: (Miramax, 1996)

Breathtaking, isn't it? That's my third point: when people first saw this film in the theater and the “magic” happened during the dance scene, as soft and subtle as that scene is, entire audiences could be heard drawing a collective gasp, seeming more surprised by this simple, understated effect than when barraged by special effects in more “fantastical” movies.

Furthermore, this subtle fantasy inserted into the everyday captures and conveys the truth of these individuals’ relationship – and what the director wants to tell his audience about life in general through this particular relationship – better than more direct or realistic dialogue could have done.

This approach to storytelling is what you are going to encounter in the film It's a Wonderful Life.

Furthermore, through our exploration of that film, we are going to discover that perhaps this is the best approach to telling our own story.

It is the approach that -- like It's a Wonderful Life's main character, George Bailey -- enables us to see that ours is a hero's journey. It gives us the courage to ask the essential question we will come back to at the end of this lesson:

Is mine a wonderful life? Why or why not?

Before we watch the movie though, please proceed to the three exercises below:

First, please create the following "comment":

We read the article "Think You've Seen It? Think Again!" In that article, one of its authors, Matt Lewis, claimed – in his discussion of fantasy/reality in the context of It’s A Wonderful Life -- that one of the movie's main life lessons is to “marry the right person.” Lewis then goes on to argue
that his concern regarding more recent holiday-set romantic-comedies is that their fantasies’:

... end result is a world full of people seeking fulfillment in other human beings who, being imperfect, eventually let them down. [Partners] leave when we fail to meet their impossible expectations. Or, assuming we can keep up the charade, we get married and (gasp!) have kids. You don’t want that to be when reality sets in. A better model is to become the purpose-driven men and women we are supposed to be, and then to find that perfect someone.

Using your phone or computer, record your video response to Matt Lewis’ view. Make sure to answer whether or not Lewis' observations match what you have observed yourself and why. Your observations can be from any one or combination of the following:

your own past/present romantic relationships
the relationships of other couples your own age that you know from your school or community
the adult relationships you see in your family or community

Second, please write an "update"^[1] to the following:

Pick one of your classmates' videos to watch.
Write either: (a) how and why your classmate's response resonated with you; (b) how and why your response differed (no judgment); or (c) a combination of both.

Third, if you'd like to make your one required class "presentation"^[2] for this lesson to be about what you wrote for this update, sign up here on the tab "Update 1". You would present at our next live session. You will have five more opportunities to sign up and present on future updates.

REMEMBER AS YOU WRITE OR RECORD: In this course, it is acceptable and encouraged to include personal experience. You may do so -- or choose not do so -- to whatever degree you feel comfortable. You may also choose -- and this will have no affect on your grade, positive or negative -- to discuss personal experiences brought up by these prompts with the course facilitator and/or school counseling staff instead of including them in your response. These conversations would be kept confidential.

Footnotes

^ For purposes of this course, an "update" is a 300-600 word response (or quantitatively and qualitatively equivalent effort if incorporating video/audio elements, which are encouraged). Furthermore, although still expressing personal thoughts on a subject, updates are expected to have those thoughts grounded in specific reference to the film and/or other class materials being explored. In other words, as with a "comment", there is no single absolute right answer that is expected; however, different from "comments", all answers must demonstrate what you have learned from the class (even if it's to express your total disagreement). The one thing that is not acceptable is providing a response that could have been provided even if you had never heard of this class or encountered any of its material.
^ For purposes of this course, a "presentation": (a) is only required once per lesson/film, but you may present more than once if the number of spots available are greater than the number of students taking the class; (b) is short (2 - 3 minutes), and isn't reading your update, but summarizing its main point(s) to then pose provocative thoughts or questions to your audience, which requires you to be ready to listen and respond to the conversation you create amongst your classmate(s) and/or class facilitator(s).

For the Facilitator

In preparation for this lesson, please:

Review the entire lesson plan to understand why this film was chosen to explore its essential existential question.
Watch the film, available here on Amazon Prime and YouTube Rentals, as well as other streaming services.
Preview the entire facilitator and student content for this lesson.
If you wish to use more lessons from, or even the entirety of, the full year course from which this lesson is derived, additional context is available in the "Overview" and "Appendices" to this work where it appears in CGScholar.
Make certain students have been familiarized with and know how to use CGScholar, both conceptually and technically, prior to posting Update 1 and asking them to log into the course.
Make certain students know that there is an expectation that they read at least some of their classmates' comments and updates, and read a few of each group of classmates' updates with sufficient care and attention to provide a comment to at least one other person's update for that "session." The comment they provide should be meaningful to them (the commenter), to the recipient of their comment, and to the overall classroom "conversation" of which it is a part. If facilitating this course as part of a single student's personalized instruction, the facilitator should also write an update so the student can complete this exercise and benefit from the consequent "conversation".
Assess and provide the degree of guidance your students will need in order to write appropriate length, detail, tenor/courtesy, and depth of comments, updates, and comments on classmates' updates based on their age and experience (may need to be adjusted after they start submitting work).
Emphasize to students that there are no explicit right or wrong answers to any of the questions or prompts in this class, only those that are completed honestly, with honest effort, explicitly demonstrating an engagement with and reflection on all the material presented, and those that aren't (see also the grading rubric to the original full course, provided in Appendix II).
With regard to presentations, either eliminate the sign-up sheet if this is one-to-one instruction or groups so small that all students can present at each live session, or, if that is not the case, adjust the number of available spots on each tab accordingly to ensure that everyone has at least one opportunity to present and that there aren't too many slots causing you to run out of presenters before the last live session.
Have fun.

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Update 2: Before You Watch I

For the Student

IMAGE 2: (National Public Radio, 2015)

At the end of Update 1, you were asked to reflect on Matt Lewis' point that a major theme, not only in It's a Wonderful Life's "strong and fundamental fable" but in all great stories, is that we are supposed to become purpose-driven individuals fulfilling to others and not just try to find a non-existent perfect someone or something to fulfill us.

In other words, that the quest for a “purpose-driven life”, or one’s “life purpose”, is indeed at the core of all strong and fundamental fables, not because of its fantastical elements, but because of
how elemental it is to each and all of our everyday existences.

This is so common that the concept even has a name: The Hero's Journey.

Once you know what that journey looks like, each of its steps along the way, you start to see it everywhere, as you will hear in the following 7-minute podcast.

