Heroes and Their Characteristics, Past and Present

Engage

1. Bring in a picture of someone important to you. Perhaps someone you think of as a hero.

2. What traits do these people share that make them heroes? Share with your class why the hero is meaningful. What qualities or traits do they have that you like? Over the next few days you will be studying heroes from the past and present. These heroes will be real, everyday people who have contributed to society in some way.

Explore

1. You will choose a picture book from the library that contains a legendary hero. Read the book to yourself. At the end of the book, determine who the hero in the story was and what characteristics made that person a hero.

2. Complete a bubble map on the hero in your story. For an example, see the WORD or PDF version of this lesson.

3. You will be working with partners reading other books and completing similar maps about the heroes in those books. You may choose another type of graphic organizer to combine your ideas. Utilize this web site for help in locating an appropriate organizer. http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/

Explain

1. Now that you and your partner have spent some time researching different heroes and what makes them unique, work with your partner to choose a hero you would like to research further. Choose one from the books you have previously read.

2. You will be allowed time in the computer lab or with the laptop cart to research your hero. You may also check out additional books from the library to gather more proof that this person is indeed a hero.

3. As you are researching your hero, take the time to create a life size drawing of your hero by tracing someone. Connect your hero character traits on strips of colorful paper. Display your hero around the room or in the hallway.

4. You and your partner should use a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word to write an informative essay about the hero. Describe their life and the reasons that they are hero. Display this essay with your life-sized drawing.

Elaborate

1. You will now do individual work. Choose a person in your family or community that demonstrates traits of a hero.

2. You will research that person through interviews, Internet research, book research, newspaper research, etc.

3. Start your exploration by creating questions you have about your hero and then categorizing the questions into topics.

4. Ask you teacher for help in setting up interviews if the person you chose is not a family member. Use the NortelLearniT Career Bytes resources to help you with your interviews.
http://nortellearnit.org/resources/career_bytes/default_page#900d3316)0565)4206)aaa5_c1007c05a4ca

5. You will be creating a one page document about the person that will be published in a class digital book. Information that should be included on the page includes the person's background, occupation, explanation of why this person is a hero and a picture.

Use the resources below to help in the creation of your book.

http://www.nortellearnit.org/technology/Imaging/ http://www.nortellearnit.org/technology/PowerPoint_Presentations/

6. The final step in your project will be to create a digital book of your one page hero reports and share them with another social studies class to help another class understand what you have learned.

Evaluate

Students will be evaluated when working with their partners. The one-page essay and life size display will be graded. Also, your teacher will decide whether or not to present your personal hero to the class.

Extend

Consider these suggestions for extending the lesson.

Create awards for local heroes and present them to the heroes at a class ceremony.

Vote on a local hero and publish an article about them in the school newspaper or local newspaper.

Conduct a survey and graph what characteristics people feel are most important for heroes to obtain.

Write an autobiography about your hero.

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