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High
School Lesson |
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| The
Alamo:
Documenting Courage |
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| Action
-- The following activities provide students with an opportunity
to examine courage as it is played out in their own lives and the lives
of others. |
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- Identify
an event in American history that offers examples of courageous action.
Find a brief account of the event (the Internet or an encyclopedia might
serve as a source for the account). Attempt to locate a primary source
document related to the event. The National
Archives Digital Classroom is a good starting point. The
NARA Archival Information Locator (NAIL) allows you to search for
primary source documents across several national sites. What information
about the event is confirmed by the document? Does it appear that there
may be "historical myths" surrounding the event? What types
of primary source materials might help to prove/disprove popular notions?
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- Write
a speech (using the FDR speech as a model) that could be delivered at
the site of a historical event that has been identified above. In the
speech, be sure to reveal how you define courage and how the actions
of the participants exemplify this definition. Include evidence of courageous
action from primary source documents where possible. (If action activity
#1 was also used, the two events might be the same. On the other hand,
this activity might be simplified by asking students to write a speech
to be given at the Alamo.)
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- In the
1936 chronicle of her adventures, West With the Night, Beryl
Markham, a female African Bush pilot and the first person to fly solo
across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west, wrote “If a man [or
a woman] has any greatness in him, it comes to light not in one flamboyant
hour, but in the ledger of his daily work.” Find someone in the
community who embodies this principle. Interview that person and write
a profile that illustrates the "greatness...in her [or her] daily
work."
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- Consider
how high school students might call upon courage and shape history beginning
in their schools and neighborhoods. Write an Op-Ed for your school newspaper
that contains a call to action for your peers. Take the lead yourself
by setting practical goals.
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Copyright
2002
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| Center
for the Advancement of Ethics and Character |
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