NPR's TED Radio Hour: What is the Blueprint for Stories About Heroes?

Once you have listened to the above podcast, proceed to the three exercises below:

First, please write the following comment^[1]:

Not using anyone mentioned in the podcast, list the first three heroes you think of from books, movies, or shows that you know, along with their purpose.
Pick one of these three heroes that you feel you can most relate to and explain why you find them so relatable to you and your life.
Explain why the other two heroes on your list are less relatable.

Second, please write the following update:

Read at least three of your classmates' comments. Pick one hero who they discussed in their comment but you were less or unfamiliar with. Use the internet to begin to learn about that hero. Write:

What you think are the main lessons you could learn about life from that hero.
What you think you learned about your classmate because they chose that hero.
Whether you have ever seen someone in real life that reminded you of that classmate's hero, and explain your answer.

Third, if you'd like to make your one required class presentation for this lesson to be about what you wrote for this update, sign up here on the tab "Update 2". You would present at our next live session. You will have four more opportunities to sign up and present on future updates.

REMEMBER AS YOU WRITE: In this course, it is acceptable and encouraged to include personal experience. You may do so -- or choose not do so -- to whatever degree you feel comfortable. You may also choose -- and this will have no affect on your grade, positive or negative -- to discuss personal experiences brought up by these prompts with the course facilitator and/or school counseling staff instead of including them in your response. These conversations would be kept confidential.

Footnotes

^ For purposes of this course, a written "comment" is a 100-300 word response to a prompt that is generally rooted in personal opinion or reflection.

For the Facilitator

Post Administrative Update 2 after your first live session with student presentations on Administrative Update 1 has been completed.

There is no advance preparation for Administrative Update 2 or your second live student presentations on that content other than those enumerated "for the facilitator" in Update 1.

In terms of students' update (and, therefore, possible third live student presentation) content, any reasonable examples/explanations are acceptable.

However, as an aid to facilitators, please be certain to review the questions/prompts in the "Before You Watch" materials to understand avenues for classroom conversation and interstitial learning objectives on students' journey toward their own resolution of our essential question.

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Update 3: Before You Watch II

For the Student

IMAGE 3: (Campbell, 1949)

Pictured above as a cyclical chart that progresses counterclockwise from "call to adventure" to "freedom to live" are all seventeen stages of Joseph Campbell's "monomyth" that we introduced in our last update: the singular (mono) story outline Campbell claims to be at the heart of every myth across all times and cultures.

Please read and either print out or leave up on your computer for future reference the PDF below, which is a complete version of this chart with short definitions for each of those stages.

Joseph Campbell 17 Stages Monomyth Chart - Complete with Definitions

Now proceed to the three exercises below:

First, please write the following comment:

Using either the hero you chose to write about in your last comment, or your classmate's hero you chose to write about in your last update, pick any one stage from Joseph Campbell's monomyth that they went through and describe what happened and how it resolved or moved on to the next stage.

Second, please write the following update:

Write about when either you or someone you know in real life went through events that remind you of the hero and stage from Joseph Campbell's monomyth that you wrote about in your comment. Include how it resolved or moved on to the next stage.

Third, if you'd like to make your one required class presentation for this lesson to be about what you wrote for this update, sign up here on the tab "Update 3". You would present at our next live session. You will have three more opportunities to sign up and present on future updates.

REMEMBER AS YOU WRITE: In this course, it is acceptable and encouraged to include personal experience. You may do so -- or choose not do so -- to whatever degree you feel comfortable. You may also choose -- and this will have no affect on your grade, positive or negative -- to discuss personal experiences brought up by these prompts with the course facilitator and/or school counseling staff instead of including them in your response. These conversations would be kept confidential.

For the Facilitator

Post Administrative Update 3 after your second live session with student presentations on Administrative Update 2 has been completed.

There is no advance preparation for Administrative Update 3 or your third live student presentations on that content other than those enumerated "for the facilitator" in Update 1.

However, as an aid to facilitators, please be certain to review the questions/prompts in the "Before You Watch" materials to understand avenues for classroom conversation and interstitial learning objectives on students' journey toward their own resolution of our essential question.

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Update 4: Watch "It's a Wonderful Life"

For the Student

IMAGE 4: (Republic Pictures, 1946)

Yes, it is finally time to watch It's a Wonderful Life, available here on Amazon Prime and YouTube Rentals, as well as other streaming services.

As you do so, however, also keep an eye out for the 17 stages of Joseph Campbell's monomyth. Although It’s A Wonderful Life won’t follow the formula as exactly or in exactly the same order as Star Wars, which consciously used Campbell as its blueprint, you should nevertheless watch for these stages in the journey of It’s A Wonderful Life’s main character, George Bailey, for he too is another version of “The Hero of a Thousand Faces”, though perhaps one whose face/existence is much more like our own.

Therefore:

Have your "complete with definitions" chart of the 17 stages of Joseph Campbell's monomyth from our last update available to you for reference AND
Have the blank version of that chart provided by the PDF below available for you to complete either during or after the film (your choice), whether by handwriting into the chart or by typing your notes into a separate document a short description of where in George Bailey's life these different stages occur. Challenge yourself: you should be able to identify at least 9 of the 17 stages, and at least two stages in each of the hero's journey's big categories of Separation, Initiation, and Return. An example for all seventeen can actually be found!

Joseph Campbell 17 Stages of Monomyth Chart - Blank Version

ALSO, AS YOU WATCH THE MOVIE, keep in mind the three exercises you are going to be asked to complete below:

First, please write the following comment:

Post what you filled out for your monomyth chart of George Bailey's hero's journey (i.e., link to your typed document or PDF/JPEG/PNG of your handfilled out chart) and write a short reflection about that exercise. For example: was this task easy or hard and why? Did anything about this process surprise you? Did any of George's stages and experiences particularly relate to you? Was George's hero's journey more relatable than the hero's you examined in earlier updates? Why or why not?

PLEASE NOTE that it's okay if you found that filling out George Bailey's monomyth chart for some stages was more difficult than others, or if when a stage seems to occur in the film does not follow the exact order of the stages in the chart. Life is not a perfect path. You may also have noticed that the chart therefore does not show these stages as a “once and done” kind of thing, but a never ending cycle that lasts as long as one is alive. In other words:

All or perhaps particular stages in the monomyth may recur many times in one’s life, depending on how well we have or how much we still need to understand and integrate its lessons into our life.
There is no shame if life hands you the same lesson to learn all over again, as long as you are learning. You may not – should not – be doing the exact same thing over and over again, but you probably – hopefully – will revisit some stages throughout your life as you take their same lessons to the next level. Ideally, objective input from friends and family, colleagues and mentors would validate that although the stage is the same, you’re handling circumstances that you couldn’t have handled the last time you encountered that stage in your hero’s journey.

