Projects Focusing on Historical Heroes
Creating an Assignment that Provides Students with Role Models
Mar 20, 2009
All students in every grade level need heroes and heroines that will inspire them and challenge their own efforts. Most student “role models” come from sports and entertainment, yet too often these examples have proverbial “clay feet” whose indiscretions – if nothing else, demonstrate their own human weaknesses that all too often accompany fame and fortune. At the same time, the actions of contemporary “heroes” can be counter-productive: If Michael Phelps can smoke pot, why can’t I?
Part of any creative classroom project should include a focus on historical heroes and heroines, people whose actions served to better society, often at great personal cost and sacrifice. This is a project that can be facilitated at any grade level. What distinguishes the grade level is the intensity of research, the scope of the presentation, and the level of analysis.
Creating the Project: the Lesson Plan
Begin the project by announcing the date and criteria of the project. Student responses can include any of the following requirements and expectations:
- A written report on the person assigned or chosen
- A class presentation that includes one or more visuals
- A dramatic interpretation illustrating the subject
- A video creation illustrating one or more key elements of the subject
Students can be given “focus” questions to answer in the course of their research that can be addressed in their responses:
- How did the subject ultimately better society?
- What obstacles confronted the subject?
- How were these obstacles overcome?
- Did the subject encounter any personal doubts or fears?
- Were the goals and objectives of the subject achieved?
- What lessons can be learned from the efforts of the subject?
- Are there any contemporary issues that parallel those the subject confronted?
The project must become a personal activity in which the students bond in some intellectual way with the chosen subject. The ultimate question then becomes, “what makes this person a hero, and how can I relate to that?”
Possible Subjects from Recent History
Although students at any grade level have difficulty relating to men and women in the twentieth century, it is best to confine a list of possible subjects to the most recent decades, although broader chronologies may be desirable at the high school level in conjunction with history and English classes. Some possible recent subjects include:
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Jeanette Rankin
- Raoul Wallenberg
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- The Dalai Lama
- Mother Teresa
- Rosa Parks
- Mohandas Gandhi
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- Sandra Day O’Conner
- Cesar Chavez
- Billy Graham
- Dorothy Day
- Betty Friedan
- Margaret Sanger
Good research can yield many other names taken from history, music, entertainment, and the literary field. Subjects should be tied to some aspect of social justice.
Desired Outcomes of a Heroes Project
Students should be given opportunities to focus on men and women that devoted their lives to higher causes, often suffering through the process. While nobody enjoys suffering, students may note that most every positive goal could include a price, often paid personally. But the overall end justifies the costs. Key words to highlight the project should include personal integrity, determination, and the courage to stand up to injustice.
At a time educational concerns address notions like “ethics education,” a heroes project can play a small part in defining what personal ethics are and how they can operate positively in a complex and changing society.
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