Heroes Around Us

Overview

From Theory to Practice

OVERVIEW

Students will explore the distinction between a hero and an idol. Based on collaboratively established criteria for heroism and characteristics of heroes, students will select, read about, and report on a hero. Students will identify how their hero matches their criteria and characteristics. Hero reports will be compiled into a class book. As a follow-up, the teacher will read aloud and lead a discussion of the poem Heroes We Never Name to emphasize the fact that there are heroes all around us. Students will write about a hero they know and describe this person's noble qualities and deeds.

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FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

Coiro, J. (2003). Reading comprehension on the Internet: Expanding our understanding of reading comprehension to encompass new literacies. The Reading Teacher, 56, 458–464.

• Students have an opportunity to interact with new text formats (i.e., multiple media) that require new thought processes.
  
  
• Students are engaged with challenging, authentic information sources that are used extensively in the "real world."
  
  
• Readers must adopt a more critical stance toward text or risk being tricked, persuaded, or biased.
  
  
• The teacher acts as a facilitator—guiding readers to online texts, modeling how to use comprehension strategies flexibly, and scaffolding learning opportunities embedded within these sources.

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