Second, please write the following update:

Use another blank version of Joseph Campbell’s 17 Stages of the Monomyth to fill in as best you can with examples from your life for each stage and post it. Here is some guidance to help you:

Use both the original handout that defines each of the stages as well as the handout you just completed for George’s hero’s journey as a guide and template.
Remember what we just said above about this journey being a never ending cycle. The journey you choose therefore does not need to be your entire life to date. It may be completed by reflecting on just a year or even shorter period or series of events in your life instead of trying to chronicle of everything you have encountered from birth to the present (although that is okay, too!)
It’s also okay to speculate. In other words, you may begin to fill out the stages with examples of events that have already happened, proceed to events in the present, and then complete the cycle by envisioning potential future events/realizations.
Read, consider, and comment with encouragement on at least two of your classmates' updates. Why? Because social science indicates that as individuals human beings are extremely poor at accurately remembering our past, understanding our present, or predicting our future. Subjective biases color how we picture both what has been and what we think might be, which therefore understandably also has an impact on what we (selectively) observe about our present circumstances. As a consequence, it can be extremely helpful to gain input and encouragement from individuals who are more objective. This doesn’t mean that we have to accept everything they have to say, but we should at least listen and test what they say to see what may be of value. Think of Clarence’s role vis-à-vis George!

Third, if you'd like to make your one required class presentation for this lesson to be about what you wrote for this update, sign up here on the tab "Update 4". You would present at our next live session. You will have two more opportunities to sign up and present on future updates.

REMEMBER AS YOU WRITE: In this course, it is acceptable and encouraged to include personal experience. You may do so -- or choose not do so -- to whatever degree you feel comfortable. You may also choose -- and this will have no affect on your grade, positive or negative -- to discuss personal experiences brought up by these prompts with the course facilitator and/or school counseling staff instead of including them in your response. These conversations would be kept confidential.

For the Facilitator

Post Administrative Updates 4 after your third live session with student presentations on Update 3 has been completed.

There is no advance preparation for Administrative Update 4 or your fourth live student presentations on that content other than those enumerated "for the facilitator" in Update 1.

That stated, you should be intimately familiar with the film It's a Wonderful Life.

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Update 5: After You Watch - Is George Bailey a hero? Is his a wonderful life?

For the Student

Media embedded February 25, 2024

VIDEO 2: (PBS, 1988)

What George realized – and what Clarence wrote to George as a reminder if he ever forgot it later in life, long after this “mountaintop moment” that made him the hero of his journey – is that no one can be a hero in isolation: we are all supported by and give support to far more people than we are willing to give credit to or take credit for.

Not that it’s about credit; rather, quite the opposite, George learned that life is about interconnectedness and empathy. Those attributes are what ultimately make the hero.

Consequently, let's hear directly from Joseph Campbell -- the discoverer of our "monomyth" -- about interconnectedness, empathy and heroism in the short (3 minute) video above in which he tells a true life example.

With this example in mind, now let's do a full review of all 17 stages in George's journey provided in the PDF below:

George Bailey's Hero's Journey -- All 17 Stages Complete

Notice how seemingly “mundane” – in the sense of its Latin root meaning “down to earth”, commonplace, everyday – the nature of many, if not most, of the events that constitute the stages in George’s “hero’s journey”.

And yet they are hardly mundane in the sense of that word's modern definition of being unheroic.

Precisely because of this dichotomy, what we should focus on to recognize George's heroism -- what Joseph Campbell would want us to focus on -- is how these events exemplify, not George's "Marvel-esque" heroism, but George's interconnectedness and empathy. Interconnectedness and empathy are George's true life's purpose, not the grand adventure he thought it would be when he was young -- a misconception that almost made him miss the point of his life altogether.

Now proceed to the three exercises below:

First, please write the following comment:

Review the PDF above, "George Bailey's Hero's Journey -- All 17 Stages Complete" and answer in order the following questions:

What made George's life wonderful?
How and why did he almost miss that wonder?
From George's experience, what advice would you give your future, adult self to make certain you don't miss your life's purpose?

Second, please write the following update:

Thank you -- and thank you to each of your classmates -- for being so trusting and caring with one another’s stories as you crafted your hero’s journeys. Now let's embody this caring with – as corny as it may seem – trust falls. Here’s a short “Howcast” video for on how to do it if you need a tutorial.

Media embedded February 25, 2024

VIDEO 3: (Howcast, 2010)

That's the issue with "embodying" just about anything: you may not want to do it and you probably won't get the point -- it may even seem silly or stupid -- until you actually do. That is the point: like interconnectedness and empathy, no matter how much you read or think about it, you're never going to fully understand it, because you're being asked to do something that is impossible to understand only intellectually. You also need to feel it. It needs embodiment. Whether with your classmates, a group of outside friends, your family, or some other community you are part of, get them together to help you complete this trustfall exercise.

Write about your experience, answering in order the following questions:

Who did you choose to do this exercise with and why?
What was the biggest obstacle to organizing, starting, or completing this exercise and why?
What did you learn from this experience -- whether you learned it from selecting your participants, organizing the activity, the trustfall itself, or your co-participants' reactions.
How do you think George Bailey who have responded if you asked him to do this? How would he have reacted if you asked him at the start of the movie? What about at the end? How do you think other characters in the movie would have responded (pick at least three to compare and contrast with George; for example: Mary, Clarence, Mr. Potter, Uncle Billy, etc.)?

Third, if you'd like to make your one required class presentation for this lesson to be about what you wrote for this update, sign up here on the tab "Update 5". You would present at our next live session. You will have one more opportunity to sign up and present on future updates.

REMEMBER AS YOU WRITE: In this course, it is acceptable and encouraged to include personal experience. You may do so -- or choose not do so -- to whatever degree you feel comfortable. You may also choose -- and this will have no affect on your grade, positive or negative -- to discuss personal experiences brought up by these prompts with the course facilitator and/or school counseling staff instead of including them in your response. These conversations would be kept confidential.

