Thursday, August 23, 2012

Heroes Among Us!


Today at school we celebrated BookWeek.  This years theme was champions read.  In class we are investigating everything that is encompassed by the term heroes.  Students have taken a particular interest in superheroes and the heroic motif and how the 'Archetypal Hero' compares to the reality of being a hero in real life.

One of the students' many ideas was their desire to become heroes in their local community.  Students quickly supported the notion of 'help to others.'  My students have decided that they want to show that they can challenge the idea of what a hero is by helping out other children in their local community.

Part of these investigations have lead us to research how the stereotypical superhero encompasses values and behaviours we respect and admire and would like to see in ourselves as we aim to help others. Each group chose a superhero in class that they believed encompassed a value that was integral to helping others.  Our ultimate supergroup is listed below.

GREEN LANTERN encompasses 'WILLPOWER.'
NIGHTWING encompasses 'JUSTICE.'
FLASH encompasses 'DRIVE.'
HAWKGIRL  encompasses 'EQUALITY.'
WONDER WOMAN encompasses 'PASSION.'
HAWKEYE  encompasses the 'ACCURACY.'

The class combined their thoughts and believe they have come up with the ultimate group of heroes.  They believe the values of the heroes they chose will help them to develop a campaign to help disadvantaged children in our local community.  Students are adamant that their efforts should help children and that all the recognition they need is the change that they will produce and the help they will give to others.

To assist them in 'becoming a hero"  the children wanted to make capes.  Every hero needs a cape right?  The students sprung into action and began brainstorming designs.  They measured each other and compared the data they collected to create the perfect cape pattern.  It was decided that the easiest way to make 32 capes would be to take on a 'one size fits all' approach.

After the material for the capes was bought, the pattern was traced, capes cut out and finally assembled in the classroom.  However, the drive of the students didn't stop there.  We are also exploring the features of narratives and multi modal texts.  Eventually, students will develop and create their own narrative.  Students have challenged each other to create a narrative about a hero.  As the unit of work has been developed by the students, they decided it would be great if their characters also wore a cape.

Students sprung into action and decided that their capes would be double sided.  One side would have the symbols of the superhero they chose to represent their groups in class and the other side would have  a symbol that related to their narrative character.  Better still, the students decided that they would dress up as the characters they have created for book week.

 The Green Lantern Corps chose GREEN LANTERN as their representative.  They believed that "Where there's a WILL, there's a Way!"

 The Blue Shadows chose NIGHTWING as their representative.  They believe that "the only fight is the fight for JUSTICE for all!"

 The Wonder Warriors chose WONDER WOMAN as their representative.  They believe that "everyone deserves EQUALITY!"

The FLASH CADETS chose FLASH as their representative.  The believe that "without DRIVE their is NO DIRECTION."

 The HAWKEYE HUNTERS chose HAWKEYE as their representative.  They believe that "ACCURACY provides clarity."

The HAWKGIRL HEROINES chose HAWKGIRL as their representative.  They believe that "Passion directs planning."

Together the class believe they encompass the values of heroes.  The believe that connect communites bring change.

I'm sure my students will have more to share soon.  They pleaded with me to post their cape photos for the world to see.  What do you think?  What are you opinions on our group representatives.  What hero would you have chosen?

2 Responses so far.

  1. Anonymous says:

    These capes look awesome. I'm interested to know how you are going to help other people? How are you going to decide what 'help' they need? What if you come across someone who doesn't want your help? What would your superheroes do then?

    I love the idea that everyone can be a hero by simply living their life through a set of values. This is a great way to teach little kids that they can feel like a hero by showing others compassion and justice etc.

    I can't wait to hear more about this adventure.

    Sam

  2. Lachlan says:

    Hi Sam,

    This is 5/6, thank you for your compliments on our capes. They are greatly appreciated.

    Your questions are ones that we have been trying to answer in class. In terms of helping others, our main focus is to help other children. We would like to be seen as children helping other children. However we keep in mind that similar to Australia’s first saint ‘Saint Mary of the Cross,’ we never see a need without doing something about it.
    We have also realised that one of the most important things we can do is notice someone. We realise we don’t need super strength or super powers to notice someone and give them recognition and time of day.

    We have done some research on the needs of children primarily in our local community. Our school is positioned near one of our cities major children’s hospital. We would like to build communication with the hospital and spend some time with the children. We have begun to make capes to donate to the children’s foundation in the hope that we can do something positive for children who are suffering with their health.

    We are continuing to develop our role as heroes in the local community. We hope as time goes on we can expand our campaign. We understand that people may not want our help. However, we feel we need to at least offer people the option of receiving our help because sometimes an ear to listen is all someone needs.

    We hope this answers your questions and gives you more insight into how we are developing our identities as heroes in our local community.

    Please feel free to ask more questions.
    5/6 :)

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