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Subway Hero
We watched a video about Subway Hero Wesley Autrey and how he risked his life to save another man's life. Then we talked about heroes and what the true definition is of a hero, and if the term hero is used too loosely. I wrote my definition of a hero is a person that helps someone when they are in need. I also thought that the term hero was actually not used to loosely. -
Roy Benavidez
Mrs. Allen read an excerpt from the book Why Courage Matters by John McCain about Roy Benavidez. We learned that heroes can also be war heroes who save others lives in a time of need. Mrs. Allen also introduced the moment of madness theory, where people are motivated to be a hero because it is just an instinct in them. This did not change my mind much because I have heard many stories about war heroes that saved other people, so it was a category of heroism that I'm familiar with. -
Interview: Kristi Quillen
We watched an interview with Kristi Quillen, who is a peace corps volunteer. First off, it showed us some interviewing skills, because part of this project is an interview. It also showed us another type of hero, a volunteer. This is someone who dedicates their life to help other people. I already knew volunteers were heroes because my mom volunteers in Peru and El Salvador and I consider her a hero. -
Hero's Journey Assignment
This day we just went over what this project is, the due dates, and what we are going to do every step of the way. I finally understood what is happening with this project! Yay! -
Heroes in LIterature
We discussed in small groups about different heroes in literature, including Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, John from "By the Waters of Babylon", and Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities. The big discussion was about whether these characters were the heroes or whether the authors that created the characters were the heroes. I said that the author is the hero because the character is completely made up and cannot decide what heroic acts to do. I had never thought of this before. -
Library Day 1
We went to the school library to search for a biography or autobiography about a hero to read. I wanted to do Greg Mortensen and his book Three Cups of Tea, but it turned out that a huge part of it was a scandal, which is not very heroic. Then I wanted to do Alison Thompson and her book The Third Wave, but there was little information online about her and the book had low reviews. I did not get much done this day, which was upsetting but understandable. -
Library Day 2
This day we went to the library again, and I had better success than the first day at the library. I was reading through lists of biographies on goodreads.com, and a title caught my eye. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. I knew almost instantly that this would be the book I would read. I also found a couple of articles about him on Gale Group for my two online resources. I was happy because volunteering is close to my heart. -
Got Book
SInce the CRHS library didn't have Mountains Beyond Mountains, I bought it at Books a Million on Saturday and started reading it. -
"Change the World" Day One
We went through part of a powerpoint that had us sort a list of famous people into different catagories of heroes. There were political heroes, visionaries, religious heroes, artists, volunteers, and heroes that saved lives. This taught me that there are all different types of heroes, so the definition of hero is loose. Paul Farmer fit into the catagories of volunteer and saved lives. At the end of class my definition of a hero had changed to someone who makes a good change in the world. -
"Change the World" Part Two
We went through the second part of the powerpoint today. We listened to John Mayer's song Waiting on the World to Change, Hugh Laurie's All You Gotta Do, and the Badly Drawn Boy "Year of the Rat." This was all about learning how to change the world, and how it can be easy or difficult. I learned that everyone can be a hero by doing a small act of kindness. I also found out how hard it can be to be a hero and how much of a struggle it is. -
"Change the World" Part Three
This was basically a continuation of the theme from part two. We watched "We are the Youth of Today" "We are the People We've Been Waiting For", and an interesting poem. I learned that you don't have to be an adult to be a hero, and you can change your destiny by choosing how to act. In the poem, at first it was depressing about what would happen in the future, but when read backwards it was optimistic. I learned that you have the power to do something about your life, and be a hero. -
How I Chose My Subject
I turned in my paragraph about how I had chosen my hero Dr. Paul Farmer. I had worked on the paragraph a little bit each day during the previous couple days. I turned it in as a blog post on posterous and as a hard copy. It really made me think deeper about Farmer and what I consider qualities of a hero, including helping people and being brave. -
DEAR
I continued reading through my book Mountains Beyond Mountains. My mind is changing about how amazing Dr. Paul Farmer really is. I now know how much he struggled through his life and how much he gives up to volunteer. -
Technology Help Day
Mrs. Wade came in to help our class with the technology part of this project. I learned how to efficiently and effectively use posterous and time toast. Oh, technology :). Plus we got our 1st blog post grade back and I got a 100! It made me happy because I put a lot of work into it. -
2nd Blog Post: Heroes in Literature
Today I turned in my 2nd blog post, which was several paragraphs over the theme of heroes in literature. I had worked on this for several of the previous days. I contrasted my heroes as a kid, my parents, and my modern hero, popular youtuber Shaycarl. I also talked about different heroes in literature such as Syndney Carton, Atticus Finch, Harry Potter, and Katniss Everdeen. I learned how easy it is to change your mind about who heroes really are, and the wide variety of heroes there are. -
DEAR #2
We did drop everything and read today again. I searched for an inspiring and revolutionary passage to share from my biography on Monday. I found a passage that perfectly summed up how Paul Farmer feels about the world and volunteering, which made me excited to share it with my classmates on Monday. -
Share Something from Biography
Today I shared the passage from Mountains Beyond Mountains that I had picked on Friday. It was very fun sharing and learning about other people's topics and heroes. I learned about all the different varieties of heroes that people picked to read about. -
Post Three: Timetoast timeline
I have been working on this for several days, and have added all the events of this hero project. It has helped me realize how much I have changed my ideas about heroes, including the fact that everyone can be a hero. We are about three quarters of the way through the project and I am almost done reading my book and I am going to conduct an interview soon. The end!!!!!!!!!!