For the Facilitator

Post Administrative Update 5 and 6 (Work 1 Request) after your fourth live session with student presentations on Administrative Update 4 has been completed.

There is no advance preparation for Administrative Update 5 or your fifth live student presentations on that content other than those enumerated "for the facilitator" in Update 1.

However, as an aid to facilitators, please be certain to review the questions/prompts in the "After You Watch" materials to understand avenues for classroom conversation and interstitial learning objectives on students' journey toward their own resolution of our essential question.

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Update 6: Work 1 Assignment - Reason to wonder: your hero's journey?

For the Student

Here are three images from It's a Wonderful Life that are very different from the happy family tableau that graced the two movie posters that prefaced previous updates, but which are probably far more telling as to the plot of this picture and George's hero's journey:

IMAGE 5: George alone on the bridge, contemplating suicide. (Capra, 1946)

IMAGE 6: George with Clarence, starting to wonder at the world the angel is showing him. (Capra, 1946)

IMAGE 7: George back on the bridge, still bankrupt, still believing he is about to be arrested, nevertheless looking amazed, in awe, like despite it all he has a wonderful life. (Capra, 1946)

Please write the following comment: In light of everything we've learned since we started studying this film, or even considering all the films we've studied in this course (we only have one left!) a one sentence "gut" response to our essential question:

Is yours a wonderful life? Why or why not?

Please write the following update: Use the one sentence "gut" response to our essential question as a thesis statement to develop a longer, more thought out "update" response. Read and reflect on some of your classmates' comments to this update before you start. You may simply unpack your thesis and explain your answer, you may contradict your thesis and tear it apart, or you may do a bit of both and come to a whole new conclusion by the end of your update. There is no right or wrong answer, just make the answer yours: honesty and honest effort is all anyone can ask. Please also write an encouraging but constructive comment to the update of at least 2 of the other people in this class.

Third, if you'd like to make your one required class presentation for this lesson to be about what you wrote for this update, sign up here on the tab "Update 6". You would present at our next live session. There are no further opportunities to sign up and present.

REMEMBER AS YOU WRITE: In this course, it is acceptable and encouraged to include personal experience. You may do so -- or choose not do so -- to whatever degree you feel comfortable. You may also choose -- and this will have no affect on your grade, positive or negative -- to discuss personal experiences brought up by these prompts with the course facilitator and/or school counseling staff instead of including them in your response. These conversations would be kept confidential.

For the Facilitator

Post Administrative Update 6 (Work 1 Request) simultaneously with, or relatively shortly after, posting Administrative Update 5; in other words, also after your fourth live session with student presentations on Administrative Update 4 has been completed.

PLEASE NOTE: Although there is no advance preparation for Administrative Update 6, these are the instructions that accompany a work request, and are therefore different from prior updates in terms of content, procedure, and timing. Consequently, please review the "for the student" section of this update carefully for those differences in addition to continuing to keep in mind the preparations enumerated "for the facilitator" in Update 1.

PLEASE NOTIFY STUDENTS during your sixth live session that Administrative Update 8 (Work 2 assignment & instructions) will be posted before instead of after your next live session, as there will be no student presentations at that live session, which will instead be office hours to assist anyone with questions about Work 2 (or anything else about the class before it ends).

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Update 7: Office Hours & Revisiting Our Essential Question

For the Student

Be prepared for this, our second to last live session, to:

Review your Work 2 assignment's directions and come ready: (a) to ask any questions you may have before beginning; (b) to listen to your classmates' questions, as they may be onto something that you aren't even aware of yet that might help you out.
Use everything we discovered -- with explicit, detailed references to the movie It's a Wonderful Life -- to spend 5-10 minutes answering orally, and defending your answer to, the essential existential question that kicked off this lesson:

Is yours a wonderful life? Why or why not?

For the Facilitator

Post Administrative Update 7 after your sixth live session with student presentations on Administrative Update 6 (Work 1) has been completed.

Please note that there are no student presentations based on Administrative Update 7.

Rather, your 7th live session will be dedicated to office hours for answering student questions about Administrative Update 8 (Work 2 assignment & instructions) specifically, as well as anything about the class generally.

THEREFORE PLEASE NOTE AHEAD that the instructions for Update 8 will be to post 24 - 72 hours in advance of your 7th live session.

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Update 8A: Work 2 assignment & instructions (option 1)

For the Student

Work 2 Prompt:

Using the three 17 Stages of the Monomyth handouts we used in class – the original with Joseph Campbell’s definition of each stage, the second one you completed by matching examples from George Bailey’s life to each of those stages, and the personal one you created by matching events from your life to those stages – create an original self-expression of your own hero’s journey in detail. This self-expression:

Will be titled – and should therefore reflect that – “It’s A Wonderful Life” (remember, just as the film turned out to be frequently dark and bittersweet, this title is not an admonition to whitewash or sugarcoat anything, but it is a challenge to re-imagine your world just as reality required George to re-imagine his);
May be a work of art, music, writing, performance, video – whatever medium you like – as long as it captures Campbell’s Monomyth as well as real (and possibly prospective) events from your life, bringing those two elements together in a coherent way;
Can be shared with the class if you wish, but don't have to be; however, all will be submitted to the class facilitator(s).

(approximately 5 hours)

For the Facilitator

Post ONE of the Administrative Update 8 options 24-72 hours before your seventh live session, which will be dedicated to office hours for answering student questions about this update (i.e., the Work 2 assignment & instructions).

Select the Administrative Update 8 option that is most appropriate for your students.

Alternatively, you can also not post an Administrative Update 8 to the whole class, but copy and paste content from any of those options into individual emails so as to give differentiated assignments to each student.

In either case, please give students advance notice during the fifth live session that the next live session will be "office hours" for questions about their Work 2 Assignment and Instructions, and that Update 8 will therefore be posted early so they can review it in advance and come to that session prepared. Similarly, at the end of the seventh, "office hour" live session, remind students that they will have an eighth live session for Work 1 presentations.

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Update 8B: Work 2 assignment & instructions (option 2)

For the Student

Work 2 Prompt:

The presence of a “Higher Power”, as it is called in recovery, is explicitly palpable in It's a Wonderful Life.

Although in this particular movie the Higher Power was clearly a Christian conception of God, it does not need to be for purposes of this class or assignment. However, it is important to note that in this movie all that God seems to desire of George is for him to see how much he is valued/loved. Furthermore, God conveys that message indirectly – through Clarence the Angel, yes, but mostly through George’s friends and family -- never through God speaking to George directly.

