Hero Motiff Teacher Resources

Is Luke Skywalker the archetype of a literary hero? Follow the path of the Hero's Journey with an engaging activity that details the plot structure, applies it to Star Wars: A New Hope, and invites class members to choose their own...

Learners explore social justice, the civil rights movement, and everyday heroes. They view video clips, learn about James Armstrong: The Barber of Birmingham, and create their own hero wall. They present their walls to the class and...

The narrator of Invisible Man is on a quest, a quest to find out who he is and what his place is in a deeply divided American society. An episode from the American Masters series asks readers to consider Ralph Ellison's acclaimed novel...

An exciting twist on the study of the classical hero and the heroic quest! Using film to explore modern-day tales of heroes, the resource contains complete, ready-to-use lesson plans for as many as twelve days of instruction. Throughout...

Viewers will love this engaging video, which is an adventure of its own! The narrator begins by relating the hero's journey to modern books, and then introduces Joseph Campbell and his thoughts about the process. As the narrator details...

To gain an understanding of the treatment of African American soldiers during World War I, class members watch an excerpt from the History Detectives film, Our Colored Heroes, and then examine three recruitment posters from that time...

Check out this simple, ready-to-use worksheet that your young historians can complete as they watch the motion picture Glory. It begins with a very brief list of characters to track, followed by seven short-answer questions to be...

Learners 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...

Gorgeous cinematography is the result of painstaking, detail-oriented work by many different departments of a film production. An informative video shines a light on the grip and electric departments, the ways they use filters, gels, and...

A playlist on film analysis and criticism continues with an analysis of James Cameron's 1986 sci-fi action classic Aliens, as well as why it is deserving of a place on a list of great films.

Students participate in a collaboration activity. In this My Hero Project lesson, students discover what a hero is to someone halfway around the world and themselves. Over the 16-week session, circles, made up of between 6-9 classes from...

Students define the characteristics of a hero by creating their own fictional superhero.  In this film making lesson, students write the background of a superhero character and storyboard scenes from a movie they would like to make....

High schoolers determine whether the ends truly justify the means by examining the behavior of historical and fictional heroes. They view and discuss film versions of Gangs of New York and Les Miserables. Then they break into small...

Students explore U.S. history by viewing a Civil Rights video. In this Harriet Tubman lesson, students identify the era in which Tubman fought for equality and list her important achievements after viewing a biographical film. Students...

Students research that a narrative film tells a story using camera movement, sound, lighting, editing and other film making techniques. The audience must be taken into consideration when making a film. They explore what makes their hero...

The biggest blockbuster of the year, the funniest romantic comedy, and the most emotional independent film all started in the same way: on the page. Young filmmakers learn about the role of the screenplay, as well as important parts of...

"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...

Students design and create an experimental film to express a theme or concept regarding heroism. They establish shots of locations, write dialogue, create montages and subjective footage.

First graders explore digital communication by creating a slide-show presentation. In this PowerPoint presentation lesson, 1st graders research a famous hero using search engines and other Internet tools. Students create a PowerPoint...

You'll be a star at your next grade level meeting with an educational unit on Louis Sachar's Holes. Based on both the novel and film, the lessons include applications to language arts with character studies and movie reviews; social...

Class members have an opportunity to compare how a film and a play handle the same source material by viewing the opening chapters of George Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope and acts I and II of Ian Doescher's play, William Shakespeare's...

The 1960s were a turbulent time, but the charismatic figure of Marshal P. Johnson is often left out of the provocative stories of the era. With primary sources that talk about Johnson and her role in the Stonewall Riots, scholars unpack...

Ideal for a college-level children's literature class or in a story-writing unit, this presentation defines not only the archetypal characters in literature but provides ample examples from fairy tales to modern films. The slideshow...

Director George Pal’s film The Time Machine, based on H. G. Wells’ 1895 science fiction novella and starring Rod Taylor, Alan Young, and Yvette Mimieux, is the focus of a lesson plan that considers the consequences of time travel....