“Who is your Historical Hero?” – an independent research project, adaptable for all year groups!

This is a great activity for any year group: I trialled it at the end of Year 9 with my own students, but it went so well that I plan to run it with other year groups too. It was inspired by a tweet by @kenradical, a constant source of great classroom ideas. Based on his idea of getting students to produce a poster based on their own ‘history hero’, I was particularly keen to get students to:

• consider carefully how we can measure ‘historical significance’

• assess the qualities, talents and achievements that could be described as ‘heroic’

• be open-minded, personal and original in their choice of ‘hero’

• use the study to reflect more deeply on what constitutes an inspirational life in terms of values, behaviour and ambitions.