Hero Narrative Writing Unit: Teacher’s Guide
Hero Narrative Writing Unit: Teacher’s GuideBy Sasha Domnitz, 5th grade teacherHunter College Elementary SchoolNew York, New York.Background: The Hero Project was a two-part fine art and language arts project undertaken in2009 by 5th Grade students at Hunter College Elementary School in conjunction with Art andRemembrance. The students wrote and illustrated a story about a family member who had displayedhero qualities after listening to Bernice Steinhardt, watching an interview with Esther Nisenthal Krinitz,reading the book “Memories of Survival” and discussing events in Esther’s life that defined who shewas, who she became, and how her courage and determination shaped her life. The Hero ProjectGallery at www.artandremembrance.org presents the student’s art and written stories.Credit where credit is due: Although I devised this writing unit, the structure of the lessons isbased on the Lucy Calkins Writer’s Workshop. Several strategies are based closely or loosely on herwork. The lessons are written in the language they were delivered. Much of this language is based onMs. Calkin’s work. Additionally, ideas were drawn from the work of Ralph Fletcher.I. Pre-writingLesson One: Hero QualitiesLesson Aim: Students will create a “hero checklist” that includes 5 – 10 qualities that heroes possess.Connection: We’re starting a new writing piece today called “The Hero Narrative.” you will be writingthe story of hero from your own family. During this process, you’ll need to use all the writingtechniques you’ve learned so far. You’ll also need to do some more advanced characterdevelopment and some research in order to bring your story to life. Let’s read the overview of theassignment and then get started. Hand out and read through the Hero narrative assignmentworksheet you have created. Hold off on taking too many questions, as many of themwill be answered along the way. You will want to make it clear that students canselect a member of their family that is living or deceased, someone they personallyknow/knew or someone that they’ve heard stories about growing up. They do not, norshould they, decide on the spot who they will write about at this point.Teach: To begin this process, each of you will need to create an important definition. That is, youneed to define for yourself what is a hero. Let’s begin that process together. I want each of you tobegin by silently coming up with a list of 3 – 5 people you would consider a hero. Give studentstime to think. Then have them share out with the class. Write out a list of theirsuggestions. Include anywhere from 15 – 25 names. Okay, now you need to look at this listof heroes (or at least focus on the names that you consider to be heroes) and ask yourselves, “Whatqualities make those people heroes?” For instance, I see on that list the following people (ex. MartinLuther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln). I wonder, do these people have certaincharacteristics in common that define them as heroes. Well, one thing that comes to mind for me is 2009 Art & Remembrance and Sasha Domnitz, Revised 2013
their bravery. Each of them bravely stood up against great forces in society to bring about a change.So, I’m going to list bravery as a heroic characteristic.Active Involvement: I want you to choose some names off the list and try to list 3 – 5 characteristicsthat define these people as heroes. Give students time to think silently. Then let themshare with a partner. Then have them share out with the class. List thesecharacteristics of a hero as well. Come up with a list of 10 – 20 characteristics.You’ll probably want to have this list hanging in the classroom throughout the course ofthe unit.Link: Now you’re going to do some writing in your writer’s notebook. I want you to look over thislist we just created. Choose your top 3 – 5 characteristics for a hero and list them in your notebook.Then write about why those characteristics are essential for a person to be considered a hero. Youmay find while doing this that one characteristic emerges as the most important one for a hero.That’s good. Write about why that one characteristic is so important for a hero to possess.II. Gathering SeedsLesson Two: Finding family heroesLesson Aim: Students will identify heroes in their own families and write about why these peopleare heroes.Connection: Last writer’s workshop we did the important job of defining what is a hero. Some of thecharacteristics we decided heroes usually possess are (read off the list created last lesson). Today,we’re going to start looking into our families and finding heroes from our own lives.Teach: To begin with, you’re going to brainstorm a list of family members that could be consideredheroes. While you’re doing this, remember that there are really two types of heroes – everydayheroes and historical heroes. An everyday hero is someone who changes the lives of people inhis/her immediate surroundings. Everyday heroes usually do not become famous, nor do theyreceive the kind of credit, fame or recognition they probably deserve. An historical hero is a personwho changes society in a way that reaches far beyond his/her immediate surroundings or experience.This type of hero usually does become famous and receive recognition; although sometimes therecognition doesn’t come until after the person has died. Some of you may have historical heroes inyour family history; some of you may not.So, you’ll begin by creating a list of 3 – 10 people in your family (living or dead) that you consider tobe heroes. Then you’ll circle one name and briefly start writing that person’s story. At this stage, thewriting doesn’t have to be detailed or even focused. However, if you’re inspired to tell the story indetail or to focus on a small moment in that person’s life rather than writing a general biography, thendo that.Watch and listen to me as I briefly go through the process I just described. Model the process forthe students.