Keeping this in mind, create an original self-expression of how you are valued/loved by others, and/or how – if you believe in these concepts – you are valued/loved by God/a Higher Power.

You may work in any medium, as long as what you produce is true to who you are (i.e., director Frank Capra did not sanitize George Bailey, but gave us a hero as deeply flawed as any of us are in real life) and yet is also unconditionally positive in its portrayal of your potential, just as George's Higher Power and his friends and family were for him.

Final projects can be shared with the class if a student desires, but all will be submitted to the facilitator(s).

(approximately 5 hours)

For the Facilitator

Post ONE of the Administrative Update 8 options 24-72 hours before your seventh live session, which will be dedicated to office hours for answering student questions about this update (i.e., the Work 2 assignment & instructions).

Select the Administrative Update 8 option that is most appropriate for your students.

Alternatively, you can also not post an Administrative Update 8 to the whole class, but copy and paste content from any of those options into individual emails so as to give differentiated assignments to each student.

In either case, please give students advance notice during the fifth live session that the next live session will be "office hours" for questions about their Work 2 Assignment and Instructions, and that Update 8 will therefore be posted early so they can review it in advance and come to that session prepared. Similarly, at the end of the seventh, "office hour" live session, remind students that they will have an eighth live session for Work 1 presentations.

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Update 8C: Work 2 assignment & instructions (option 3)

For the Student

Work 2 Prompt:

The angel-in-training Clarence is cast as a bit of a fool. The villain, Mr. Potter – which the American Film Institute ranks as one of the top ten villains in movie history (George Bailey is among its top ten heroes, but Mr. Potter ranks higher for his archetype) – is undeniably worldly wise, but arguably not a happy or joyful individual. Clarence when he was alive would clearly have been the kind of person Potter would have looked down on, denigrated, and even
despised. Interesting to note is that philosophies and religions around the world, from the Bible to the Tao te Ching, have frequently stated that their wisdom is foolishness to those who think themselves wise in the way of the world, and what seems worldly wise is but mere foolishness to God/the way of the universe.

Reflecting on these insights, please complete the following in order:

Write a backstory for Mr. Potter: how did he become the way he is, and try to do it in a way that helps us to not only understand him, but feel interconnected with him and have empathy for him, just the way that Joseph Campbell described.
Write a hero’s journey for Mr. Potter, with Clarence once again assigned to the case. Include both Mr. Potter’s perspective of this journey and Clarence’s perspective of the challenge in getting Mr. Potter to his epiphany.
Based on the first two parts of this exercise, write a reflection on how you’re like Clarence and how you’re like Mr. Potter.
Finally, again based on the earlier parts of this exercise, write a resolution: a single sentence note to yourself, like the one that Clarence wrote to George on the inside cover of Tom Sawyer, to carry with you long after this class is done.

(approximately 3 hours)

For the Facilitator

Post ONE of the Administrative Update 8 options 24-72 hours before your seventh live session, which will be dedicated to office hours for answering student questions about this update (i.e., the Work 2 assignment & instructions).

Select the Administrative Update 8 option that is most appropriate for your students.

Alternatively, you can also not post an Administrative Update 8 to the whole class, but copy and paste content from any of those options into individual emails so as to give differentiated assignments to each student.

In either case, please give students advance notice during the fifth live session that the next live session will be "office hours" for questions about their Work 2 Assignment and Instructions, and that Update 8 will therefore be posted early so they can review it in advance and come to that session prepared. Similarly, at the end of the seventh, "office hour" live session, remind students that they will have an eighth live session for Work 1 presentations.

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Update 8D: Work 2 assignment & instructions (option 4)

For the Student

Work 2 Prompt:

Group Project: One of the major ironies of this film is that, up until the moment when George states that he wished he’d never been born, he’s always sacrificing himself for others, but his resentment of making those sacrifices means that they are far from self-less acts: indeed, George is painfully self-focused.

So painfully, in fact, that he is driven to the point of suicide.

It is only in realizing his interconnectedness with and empathy for others that the people and things in George’s life are transformed from limiting responsibilities into limitless opportunities for joy.

As a group, come up with a few different ways your community can be more other- as
opposed to self-focused and how that would still benefit you as a community and as individuals.

Select one of those ideas to be implemented, then plan its implementation and see it into being (all group projects selected/assigned during Unit 5 should be considered to have approximately 50 hours to complete over the duration of the course).

For the Facilitator

Post ONE of the Administrative Update 8 options 24-72 hours before your seventh live session, which will be dedicated to office hours for answering student questions about this update (i.e., the Work 2 assignment & instructions).

Select the Administrative Update 8 option that is most appropriate for your students.

Alternatively, you can also not post an Administrative Update 8 to the whole class, but copy and paste content from any of those options into individual emails so as to give differentiated assignments to each student.

In either case, please give students advance notice during the fifth live session that the next live session will be "office hours" for questions about their Work 2 Assignment and Instructions, and that Update 8 will therefore be posted early so they can review it in advance and come to that session prepared. Similarly, at the end of the seventh, "office hour" live session, remind students that they will have an eighth live session for Work 1 presentations.

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Update 8E: Work 2 assignment & instructions (option 5)

The facilitator is always welcome to create their own final work assignment, or adopt their students’ ideas for a final work assignment, if they would better serve their particular communities' exploration and understanding of this lesson's essential existential question.

That stated, all the other general directions posted in the Administrative Update 8 options still apply:

Post ONE of the Administrative Update 8 options 24-72 hours before your seventh live session, which will be dedicated to office hours for answering student questions about this update (i.e., the Work 2 assignment & instructions).
Select the Administrative Update 8 option that is most appropriate for your students.
Alternatively, you can also not post an Administrative Update 8 to the whole class, but copy and paste content from any of those options into individual emails so as to give differentiated assignments to each student.
In either case, please give students advance notice during the sixth live session that the next live session will be "office hours" for questions about their Work 2 Assignment and Instructions, and that Update 8 will therefore be posted early so they can review it in advance and come to that session prepared. Similarly, at the end of the seventh, "office hour" live session, remind students that they will have an eighth live session for Work 1 presentations.

References

Academic Texts

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero of a Thousand Faces. (1949)

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2015). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Learning by design. Palgrave Macmillan.

