MY HERO, My Neighbor
by David Kemker of My Hero,
Subject Arts - Visual
MY HERO, My Neighbor challenges participants to identify heroes close to home: who they are, what they do that makes them heroic and why that heroic endeavor is important to the participant.
This lesson is a great introduction to The MY HERO Project in that it requires the participant to look beyond some of the more popular standards of heroism like celebrity and wealth. In so doing, each participant is encouraged to search themselves for those values they consider most important and then to identify these values in people from their everyday lives: neighbors, teachers, public servants, family.
1. Each participant should identify the values they consider heroic. Is it helping other people? Is it being proficient in some skill or art? Is it bravery? Generosity? Determination?
2. Once these values are identified, each participant is challenged to find people in their lives who embody those values, skills or personal traits and then to pick one.
3. Participants should then create a piece of art that depicts their Hero doing what that thing that makes them heroic.
1. Discuss heroism. What does it mean to each participant? What is the most heroic value to each of them.
2. Have each participant identify individuals in their lives who embody these values.
3. Discuss how these local heroes exemplify heroism in the things they do.
4. Challenge each participant to select ONE of these heroes by virtue of how closely that hero matches each participant's ideal of heroism. Who is that one person that they know who embodies their ideal of heroism.
5. Each participant will then create a piece of art that depicts their hero in action.
6. Each piece of art is then scanned or digitally photographed.
7. Participants are then introduced to The MY HERO Gallery where they will upload the digital files of their art, along with titles, descriptions, links etc.
The lesson should be assessed by the effort and personal exploration each participant puts into the lesson. Did he or she come to a new understanding of heroism? Have they set a new standard for behavior in themselves? How has this affected how they see their future?