This morning my own students handed in the essays they had written about the hero of their choice. I have only read a few but can still share their role models with you. This list is more eclectic and also more international than yesterday’s.
- Barack Obama (3 students)
- Martin Luther King (2 students)
- Michal Jackson (2 students)
- Eminem
- Marilyn Monroe
- Zinedine Zidane (a French football player)
- Christophe Maé (a French singer)
- Audrey Hepburn
- Nicolas Cage
- William Shakespeare
- Harvey Milk
- Gandhi
- Nelson Mandela
- Jean Moulin (a high-profile member of the French Resistance)
- Charles de Gaulle
- Anne Frank
Advertisement
Interesting list.
I’m sure that it’s to your credit that your students came up with a more diverse assortment of names.
Thank you Mrs.S. Nice of you to write this but maybe I am just blessed with brighter students who uunderstood the message behind the texts they were made to read.
Somehow I feel better about your class’ list. It is profound the effect a teacher can have on her students.
I agree that this list is less depressing. However I am not certain about the role I played in their choices.
At least there are some great leaders included. Why is it that entertainers get such acclaim and veneration? I don’t get it. It’s entertainment. Whatever. Sigh.
Maybe I’ll be able to answer this once I have read their essays.
That is quite a diverse and interesting list.
Also, I would not call some of them heroes, in any aspect. But, that probably is due to the age group.
I agree. I discussed this with my trainee and we noticed that many of our students had a hard time justifying what make these people heroes. Only presenting their lives and achievements was fine, in most cases. As far as heroism was concerned, the students tended to get “rich and famous” mixed up with “heroic”. Not that we did not work on this… sigh.
Yes, rich and famous does often = heroic these days. Kids here in the UK are pretty much the same, I fear. A lot, when asked ‘What do you want to do when you’re an adult’ reply ‘Be famous’. That’s not ‘doing’ at all.
*Sigh* I feel soooo old!
*Sigh* I feel soooo old!
That’s the problem when you work in education; it is a feeling you experience far too often.
This morning, Ricky Gervais was being interviewed on NPR, and he mentioned how one perk of his achieving stardom (for writing a popular American sitcom thingy), was that he got to meet his “heroes,” which were the likes of David Bowie and such. Mr. Gervais is pushing 50, so I guess this celebrity=hero concept is not limited to a generational gap.
I found it interesting, but didn’t think much past that.
Pingback: Double Weekly Review with Flower | Ilana-Davita
Pingback: This Year’s Heroes | Ilana-Davita