Cope, W., Kalantzis, M., Francis, K., Tzirides, A., Mattingly, S. (2015). Advanced Instructional Techniques. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://cgscolar.com/bookstore/works/advanced-instructional-technologies?category_id=higher-education-modules&path=higher-education-modules%2F160

Cope, W., Kalantzis, M., Francis, K., Tzirides, A., Mattingly, S. (2018). Assessment for Learning. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/works/copy-of-assessment-for-learning-version-1?category_id=higher-education-modules&path=higher-education-modules%2F160

Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Embody definition & usage examples. Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/embody

Education at Illinois. (2014, March 3). From didactic pedagogy to new learning [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/YIWM7Ot9yD4.

Education at Illinois. (2014, March 3). What's the use of technology in learning? introducing Seven e-affordances [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/INC4s_kuC7g.

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Film noir. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/film-noir

English language arts standards "writing" grade 6-8. English Language Arts Standards "Writing" Grade 6-8 | Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2021, from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/WHST/6-8/.

English language arts standards "reading: Literature" grade 9-10. English Language Arts Standards " Reading: Literature " Grade 9-10 | Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2021, from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/9-10/.

English language arts standards "reading: Literature" grade 11-12. English Language Arts Standards " Reading: Literature " Grade 11-12 | Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2021, from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/11-12/.

Gee, J.P.. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Palgrave Macmillan.

Greydanus, Steven D. "Against Capra’s Critics." First Things. Institute on Religion and Public Life, October 1, 2013, available at https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/01/against-capras-critics, accessed August 23, 2016.

"It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)." The Film Spectrum, available at http://thefilmspectrum.com/?p=9240 , accessed August 23, 2016.

Kalantzis, M., Cope, B., Chan, E., & Dalley-Trim, L. (2019). Literacies. Cambridge University Press.

Lewis, Matt K. “7 Enduring Lessons from It’s a Wonderful Life." The Week. December 10, 2013, available at http://www.theweek.com/articles/454845/7-enduring-lessons-from-wonderful-life, accessed August 23, 2016.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Epiphany definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epiphany#:~:text=%3A%20a%20usually%20sudden%20manifestation%20or,illuminating%20discovery%2C%20realization%2C%20or%20disclosure

Monroe, J. (2020, December 2). Day schools. Newport Academy. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://www.newportacademy.com/programs/day-schools/.

Montessori, Maria. 1964 (1912). The Montessori Method. Schocken Books.

Mossa, M. (2010). Already there: Letting god find you. St. Anthony Messenger Press.

Mundane (adj.). Etymology. (n.d.). https://www.etymonline.com/word/mundane#:~:text=mid%2D15c.%2C%20mondeine%2C,%2C%20generous%22%20(12c.)c

Mundane - definition, meaning & synonyms. Vocabulary.com. (n.d.). https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/mundane#:~:text=Mundane%2C%20from%20the%20Latin%20word,referred%20to%20things%20on%20earth.

NPR. (2015, December 18). The hero’s journey. NPR. Retrieved October 8, 2016 from http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/458496650/the-heros-journey

PBS. (1988). Joseph Campbell and the power of myth. United States.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, October 20). Project-Based Learning. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project-based_learning.

Wilson, J. (2022, March 7). Know thyself: The use and efficacy of self-assessments for learning. CGScholar. Retrieved March 8, 2022,https://cgscholar.com/community/profiles/user-85289-52645/publications/244332

Images

Republic Pictures. It's a wonderful life. 1946.

Media

AFI’s 100 Years...100 heroes & villains. American Film Institute. (n.d.). https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-heroes-villians/

Capra, F. (Director). (1946). It's a wonderful life [Film].

Everyone says I love you: I’m through with Love (Woody Allen, 1996). YouTube. (2014, October 21). https://youtu.be/0g2PgZnUj7M?si=B-e8eByrCT3JbVcL

Howcast. (2010, August 25). How to set up a trust fall. YouTube. https://youtu.be/-cyw_Kvu0Zs?si=4if3Vic5Hu6CaHep

Marvel movies: Marvel cinematic universe (MCU): Marvel Studios films. Marvel.com. (n.d.). https://www.marvel.com/movies

Appendices

Appendix I: Statement of Purpose

Synopsis: to stimulate students’ personal reflection toward enhanced insight into and sympathy for the human condition, with a consequent ultimate aim of student “engagement” with the world.

Elucidation:

The purpose of any course is to educate.

The questions to therefore put to any course are, to educate (a) about what and (b) how?

For this course, the answers to each of these questions in turn are:

(a) Existentialism, which is:

the intentional confrontation (whether playfully or with deadly seriousness)...
of the potential purpose(s) or purposelessness of existence...
in order not to live in fear of that about which we cannot be certain (which includes the reality or continued existence of what each of us thinks of as “me”).

(b) Through (mostly) funny films (i.e., playfully).

Of course, these answers beg a third question: why?

In terms of existentialism, the answer to this question is simple: why not?

Contemporary philosopher, best-selling author and public atheist Alain de Botton – in an interview with Krista Tippett, herself the 2013 recipient of the National Humanities Medal at the White House for her “thoughtful delving into the mysteries of human existence” – has lamented that his personal experience has not enabled him to embrace any religious tradition. This philosopher freely confesses that as an atheist he does not oppose religion, but rather envies those who are religious, because he finds that secular education has strayed from what, according to him, religion has always rightly recognized as of primary importance. In explanation, Messr. de Botton states that most high schools and colleges – public and private – despite what they might say in their admissions literature, dedicate their time almost exclusively to teaching topics that any student with an adequate elementary foundation could and largely does learn on their own, the cost of which is that they then spend precious little time on or even outright ignore the truly difficult questions of identity, friendship, family, rites of passage, and the handling of personal tragedy – including the ultimate “tragedy” of death, whether that death be our own or that of someone we love. Messr. de Botton’s personal and professional lament is therefore that – as people have abandoned their traditional religious institutions – these subjects have also been left out of how our schools – those institutions that do remain – prepare the young. The philosopher laughs at the irony: we act as if marriage, death, raising children and similar subjects are either easy or unnecessary topics, while calculus and the like alone are what are truly difficult, demanded by life, and therefore deserving of dedicated instruction.

For educators and therapists working with young people in recovery, the fallacy of such an approach – its absolute inversion of what we know to be true – is painfully obvious.

