Meeting a Hero from History

Contributor: Brian Anthony. Lesson ID: 11069

If you could meet any historical figure, whom would it be? What would he or she look and sound like? Now is your chance to meet and write about that someone, and draw some philosophical conclusions!

categories

World, Writing

subject
History
learning style
Visual
personality style
Otter, Golden Retriever
Grade Level
Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12)
Lesson Type
Dig Deeper

Lesson Plan - Get It!

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  • Who are your top five favorite heroes from all of history?
  •  Could you imagine going back to meet them?

Even though that's not yet possible, meeting up with them through historical fiction is the next best thing!

Think about all the different aspects that make up you.

There is the way you dress, the language you speak, the kinds of music you like, and the activities you enjoy. Each of those aspects is related to the time and place in which you live. The clothing you wear is probably the clothing of a 21st-century American, and not that of a 4th-century B.C. Athenian, for example.

Imagine for a moment that you are writing to a person in a distant time and place, and you need to describe yourself. Make a list of the following to give them a profile:

  • name
  • dates alive
  • location(s)
  • life events
  • language(s)
  • appearance
  • clothing
  • personality
  • other traits

Reflect on:

  • Which of these traits are unique to the time and place in which you live?
  • Which are not unique to the time and place in which you live?
  • Record your thoughts in your notebook and discuss with a parent or teacher.

How did the time and place they were raised shape:

  • the way they interact with the world?
  • their ideas and values?
  • their fashion sense?
  • their way of talking?
  • their other qualities?

Just like your life has been shaped by the era in which you were born, so the historical figures of the past were shaped by theirs. When we look back at people of the past, we have to consider the world they lived in as well.

Continue on to the Got It? section to get to know your chosen historical figure!

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