Personal Hero Essay Project

This 1-2 week personal hero essay project is an ideal opportunity to allow your students to learn about and share a personal hero while practicing their formal essay writing skills. Designed to work in any classroom grades 5-12, these scaffolded activities will guide your students through researching, interviewing, outlining, writing, and presenting about a meaningful person in their life. 

Introducing, assigning, and assessing this short writing lesson could not be easier! Simply print out the essay assignment sheet, discuss the directions with your students, and then move at your desired pace from task 1 (research planning) to task 2 (interview activity) to task 3 (essay outlining), and then task 4 (presentation - optional). Your students will love the opportunity to have a deep discussion with their personal hero, and you'll love the high-quality essays and presentations that spring from their enthusiasm.

Ideal for a short, in-between larger units project, your download includes:

• - A personal hero essay assignment sheet with essay rationale, step-by-step directions, writing tips, and self-and-peer revision activity

• - TASK 1: A personal hero research planning and note-taking activity that assists students on research topics and includes an art activity, and a space to organize research notes

- TASK 2: An interview activity that asks students about their personal hero and provides a space for questions and answers, with a Common Core aligned rubric  (ELA Standards: CCRA.W.4 and CCRA.SL.1)

• - TASK 3: A personal hero essay outline activity that takes students step-by-step through the writing process

- TASK 4: A presentation assignment that includes presentation requirements, speaking tips, peer-edit checklist, and Common Core aligned rubric (ELA standards: CCRA.W.4, CCRA.SL.4, CCRA.SL.5)

• A scaffolded and “assessment simplified” 40-point rubric tied to 4 ELA Common Core Standards (CCRA.W.2, CCRA.R.1, CCRA.L.1, CCRA.L.2)

Although this resource can be fitted for any secondary Language Arts classroom, it has been carefully designed to work best in grades 7 through 12. The included rubrics are subtly but specifically tied to Common Core ELA Standards for Speaking and Listening (1, 4, and 5), Language (1 and 2), Writing (2 and 4), and Reading Information (1). This resource is provided as a print-ready, bookmarked, and adjustable PDF file.

This resource contains 10 Pages.