Thus the answer to “why existentialism” is equally obvious, and just inverts the question:
knowing what we do, why wouldn’t we teach a course exploring existentialism?

Consequently, the only question that really remains is “why through (mostly) funny films”?

The easy responses are:

film because it resonates with more young people than reading; is short enough of an art form to explore several over the course of an academic year, each selected for how it resonates with a particular existential question or concept; and yet is also an art form with a long enough narrative structure and sufficient potential for character development to enable a rich conversation.
funny because it’s harder to capture flies with vinegar than honey.

There are other, equally potent reasons for exploring existentialism through (mostly) funny films; however, those reasons are best understood by explaining why this course doesn’t explore its existential questions by other, more traditional means.

For example, there is a rich history of fine children’s movies that respond to life’s questions and are enjoyed by all ages. However, despite much to commend them, these movies are not optimal for our purpose of working with individuals in adolescence and early adulthood. This is because these films, arguably by necessity, cut up their philosophical food into easily digestible moral lessons for younger audiences still in need of spoon feeding. The problem with using this approach for adolescents and early adults is that, as we grow older, we tend to only embody that with which we have had to wrestle in order to understand – in other words, we appreciate most the meal that we have had a hand in preparing, especially those whose ingredients we have hunted and harvested ourselves. Fortunately, existential questions are also essential questions, and as such they appear naturally and frequently in films never formally intended to explore such issues, the same way existential questions frequently intrude unbidden into our actual lives. Therefore, although not a perfect surrogate for real life experience, the process of discovering and exploring these questions through films in which all the answers aren’t laid out for us increases the likelihood that we will make their life lessons our own.

Conversely, young people in recovery are often found to have grown up knowing and loving every song and string of dialogue from the major Disney cartoons, or the ins and outs of all the hero-quests from Star Wars to Harry Potter and beyond, yet, despite this familiarity, deeper discussion and personal reflection reveals that they have either forgotten, taken for granted, or simply set aside the more profound meanings of these movies. Although they’ve savored their flickering images on the screen and swallowed their stories whole, it’s as if these films’ – often wonderful – life lessons have been made so palatable that these young people never even tasted them on the way down. Consequently, many teachers and students advocate for meatier fare, “true-to-life” dramas whose fictional or non-fictional characters and situations are serious enough to choke on. However, these film suggestions are also suboptimal. The problem with fictional yet “true-to-life” drama will be examined later in the context of prescribing contemporary literature for these students. The two-fold problem with prescribing non-fictional characters and events will be examined now.

First, for these students, even the finest of films can be alienating: young people in recovery are often literal minded and also frequently feel – however incorrectly – that they are unique in their problems. As such, they would ascribe to Tolstoy’s aphorism from the opening of Anna Karenina: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Thus the initial risk in using dramas based on real characters or events is that students will have a knee-jerk response of “that isn’t me.” Whether this response comes in the form of an active resistance or simply a passive failure to identify with the medium doesn’t matter; either scenario is sufficient to preclude the existential exploration we want to engage.

Second, although an instructor may counter that confronting these students with extraordinary real life situations and/or individuals is precisely the point, “the conquering hero” narrative that is most frequently championed in this context can prove more problematic than inspirational. To understand why, let us consider the case of the recently canonized Catholic saint and social activist Dorothy Day. Day recognized the ironic flaw in the "conquering hero as inspiration" narrative when she pleaded before her death that she never be canonized – that she never be made a saint – because then people would forget about all the bad things she had done, how human she really was, how much she was like each one of us. Day's concern was that when this happens people feel they are excused on account of this unrealistic portrait (and unattainable example) from trying to do their own radical good in the world. Of course, having passed away in 1980, Day may not have come to fully realize how much a post-Watergate America and a post-9/11 world would yield a further problem with holding up heroes to audiences who feel decidedly unheroic: here in the 21st century we love to tear our heroes down, re-casting even Superman as a possible villain, all human heroes naturally suspect, perhaps especially to young people for whom it is age appropriate to question authority.

Which by the process of elimination brings us to dramatic fiction. This we will discuss in the context of literature, for the critiques here apply equally well to film, and it is in literature classes – if anywhere – that schools most often seek to address existential questions. Alain de Botton’s accusations at the outset of this introduction notwithstanding, schools are aware of the crises common to many young people, and young people with a history of addictive behavior in particular. In this context, as well as the constraints of their classes and what many school districts conservatively interpret the First Amendment to allow in terms of "moralistic" texts, most literature teachers turn to reading the classics as a simultaneously implicit and automatic remedy. They are, after all, classics for a reason. Meanwhile, more therapeutically minded teachers may seek to replace such standard fare with more contemporary works populated by characters who struggle with issues similar to those of their readers. But however well-intentioned, both approaches are problematic.

First, although it should not be the case, the classics – even with the most universal of literature taught by the most ardent of instructors – often fall prey in the minds of young people, particularly those in recovery, to the literal-minded alienation already discussed above, as well as the distrust or outright denouncement of heroes. However, a caveat should be mentioned here: many students in recovery don’t fit that population’s stereotype of being academically behind or belligerent. Many students, particularly those from families at the top of the socio-economic ladder, begin their addictive behaviors in a maladaptive effort to excel, not escape, from the academic (and implied future professional) pressures society places upon them. Such students frequently are among the best of the best at dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s of the traditional curriculum; however, such success is misleading. These students embrace those i’s and t’s precisely for their ability to distract them from classic works’ greater, existentially challenging meanings. Thus we have uncovered a second problem with simply assigning the classics to engage students: conscientious grade-seekers in today’s over-scheduled academic environments are not rewarded for taking time out for thoughtful self-reflection; however, students are rewarded for the superficial pre-occupation with grades that is often commensurate with the unrelenting self-criticism and quest for perfection characteristic of being an individual in recovery (particularly for students with a history of eating disorders and other forms of self-harm). Thus, prescribing the “expected reading” in which everyone else in their class year is engaged can initiate a knee-jerk response from these students that (i) leave both them and their teachers self-satisfied because of the high grades achieved, and yet, ironically, (ii) only perpetuates the students’ more existential problems, because to achieve those grades these students feel both compelled to and rewarded for failing to engage with a classic text’s inherent therapeutic power.

In other words, the student is not only left unchanged by the reading, but feels validated for once again having avoided a process that might have led them toward change.