Active Involvement: Let’s get started together. Everyone silently come up with 1 – 2 names of peoplein your family that are heroes. Classify that person as an everyday hero or a historical hero. Thensilently describe that person in your mind. Think about what that person did or how they behavedthat made them a hero. Give students a few moments to do this. Then let them turn andshare with a partner.Link: Okay, now you’re going to do some writing. Follow the process that I showed you and that youjust practiced with your partner.For homework: Students should write about at least 1 – 2 more family heroes intheir writer’s notebooks. Each entry should be about 1 page. Students may needto talk to relatives in order to get some ideas and gather some stories.III. DraftingLesson Three: Selecting your hero.Lesson Aim: Students will select the person they will write about for the hero narrative, the heroiccharacteristic that person most clearly embodies and the action/s that person performed that illustratethat heroic characteristic.Connection: Last writer’s workshop, you starting gathering seeds of possible family heroes that youcould write about for your narrative. You should have written 1 – 2 more entries for homework.Today, our goal is to create a focus for your hero narrative by choosing who your hero is, whatheroic characteristic he/she embodies most and, finally, what actions or accomplishments your heroperformed during his/her life that illustrates why he or she is a hero.Teach: You are going to look over your writer’s journal entries. Hopefully, there’s one that standsout the most to you. It might be the person that most impresses you, it might be the story that youalready know the most details about, it might be a person that you have/had a great relationship withor it might be someone you just learned about in your family history that you want to find out moreabout. Whatever the reason, the first thing you’re going to do is select the family hero you will writeabout from this point forward.Next, you will ask yourself, “Why is this person a hero?” In order to answer this question you willrefer back to the list of heroic characteristics you created. Choose the one characteristic that bestdescribes your hero.Then, you will ask yourself, “What did this person do in his/her life that illustrates that characteristicbest?” You will either list many actions or accomplishments that illustrate that trait or you will focus onone action that illustrates this trait.Watch me while I go through this process. Model the 3 steps for students. As you do the 3 rdstep, try to choose specific, “small moment” actions or accomplishments that illustratethe person’s heroism rather than life-long events. Example (these are ‘everyday hero’
types of examples. Students may have more impressive ‘historical hero’ examples fromtheir own families):PeopleWhy is this person ahero?Actions orAccomplishmentsMy dadMade tough choices tomake him and his familyhappierChose to leave his lawpractice to buy abookstore (even whenother people told him itwas a bad idea)My grandmotherPersevered throughdifficult circumstancesShe took care of herselfand my dad for 2 yearswhile my grandfather wasaway WWII. Specifically,she agreed to live withher in-laws, which shewasn’t thrilled aboutdoing.Active Involvement: Okay, now it’s your turn. Select a person from your writer’s journal. Then,silently to yourself, answer the question, “Why is this person a hero?” Finally, list 1 or 2 actions oraccomplishments this person achieved that illustrate his or her heroism. Now, turn and talk to yourpartner about who you’ve selected as your hero, why that person is a hero to you and what theyperson did or accomplished during his or her lifetime that illustrated his/her heroism. Give studentsa few minutes for each partner to share their ideas. Walk around and listen to makesure they’ve understood the instructions and to make notes about students who may bein the most immediate need of a conference to jumpstart the process and makedecisions about the subject of their narratives.Link: During today’s independent writing time, the first thing I want you to do is record in yourwriter’s notebook the three items you just described to your partner – your hero, why that person isa hero, what that person accomplished or did that illustrates his/her heroism. Once you’ve done that,you can start writing that person’s story – specifically, the story of that action or accomplishment thatbest illustrates his/her heroism. If, after you’ve discussed one person with your partner, you feel thatthat person is not the best choice for the subject of your narrative, choose someone else from yourlist and go through the same process.A note about conferences at this stage: The most important thing right now is that all studentsmake a decision about the person, the heroic characteristic and the action/accomplishment that theywill write about. Some students may need your help articulating these three things. Meet with thosestudents who are struggling with making these decisions.
