Thresholds and Ordeals: (Re)storying the Teacher’s Journey

This article explores the ways in which the language of the hero’s journey can serve as a heuristic for teachers at all stages of their professional experience. Teachers in Canada and the United States were interviewed via Skype about their experiences around writing and literacy. Four teachers are profiled here, two from Canada and two from the United States. Through narrative analysis, the author suggests that using the specific language of the hero’s journey, but not necessarily its linear structure, can help articulate commonalities and divergences in teacher narratives.