Hero+Week+1


 * Return to Hero Project Page**

** Step 1: What is a Hero? **
 * 1) Brainstorming:**
 * Participate in a class activity to develop an understanding of what it takes to be a hero.
 * Watch the video: __Ordinary People, Doing Extraordinary Things__. Table talk...are these people heroes?
 * In your journal, finish this sentence: "A hero is someone who..."
 * Make a list of people you consider as heroes and explain why you think they are heroes.
 * Share your ideas with your classmates, then develop a classroom definition using the ideas you have in common.


 * 2) Broadening Our Perspectives of a Hero:**


 * Can a student like you really be a hero? Watch the two (2) of the four (4) video links then add your thoughts to the discussion tab above.
 * Link #1: President Obama's interview as he discusses everyday heroism.
 * Link #2: T.A. Barron's FOX TV interview with a Barron Prize winner for heroism. (You Tube video widget below)

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 * Link #3 Watch the Starfish Tale (You Tube Widget below)

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 * Link #4 Watch the movie trailer about what it takes to be a hero (widget below)


 * 3) What Does it Really Take to be a Hero?**
 * Read Chapter 1 of T. A. Barron's __A Hero's Trail__:
 * Identify the author's definition of a hero.
 * Compare and contrast his definition and make revisions to our class definition.
 * 4) Connecting Heroes to Independent Reading:**
 * Visit your local library and check out a biography about a person of interest to you.
 * Read the book on your own time and complete it by January 23.
 * While reading take notes about the background, life experiences, and positive qualities of the person in the book.
 * Consider the life experiences (actions, accomplishments, adversities) that make your person a hero, or not.
 * Use the Independent Biography Notes to keep track.
 * Be prepared to use your notes to create an essay discussing whether or not your person meets our class definition of a hero.
 * 5) Reading about Types of Heroes:**
 * With your class read chapters 2-7.
 * Use the template for Reading the Hero's Trail to help you take notes about different types of heroes.
 * Reading the Hero's Trail Reading Notes template

**6) A Well-Known Hero**: Watch the MLK Video and participate in a discussion identifying his qualities, hero type, and examples for each.



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 * 7) Bringing Creative Ideas Together:**
 * Choose an activity to creatively examine our class hero concept.

**Move along the trail taking...** ** Step 2 of the hero's trail. **