Fall Saturday SAVY, Week 2, Superhero Psychology: How Heroes and Villains Think and Feel (3rd-4th)
Hello there Avengers, Titans, and Justice Leaguers,
We were so excited to see everyone’s happy faces this week. This week we welcomed Mr. Zach (different from Dr. Zach) as our classroom manager and dived back into the world of Superhero Psychology!
We started class with a reminder of what psychology is and finished our comic stories from last week. The students did a wonderful job capturing the ideas of what makes up a comic book story (characters, a problem, and a solution) and did a great job in presenting their stories in front of the entire class! For those students who left early last week, we had the opportunity to play Jeopardy again.
After this fun start, we explored the world of Jungian psychology and the psychological concept of archetypes. Students took notes on the different archetypes and thought about what characters in comic books (among other fictional media) applied to the different goals, values, and weaknesses of each archetype.
We then explored an activity where students discussed their feelings on the inside and on the outside and how those interact. To make this idea more fun, we thought of it as exploring how superheroes present themselves in front of and behind their masks. Students enjoyed getting to draw their own masks, as well as exploring how different emotions manifest in their superhero’s behaviors.
After lunch, we talked about how superpowers can represent our internal desires and dreams. We played a fun game where students shared the internal desire they linked with a specific superpower and had to see if the other students could guess what superpower they were thinking about. We also talked about Freud’s concepts of the id, ego, and superego and discussed how they connected with superheroes and supervillains.
To end the day, we brought back the Jungian archetypes to create a superhero team. Students were grouped together and decided on 5 archetypes that would be the best team. They then came up with a super team name and drew their team. Last, they presented their team to the whole class and explained why they chose the characters and archetypes.
I am looking forward to finishing the course strong with the students next week and can’t wait to show everyone how they have truly become Superhero Psychologists!