Doubly unfortunate, though, is that the literature typically assigned as an alternative to the classics fares no better.

Specifically, when more contemporary dramatic works populated by characters who struggle with issues similar to those of the reader are assigned – but that reader is still engaged in the studied avoidance of their emotional self, precluding empathy for others, reflection on their own thought processes, and the cultivation of a self-actualized life – instead of providing its intended illumination, such literature becomes voyeuristic fodder for those students’ alternately narcissistic and hypercritical gaze. Students and teachers may feel self-satisfied that – unlike the classics, which would have been mostly skipped or skimmed in favor of scouring their synopses and analyses online – in this case the assigned text will have been actually read and genuinely enjoyed. However, the nature of these students’ process for reading and enjoying these texts will have only – and once again ironically – perpetuated their existential problems.

Why?

First, the students will not have been challenged to become more engaged with the world beyond the disorder with which they have historically struggled.

Second, not having gained sufficient distance from that narrowly circumscribed world, neither will they have been enabled to become any more insightful about that disorder.

In other words, young people in recovery will tend to focus on how a book’s activities and events mirror their own present or relatively recent life as opposed to how the author’s insights and acquired wisdom may have come to contradict it.

Consequently, as with the classic texts, the student is not only left unchanged by the reading, but feels validated for once again having avoided a process that might have led them toward change.

Nor can we completely blame them; both the classic and contemporary literature assigned by high school English curricula are oddly crowded with tragedies centered around problematic parent-child relationships that are never or only negatively resolved: Death of a Salesman, The Bluest Eye, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Oedipus Rex, and Huckleberry Finn are only a few examples of those assigned from school districts around the country over the course of a single academic year to students at one treatment facility. For students in recovery these assignments can give an exaggerated sense of the frequency and degree of family dysfunction, lending a further (defeatist, acquiescent) sense of normalcy and intractability to their own situation.

Thus, what are we left with?

(Mostly) funny films.

These films are optimal for our purpose because comic irony is by design disarming and surreptitious, sneaking in on us between chuckles and against our better judgment to confront us with questions that we would rather not contemplate. By the time we do realize what we’ve allowed ourselves to be sucked into, it’s too late: we’re already bought in, identifying with the actors’ “every person” characters on the screen before us, almost no matter how surreal their situation, as in the example below.

Dr. Jules Hilbert: Hell Harold, you could just eat nothing but pancakes if you wanted.

Harold Crick: What is wrong with you? I don't want to eat nothing but pancakes, I want to live! I mean, who in their right mind in a choice between pancakes and living chooses pancakes?

Dr. Jules Hilbert: Harold, if you pause to think, you'd realize that that answer is inextricably contingent upon the type of life being led... and, of course, the quality of the pancakes.

-- From the film, Stranger than Fiction (Lesson 4)

IN CONCLUSION, here are a few less philosophical points about this course to keep in mind before launching into the lesson plans. These points may have been implied, but were not covered explicitly in the Design, Grading Rubric, and other introductory material:

This is not a class to teach existential philosophy, let alone the history of existential philosophy, but to get students – through the Socratic method – to philosophize about their own existence.
Neither is this a film class. There are arguably better films if one was studying either cinematic history or technique, but that is not the point. Unlike traditional high school and college literature or film classes, in this course the works of art are a means, not an end. The point is to get students to “commit philosophy”. Many films’ content could be relevant to this activity, but the movies herein were also chosen because they were: (a) generally popular/accessible, enabling students to focus on philosophizing, not struggling to understand a challenging movie; (b) not written to do the philosophizing for its audience (as, for example, a film like The Matrix); (c) at least ten years old at the time this curriculum was written (with one exception) in order to decrease the likelihood that students would have already seen or been familiar with a movie, and also to provide the author a greater opportunity to assess each film’s capacity to remain relevant and not distract students by being “dated”.
The lesson plans refer to a “facilitator” and not a “professor/teacher” for a reason. This course is less about professing or teaching than keeping students engaged with a constant barrage of questions. Whatever truth exists, it won’t matter to these students if they do not believe that truth to be their own, arrived at on their own accord. Furthermore, and of particular relevance to non-traditional high school and therapeutic settings in which this course may be offered, one need not be a formal “professor/teacher” to facilitate this course; therapists, care coordinators, and other suitable and suitably motivated staff well versed in the course content will prove equally appropriate.

Appendix II: Original Course Outline, Design Statement, and Grading Rubric

From the Curriculum/Syllabus "Laughing at Life: Exploring Existential Questions through (mostly) Funny Films"

Appendix III: Original Lesson Plan

It's a Wonderful Life Original Lesson Plan

Appendix IV: Full Curriculum Original Final Exam Options

The PDF below provides the original, full year "Laughing at Life" curriculum's 5 final exam options.

Please note that this course was originally designed for students of Newport Academy (see "Overview"), and the films selected, although meeting all the criteria stated in Appendix I, are consequently also reflective of the super-majority of that school's student population.

Thus, for many facilitators, assignment of exam option 3 and incorporation of those students' productions into subsequent iterations of this course may be optimal, as it would broaden the cultural relevance of its materials both for the students immediately given that assignment, as well as their later peers who would be the subsquent beneficiaries of their efforts.

Laughing at Life - Full Curriculum's Final Exam Options

Project: Learning Module

Project Overview

Laughing at Life: Exploring Existential Questions through (mostly) Funny Films

Unit 5: Does Wonder Create Beauty? | Lesson 1: What is a Wonderful Life?

Overview

Intended Learning Outcome

Update 1: Introducing our essential question

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 2: Before You Watch I

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 3: Before You Watch II

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 4: Watch "It's a Wonderful Life"

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 5: After You Watch - Is George Bailey a hero? Is his a wonderful life?

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 6: Work 1 Assignment - Reason to wonder: your hero's journey?

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 7: Office Hours & Revisiting Our Essential Question

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 8A: Work 2 assignment & instructions (option 1)

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 8B: Work 2 assignment & instructions (option 2)

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 8C: Work 2 assignment & instructions (option 3)

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 8D: Work 2 assignment & instructions (option 4)

For the Student

For the Facilitator

Update 8E: Work 2 assignment & instructions (option 5)

References

Appendices

Appendix I: Statement of Purpose

Appendix II: Original Course Outline, Design Statement, and Grading Rubric

Appendix III: Original Lesson Plan

Appendix IV: Full Curriculum Original Final Exam Options