Find Your Hero Within™
"The Heroes Club" Character Education Program
Available in 2011!
Find Your Hero Within is a National character education program from The Heroes Club. Kids across America learn about great men and women whose extraordinary accomplishments have changed our lives. Along the way, they also learn the lessons of how these Real American Heroes were able to do what they did. This brings each child a better understanding of how s/he can make positive choices in their own lives.
The Find Your Hero Within program includes structured, teaching processes in which kids create an Honoree Hero trading card and share them with others. Working together, a class, school, or organization makes a trading card set. Across all states, the cards create the first and only US National database of Real American Heroes.
Imagine a generation of kids who recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of our real heroes and who understand how their choices and actions have positive impacts on our lives. Imagine these same kids being able to discern the difference between fame and honor, between fictitious superhuman abilities and real human character traits, and between what others do and what is possible for them to do. Such are not simply dreams, but are the promise when we Find Our Heroes and learn how they teach us what is Within ourselves!
The Find Your Hero Within program is designed for students of all ages, with tools to support integration into elementary and middle school classrooms. The program is a US National initiative, with worldwide exposure. Each student contributes to a growing resource for others to explore how heroes acted with virtue and how positive results are still happening. Participants in the program create a tangible and rewarding “honoree hero” card, which present the heroic details. There are many possible extensions to this work, including extra-credit assignments and community service programs in which the students build upon the actions their hero started.
For more information, contact Brian Batson - brian@TheHeroesClub.org.
Sample Honoring Your Hero Lesson Plan
Subject Areas
Social studies / US History, Character Education
Grade Levels
Elementary / Middle school
Brief Description
Find Your Hero Within is an assignment for selecting and honoring a real American hero
Objective
Creation of an honoree hero trading card representing a real person, his/her accomplishment, and a virtue exemplified
Materials Required
Instructions and worksheets (available @ http://www.TheHeroesClub.org), biographical texts (50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet – recommended), computer with internet access (optional/preferred), sample Real American Hero and blank honoree trading cards (optional)
Activity Time
1-2 hours independent + 15 minutes per student, in-class presentation time
Concepts Taught
Biographical research and understanding, social issues & events, leadership, character education concepts of virtue and service to others
Procedure
The students will select a hero. They will research the life of their hero and will follow a research guide to help them find specific information needed. The students will focus on an action the hero took and the outcome / impact s/he had. Considering the hero’s life and situation, the students will select a virtue that is exemplified by the hero and will define that virtue in simple terms. The students will then write a short paragraph, which honors the hero. They will also consider their own lives and situations to ask others how they can use the same virtue (this is the call-to-action question). The individual elements of this work are used to create an Honoree Hero trading card. Students can share their trading cards with others, read them in class, and post online for others to see.
Assessment
The students’ work will reflect their understanding of the facts of a person’s life and the role that person had in an important (historical) event. The work will also demonstrate knowledge of a character trait. The teacher can evaluate the degree of each.
Follow-up Activities
Continued work and follow-up activities include: writing a more complete story, describing the "lessons learned" from this hero / virtue, choosing “unknown” heroes to honor, exploring how to apply the selected virtue, participating in a service program, and more.
For more information, contact Brian Batson - brian@TheHeroesClub.org.