Living American Hero US History Project Print & Digital

Grab the perfect end-of-year or after-the-exam-and-everybody's-fried project to culminate your US History class with meaning!

The project challenges your students to develop a two-part authentic product that challenges them to brainstorm, research, and nominate their living hero to the President of the United States to receive the next Medal of Freedom and to craft a genuine thank you letter to their nominee for their impactful and inspiring accomplishments.

This project comes in two versions: paper PDF and digital for Google Slides

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Greatness is realizing and seeking inspiration from the commonalities among successful people in order to leave one’s own impact on the world.

No nation is founded more on the idea that the commoner has the ability to be great than the U.S. Centuries have proven that hard work, passion, and a few good ideas all mix to form the American hero. And now, thanks to President Kennedy, we celebrate our very best American heroes annually with this prestigious award.

Take your students on a quest through the 4 Pillars of Heroism and an exploration of the recent Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient lists to deeply define for themselves, “Who’s my American hero?”

Then, help them nominate a deserving American and write a letter of gratitude to let them know.

This unit can be done well in anywhere from 1-2 weeks!

Included in this project:

Teacher Materials

• Detailed lesson plans
• Sample projects, rubrics
• Editable PowerPoint to assist in teaching
• Editable cover letter for mailing your class's completed project

Student Materials & Activities

• Concept Definition for students note-taking
• Caine's Arcade hook students in by meeting a young boy who's doing amazing things with cardboard and packing tape
• Hero Quote Mixer get students talking about various inspirational quotes on the traits of heroism framed as the 4 Pillars of Heroism
• Recent Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients get students exploring previous winners and practice researching the traits of heroism
• Thank You Letter and Nomination Project supported by step-by-step planning and guide sheets, sample, and rubrics, researching one’s own living hero, writing them a genuine thank you letter and submitting them for consideration for this year’s ceremonies!
• Skill Sheets Handouts: Annotating a Text, Determining Primary, Secondary, & Tertiary Sources, Finding Quality Resources, Creating a Works CIted, Annotating a Citation

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Want to make this into a whole unit?

American Hero PBL Unit: explore the men and women who have been doing the impossible throughout American history in this thematic unit

Want more U.S. History PBL Units?

Six Degrees of Separation: kick off a study of our country’s geography with a “Flat Stanley” style project

1600-1800s American Values: explore the founders of America, from the Puritans to the Nez Perce, and their core values in order to develop one’s own goal and motivational plan of action for the school year

1900s American Immigration: explore the American story of diversity and hard work through the words and statistics of immigrants, Ellis Island to Angel Island, to create and preserve an oral history of their own

1900s Protest Movements: be inspired by Silent Sentinels to Alcatraz Occupiers to develop one’s own statement of protest or support

Want to go entirely PBL?

U.S. History PBL Course Mega Bundle: get all posted PBL resources in one download and save big!