Lesson Four: Remember, you’re writing a story!Lesson Aim: Students will apply their knowledge of story structure to aid them in drafting their heronarratives.Connection: Remember, when we were at the beginning of the drafting process for our last writingpieces, we used a tool called “The Story Mountain.” “The Story Mountain” helped us map out thebasic structure for our narrative. Today, we’re going to review that structure and use it to help us inthe drafting of our hero narrative.Teach: The Story Mountain can be divided into 4 parts. Let’s review those 4 parts:Introduction – At the beginning of the story, the reader meets the main character, learns about thesetting, and learns about the main conflict that the main character faces.Build – During the build, the reader faces obstacles that cause the conflict to get worse. There maybe moments where the main character thinks he/she will never overcome or solve this conflict. Heor she may get discouraged, or he/she may keep trying different tactics to arrive at a solution.Climax – The “ah-hah!” moment. The main character faces the conflict or main obstacle head onand does something to solve it. This should be the most important moment, the most excitingmoment and the most emotionally moving moment of the story.Resolution – This is when we see how the main character’s life has changed as a result of solvingthe main conflict.I’m going to read you an example of a hero narrative that one of the 5th grade students wrote lastyear. As you listen, I’d like you to try to identify the 4 parts of this person’s story. Read theexample.Active Involvement: I’m going to split the class into 4 groups. Each group will discuss with yourpartners one part of the narrative you just heard. Then you will share what you discussed. Assignone group the introduction, one the build, one the climax, one the resolution. Givethem a few moments to discuss what they heard in each part of the story. Then havethem share what they discussed. Record their responses on a chart or on the Smartboard.Link: During your independent writing time, you will continue to draft your hero narrative. Some ofyou may find it helpful to sketch out the four parts of your story in much the same way that werecorded the 4 parts of the example story that we just discussed. This may act as a road map for youras you continue your writing process. Homework: Students should continue working on theirfirst drafts. You may want to set a date the first draft should be completed. Givethem approximately a week from this lesson.
Lesson Five: What do you know? What do you need to know?Lesson Aim: Students will write a set of research questions to guide their research in discoveringdetails about the time, place and life of their hero.Connection: In the last two pieces you’ve written, your Nature’s Classroom piece and your personalnarrative, you were the main character. You knew the story inside and out because you experiencedit first hand. All you had to do was reach into your memory to picture the setting, the othercharacters and the action of the story. Now you’re writing a narrative in which someone else is themain character. This presents a challenge. You must tell the story in such a way that the reader canfeel as though he/she is experiencing the setting, the characters and the action first hand. That meansyou may have to do some research to find out more about the details of your story. Today we’regoing to talk about how to do that research.Teach: Clearly, you already know about the most important components of your story. You knowwho the main character is, you know when he/she was alive and what he or she did that you considerheroic. If you didn’t know these things, you wouldn’t have chosen to write a story about that person.However, there are probably some things you don’t know. Let’s look at the different components ofa story including the setting (time and place), the characters (main and supporting) and the action.Today you’re going to record some questions that you have about at least one of these components.You will use these questions to guide your research. For example, let’s take the example of the storyof my father who is a hero to me because he recognized that he was unhappy being a lawyer andtook a huge risk in leaving his law practice to become a bookseller. Here are some questions I mayhave about that story:SettingCharactersAction1. What year was it that hemade the decision to leavehis practice?1. Who were the otherlawyers in his practice?1. How long did he thinkabout the decision before hemade it?2. What season was it?2. What did the otherlawyers in his practice saywhen he finally decided toquit?2. How much time passedbetween quitting the lawpractice and buying his firstbookstore?The answers to these questions will help me fill in some necessary details. The question is, where doI find the answers to these questions? Well, when I look over the list of these questions, the bestsource of answers is my father. I can set up an interview with him over the phone or in person to getall the answers to these questions. When I conduct this interview, I will take careful notes on hisanswers and then I will include a bibliography at the end of my story that cites my father as a source ofinformation.Let’s say you came up with questions that couldn’t be answered by a member of your family, or bysomeone who experienced the story first-hand. Where else might you go for information? Have
