Ordinary Heroes

Ms. Truax's ESL students conducted a personal investigation of the diverse cultural makeup within the "M" school community by exploring the idea of the "ordinary hero" through a digital storytelling project. To begin, the students brainstormed and defined the concept of "hero," read stories of ordinary heroes, and refined their definition of the term to distinguish between celebrities and heroes. From the definition they developed, they explored potential examples of ordinary heroes from their own lives and, most importantly, from their own cultures. Next, they created prompts to use in interviewing subjects, and from their interviews, as well as consideration of their own personal perspectives, they wrote profiles of the heroes they'd identified.

Students were then encouraged to conduct research and expand their profiles to provide a wider social, political, and historical context. The final profiles were transformed into the voiceover scripts for their videos. After editing and refining their narratives, students used digital still and video cameras to capture supporting material, and they sourced relevant digital imagery to illustrate specific details and perspectives of their "ordinary" heroes. Finally, they created titles, worked with transitions, chose music to set the appropriate tone, and experimented with special effects to complete their videos.