Curated OER
Comic Book Characters
Explore gender stereotypes by analyzing how male and female characters are depicted in comic books. Using the provided Comic Book Analysis sheet, young scholars record the attributes of male and female comic book characters. Then the...
Curated OER
Creating a Heroic Character
Students answer a series of defining questions that lead them to develop a fully realized heroic character. They create a variety of multimedia representations of their hero, including video interviews, HyperStudio stacks, web pages, and...
ReadWriteThink
Heroes Are Made of This: Studying the Character of Heroes
What makes heroes and villains? A six-part unit plan asks young scholars to explore the concept of heroism and the characteristics they consider heroic and unheroic. Groups create character maps that focus on how characters are shaped by...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
I Need a Superhero
Once the class learns about the hero's journey, they'll find it in every story and movie they see! Take characters from their humble beginnings to their atonement and apotheosis with a set of lessons about the hero's journey focusing...
Curated OER
The Eight Hero Archetypes
The Chief, the Bad Boy, the Best Friend, the Charmer, the Lost Soul, the Professor, the Swashbuckler, the Warrior. After examining the criteria for each of these archetypes, viewers are ask to generate a list of their own examples of...
Curated OER
Imaginative Power - Exploring Superheroes
Third graders identify super human powers and their uses found in comic and cartoon characters, identify use of visual elements such as line, shape, and color, and create drawings of an original super character with at least two extra...
Curated OER
Heroes
Middle schoolers explore heroic characters. In this philanthropy lesson, students discuss the characteristics of a super hero and then define vocabulary associated with philanthropy such as civic virtue and altruism. Middle schoolers...
Curated OER
Comparative Mythology and the Common Core
Use comparative mythology to make myths relevant for readers and help prepare them for rigorous Common Core texts.
Curated OER
Matthew Henson: Heroic Explore Who Conquered Racism
Young scholars explore the concept of racism. In this character building lesson plan, students read a biography about a hero Matthew Henson. Young scholars discover the challenges he, and others, faced during a time of unfairness.
Curated OER
Analyzing Folklore: Redwall
Brian Jacques’ novel Redwall provides the focus for a series of lessons involving the analysis of folklore. Adopting the persona of a character, groups write letters in the voice of their character, assemble a collage using Microsoft...
Curated OER
Famous African Americans,
Studying African American history? Explore and discuss famous African Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman, and more. Simple bulleted facts detail the heroic deeds of these individuals. Use...
Curated OER
What is a Hero? Heroism in Greek Mythology
Students explore the tales of Greek mythology and discuss what it means to be a hero. They associate acts of epic heroism with philanthropy noting that these characters acted in a larger than life manner to secure the common good.
Curated OER
Heroic Images: Visualization and Media Messages
Young scholars examine media messages. In this media awareness lesson, students analyze online messages about heroism as they complete a jigsaw reading activity.
Curated OER
Epic Poetry: Literary Terms for Story Analysis
What do Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and The Odyssey have in common? Why, they are all epics, of course, and are presented here as examples of the literary term. If you are beginning a study of epics, consider previewing the terms included...
Curated OER
Heroes and Legends
Students use print and nonprint sources of different heroic myths to generate a definition of the word "hero." They conduct a character study on three mythological heroes and formulate a definition of the word "hero" based on...
Curated OER
We're Building Heroes
Students discuss their ideas of the qualities a hero possesses. In this attributes of a hero lesson plan, students construct a hero puzzle and identify qualities of a hero in storybook characters.
Curated OER
Lord of the Rings: The Quest is Achieved
Young scholars analyze what makes a hero in The Lord of the Rings, Book Six. They discuss the characters and the aspects of their behaviors that make them heroes and write essays regarding the climax and heroic gestures of a character....
Orange County Department of Education
The Hero: Writing and Responding
Pupils identify heroic character traits that they admire and that inspire trust and result in service to others. They identify the heroic traits of a character of their choosing and defend their reasoning using evidence from the text and...
Curated OER
Comparing Monkey Story with Curious George Stories
Students compare and contrast the main character in Monkey with the main character in Curious George.
Curated OER
What Makes a Hero?
Young scholars identify the characteristics of a hero. In this character development and writing lesson, students listen to music with a hero theme and discuss the common traits of heroes. Young scholars explore individuals and...
Curated OER
Author/Illustrator Heroes
Students recognize heroic authors and illustrators and create their own comic strips. In this language arts lesson, students examine characteristics of heroes and work in groups to create their own comic strips and hero books.
Curated OER
Personal Odysseys and Everyday Heroes
Ninth graders study Greek Mythology, focusing on Gods and Goddesses. They compare the modern day hero with the classical hero and examine how individual characters are based on their own personal odysseys.
Curated OER
Tell Me a Whopper!
Sixth graders investigate tall tales as a literary genre. They listen to a number of tall tales to discover how exaggeration is used as a story element. They write and publish a tall tale using word processing software. They illustrate...
Discovery Education
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
After reading Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, class members view the 1975 film version and then craft a critical review in which they compare the two versions and evaluate the success or failure of Milos Foreman's...