Living the Hero's Quest: Character Building through Action Research

(Paperback)

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Description

The author has developed a manual for the easy implementation of the character education program she created. As an added bonus, the book includes an explanation of the action research completed with the original implementation of this program. It includes the necessary lesson plans, eight original hero tales, annotated bibliographies of other applicable tales, assessment pieces, reproducible forms and instructions for implementing the program and the action research piece. It also includes a sampling of the results of her research to date, original student reflections, texts of interviews and analysis. A foreword by well-known young adult fantasy author T. A. Barron, author of the popular Merlin series, is featured.

Reviews

Marketed as a manual for teachers, this book provides lesson plans and practical tips on how to incorporate hero tales in character education programs. * Children's Literature Association Quarterly *
This is a tremendous resource for teachers or media specialists who wish to inspire youngsters. Humphrey helps students recognize character traits that could cause someone to be called hero and to understand that different types of hero exist.Most impressive is the emphasis on children taking what they have learned about heroic character traits and acting on them; it is about teaching heroic-epics in such a way that children will recognize the positive traits when they encounter them in real-life situations. This guide is truly original and completely functional. It includes lesson plans, reproducibles, handouts, and instruction and study questions. * School Library Journal *
Mary Humphrey has written a very informative and useful book for educators concerning the use of fairy tale heroes as essential role models for demonstrating positive character traits.Living the Hero's Quest: Character Building Through Action Research is well written. Explanations are tightly constructed enabling the educator to carry out the lessons easily, and the format is varied and easy to follow. Material is also presented in such a way that readily allows educators to add, subtract, or generally embellish with their own ideas. * Mythic Imagination *
Highly recommended for elementary and middle school teachers and teacher-librarians who want to teach character education. * Teacher Librarian *

Author Bio

Mary Humphrey has more than 17 years experience as a teacher and school librarian, and brings a wealth of knowledge to character education and children's literature from both classroom and conference experiences. Realizing that the critical lessons students grasp are learned from the stories they hear and read, Ms. Humphrey has developed a character education program based on the heroes of folk and fairy tales. Most recently, she received the Louise Bechtel Fellowship from the American Library Association, an award specifically granted for the pursuit of the effects of the folk literature on character values (2004). She has also received the We the People Bookshelf Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities for both 2004 and 2005. Additionally, she has been a presenter for the NYSCATE, New York Librarian conferences and storytelling conferences. She has written for School Library Media Activities Monthly.