What
makes a
hero?
2nd Grade
Social Studies
Daniel Solís and Caroline Kanner
01 02
Introduction Lessons
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
03
Assessment
Social Studies
Standard
2.5 Students understand the importance of
individual action and character and explain how
heroes from long ago and the recent past have
made a difference in others’ lives (e.g., from
biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Louis Pasteur,
Sitting Bull, George Washington Carver, Marie
Curie, Albert Einstein, Golda Meir, Jackie
Robinson, Sally Ride).
ELA Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse
partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and
adults in small and larger groups.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.3
Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated
event or short sequence of events, include details to
describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal
words to signal event order, and provide a sense of
closure.
Inquiry Question
What makes a person (or a
group of people) heroic?
Lesson 1
Who from US history has
society traditionally
considered heroes?
Why are they considered
heroes?
Are they really heroes?
Lesson 1 -
Unpacking Conventional American Heroes
Objective: Students will analyze traditionally
celebrated American “heroes,” and decide
whether they should be exalted as such by
comparing descriptions of heroes to primary
source documents representing their actual
thoughts and actions.
Materials: Projector; Chromebooks (link to
webpage); primary sources (photo, quote,
etc.); graphic organizer (Three columns: What
is true? What is missing? Hero—why or why
not?)
Lesson 1 -
Unpacking Conventional American Heroes
Activities:
● Circle: What does “heroic” mean to you? Who are your
heroes?
● Introduce DOI Hero site—scroll together on projector.
What do you notice about the majority of these people?
(White, adults, men, from long ago…)
● Each S chooses one person from the site:
○ Sead the DOI page about them and a primary
source—fill out graphic organizer.
● Share findings in small groups
Lesson 2
Who is typically represented
as a hero in popular media?
What character/physical
traits do typical heroes have
in common?
Why is representation
important?
Lesson 2 -
Media representation of heroes
Objective: Students will survey a variety of
films and identify typical representations of
heroes and villains. Students will discuss:
does representation matter? If so, why?
Materials: Projector, computer,
films/clips/movie art, anchor chart or graphic
organizer to jot down physical and character
traits.
Lesson 2 -
Media representation of heroes
Activities:
● Anchor: Who are some superheroes you know of?
● Introduce DC/Marvel Movies site—scroll together on
projector. What do you notice about the majority of these
heroes?
● Character trait & physical trait word cloud
○ Students work in small groups to generate a list of both
character/physical traits found in media representations
of heroes.
○ Add traits to word cloud (projected)
● Discuss word clouds as a class
Lesson 3
What makes someone
heroic?
Who gets to decide who a
hero is?
Lesson 3 - Heroes “of the people”!
Objective: Students will come to understand
that heroes are defined/identified differently
by different groups of people, and study at
least one hero “of the people” in depth.
Materials: Chromebook (link to page);
primary/secondary sources for each of the 5
heroes; Graphic organizers.
Lesson 3 - Heroes “of the people”!
Activities:
● Jigsaw reading activity. Five groups will form, each studying a
primary source and a secondary source about one of the
following heroes of the people: Malcolm X, Grace Lee Boggs,
Dolores Huerta, Rachel Carson, and Dennis Banks.
● Once finished completing a graphic organizer, students will
return to their original groups and present about the figures
they’ve learned about.
● Full-class discussion: What do all of THESE figures have in
common? What sets today’s heroes apart from those we’ve
previously learned about? Who gets to decide who a hero is?
?
Lesson 4
(Assessment)
What is a hero to
you?
Lesson 4 (and Assessment) - My hero
Objective: Students will create a comic strip
depicting a hero of their own making.
Students will use key vocabulary discussed in
previous lessons, write short narratives that
include dialogue, and illustrations.
Materials: Blank comic strip templates,
crayons, pens, pencils, completed anchor
charts, document camera & projector (to
project comic strips during celebration)
Anchor chart by Eric Hand
Lesson 4 - My hero
Assessment:
● Students will create a comic strip depicting their own hero
using heroic traits and showing what a hero does.
● Previous lessons’ anchor charts with key vocabulary will be
made available for students to use.
● Creator’s Celebration: we will celebrate each student’s heroic
creation. Students will share who is a hero to them and what
they do that makes them heroic.
The End!
