Posted by admin on February 24, 2010 under Resources, Teaching With Heroes | 
What is a Heroes Fair?
“Most educators have attended, organized, or participated in a science fair at some point in their lives so for a “big picture” overview of a heroes fair, think about a science fair; however, instead of student displays of the procedures and results of a scientific investigation, substitute pictures and information about the life and work of a person who made (or who is making) a positive difference in the world. A heroes fair is often the culminating activity of a heroes unit or is the end product of lessons on using media center resources to research a topic. Either way, students research a hero and create a display of materials that help communicate what they learned. These projects are then shared with an audience usually made up of students from other grades, classmates, and/or parents.”
For more information, visit: http://www.heroes4us.com/heroesfairtips.pdf
Posted by admin on December 8, 2009 under Teaching With Heroes |
Perhaps the school experience for some is supposed to be about facts and figures, nouns and numbers, you know – the things we can easily measure. Certainly we need to know these things. But perhaps, in this age of information and computer networks, we have come to a point when we need to know how to obtain the information that we don’t know. Passing knowledge by teaching information isn’t quite as necessary today as it was before. Well this isn’t a new concept and isn’t really the result of the “information age.” It has been expressed long before in great teaching traditions: “It’s not what you know, but how you learn that matters.” (I’m thinking now about the “…, but who you know..” version of that statement – and how I might introduce why teach with heroes?. But that is a different topic).
So back to “how you learn.” What we need are the tools to find out for ourselves the answers to questions we don’t know. For example, someday you may be looking for a reference about the author of a book. Most likely, you’ll discover that the way you go looking is the way you learned in school, or another time in the past. If it worked once, try it again. Most likely, if the information is out there, you’ll find it. That is, if you learned how to find information before.
Simply said, we learn by experience. And, here’s the answer – Why teach with virtues? – it gives us the experience that we need. We do more than just learn about something, we experience the learning. Okay, there’s a leap forward here, I admit. So let’s explore that. The leap is that virtues are an important part of the experience. Maybe if you are a computer, a worldwide web software service, or ink on paper, that may not be true. Language defines all you would need, in that case. But we are more. We make our choices, like how we search for a fact, based on our feelings too. Saying we use the method that worked before is only partially true. We also choose the method that felt how we wanted it to feel. We choose the method that had a positive experience.
Virtues are positive character traits that we are all capable of experiencing. They are part of the human experience. They apply to everything we do, and how we do it. I said earlier that teaching in schools might be about nouns and numbers, but learning is all about who we are. If we teach our kids that who they are is not only measured by what they know but how they learn and apply it, then the lessons they learn will repeat for them the rest of their lives. If kids learn virtues this way, their actions in the future will be reinforced with the same virtues. Eventually, the kids who learn virtues through their own experiences, will be the adults who are fulfilled repeating them.
A big leap? A supposition? Perhaps – and what a fantastic possible outcome it offers.
Posted by admin on November 9, 2009 under Teaching With Heroes, Trading Card |
(This following article was published by American Federation of Teachers on their web site in 2007: http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/winter07_08/notebook.htm)
If you’re an elementary school teacher looking to liven up your lessons on American history, join the club—The Heroes Club. Created by businessman Brian Batson and educator Dennis Denenberg, The Heroes Club is a set of 25 trading cards that depicts 25 American heroes and the virtues they represent.
For instance, Benjamin Franklin’s card explains that he represents the virtue of service and notes that he started many important services that we still use today: the public library, the postal system, and the police department. Clara Barton’s card describes her as “a real-life action figure,” who cared for wounded soldiers in the Civil War and started the American Red Cross, and, therefore, represents compassion.
Cesar Chavez’s card, which also mentions Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers, associates him with perseverance for having championed migrant workers’ rights. “Migrant workers harvest many of the fruits and vegetables we eat,” the card reads. “In the 1960s migrant workers were paid $1 a day. They worked many hours (often in fields sprayed with poisons) and lived in shacks without electricity or running water. Cesar and Dolores made people aware of the terrible living and working conditions. They held meetings all over the country and told true stories of the migrants’ poverty. Their perseverance in this struggle helped to improve the lives of migrant workers.”
The cards serve as a fun—yet educational—way for teachers to take a break from history textbooks and use a relatively inexpensive supplement. A set of 25 cards costs $9.95.
A list of the heroes, their virtues, and pictures of the trading cards appear on The Heroes Club Web site, www.theheroesclub.org. Worksheets and lesson plans, both of which prompt students to think about the challenges a particular hero faced and why our lives are better today because of that person, are also posted there.
Posted by admin on November 6, 2009 under Challenges, Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan Challenge, Teaching With Heroes |
Hero Hunt
A very famous inventor was a good friend of Helen’s parents. This man recommended Anne Sullivan as the teacher who could help young Helen. All his life he hoped his inventions would benefit people with hearing problems.
Who is he?
(We have our first correct answer! Congratulations to K.A from Maryland. – Everyone else – keep trying… The first 10 correct answers will receive a free gift from The Heroes Club. The answer will not be posted – so keep looking!)
Posted by admin on November 5, 2009 under Resources, Susan B. Anthony Resources, Teaching With Heroes |
Hey Teachers,
Looking for a lesson plan to teach about Susan B. Anthony and women’s rights?
Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan: Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment is one you might want to review. It is located on-line at: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/woman-suffrage/activities.html
This lesson plan includes a script called “Failure is Impossible” (if you are not familiar, that is a famous statement made by Susan B. Anthony). The script calls for a narrator and 3 characters. You can find the script itself at: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/woman-suffrage/script.html