students share sources – the internet, photo albums, books, encyclopedias,photography books that show the dress or environment during a particular time periodor a particular place, etc.Active Involvement: I’d like each of you to think about the hero narrative you are writing. What sortof information do you need to make the story come to life, to make it accurate, clear and believableto the reader? Try to come up with at least 1 or 2 questions right now that you’d like answered.Then think about where you can find the answers to those questions. Give students a fewmoments to formulate questions and sources. Then let them share their ideas with apartner. Walk around and listen. When you get the class’ attention, share a few goodexamples of questions and sources that you overheard in their discussions.Link: Today during your independent writing time, you can either create your set of 3 – 6 researchquestions and possible sources or you may continue drafting your story. Everyone will need to haveresearch questions, sources and answers to the questions eventually. Then, of course, you’ll need toincorporate the answers to these questions into your story in the form of details.Homework: Questions, Sources, Answers and continue working on your first draft. Remindstudents when the first draft is due.IV. Revising:Lesson Six: Fleshing out charactersBy now students should have a first draft completed. In other words, they have the story with abeginning, middle and end out on paper. The conflict and resolution should be clear; and, of course,it should be clear why the main character could be considered a hero.Lesson Aim: Students will create a character profile and learn the “show don’t tell” strategy in orderto bring their main characters to life.Connection: By now you’ve completed your first draft. You should have the basic action of yourstory (beginning, middle and end) on paper. The conflict or major obstacle that your main characterfaces should be clear, as should the resolution. Hopefully you’ve also done some research to helpyou fill in some details about the setting (time and place), characters and action of the story. Today,we’re going to focus on your characters. We’re going to create a profile of your character to help youflesh the character out and bring him or her to life a bit more.Teach: We have discussed in reading how we can analyze a character based on the way he or shelooks, acts, thinks and feels. We can use the same guidelines to create a profile of a character whenwe are writing, too. I start by writing the words looks, acts, thinks, and feels down on paper.Beneath each word, I list details about my main character. I have to keep in mind that my characterchanges throughout the course of my story. That should be reflected in the list of words I use todescribe my character. Example
Character: My dad, Avin DomnitzLooksFeelsThinksActs6 ft.AnxiousPaces at nightBigSadRacing thoughtsabout trialsBrown hair (short)UnfulfilledBrown eyesNervousFlat feetBraveSatisfiedConcerns about hisfamilyConscious aboutother people’sopinionsSits quietly with familyDecisively quits hislaw practiceMeets with Mr.Greene about buyinga bookstoreExcited/InspiredThen it becomes our job as writers to communicate all the details about a character to our readers.Some details are easier to communicate than others. For instance, how does your character look?Well, you simply have to describe that character as specifically as possible
Everyday heroes usually do not become famous, nor do they receive the kind of credit, fame or recognition they probably deserve. An historical hero is a person who changes society in a way that reaches far beyond his/her immediate surroundings or experience.
A hero must always have a countermeasure. That is a villain or someone who wants the hero to fail. Can you name some famous or well-known hero/villain combinations? Example: Hero Villain Harry Potter Voldemort Hero Villain Who is your favourite combination? Why? _
*Hero specific, not all heroes give the same buffs. As mentioned earlier, there is a distinction between a hero’s squad and a hero’s formation. Hero’s Squad (that specific row) is affected by Skill 3, 4 and 6 Hero
Kodak AiO Ink Technology Deep Dive ESP 1.2 / 3.2ESP 1.2 / 3.2 Hero 9.1Hero 9.1 Hero 7.1Hero 7.1 Office Hero 6.1Office Hero 6.1 Hero 5.1Hero 5.1 Hero 3.1Hero 3.1 2011‐ 2013 ESP C110, C310, C315 ESP Office 2150/2170 ESP Office 6150 ESP 7250 ESP 9250 2010‐ ESP 3250 ESP 5250 ESP3 ESP5 ESP7 ESP9 2011 2008‐ 2009 Easyshare 5100 Easyshare 5300 .
types of Narrative Writing: 1. Personal Narrative: When a person writes about himself or about his experiences. In this style of narrative writing, the writer already has a plot. Name one example of a personal narrative we have read this year. Grandpa She doesn't get eaten by the eels at this time The Grandson What? Grandpa The eel doesn't get her.
In this third grade narrative writing unit, students will understand and develop their piece of writing using the five stages of the writing process; prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. They will work on creating a narrative writing portfolio throughout the 3 week unit. At the end of the
Study Guide Romeo and Juliet Tragic Hero born Supernatural Element Hero is Noble born High class Influences society Hero has a fatal FLAW Hero’s FATE leads to downfall or death A mystical, mysterious, or unnatural element occurs during the Tragic Hero’s life A Tragedy has 4 Elements . Guide Romeo and Juliet Romeo is .
The stereotypical hero, is usually a American man. The hero, generally has muscular attributes and is good looking, often attracting female attention. The hero, is good at fighting the Villain and can usually out wit them. The Anti-Hero, can be the main hero of the film but is not entirely good as the stereotype of t
hero . hero plus HERO . HERO PLUS Kunststofffarben . Coloris synthétiques . Plastic colours Für die Sitzschalen aus Kunststoff, Schale 51, stehen folgende Farben zur Verfügung.
