Images of Greatness

This term my class are working on a tremendous unit in Inquiry Studies entitled Images of Greatness. This unit sees the students choosing an eminent person and delving deeply into their lives in order to discover why this person is great.
To start the unit we brainstorm the meaning of words such as greatness, eminent etc in order to investigate what it takes to be great. We look at some individual case studies that also help to shape the student's thinking.
After this initial opening period of the unit the students then choose a person on who they will do in depth research project. The choice is totally up to the students themselves. Their work is going to be of a higher level if the choice of person is made solely by themselves. For a 12 year old boy to be able to do a project on a famous sportsman, a 12 year old girl to work on a musician or an actor passion is going to be displayed as it is a subject they love. I even think back to my time in Year 6, if i could have done a project on a sportsman I would have been in heaven.
I first did this unit in 1999. I have now led it 10 times in 3 different schools. There have been numerous highlights over the years many of which include:

• Chatting to cricketing great Imran Khan as part of my student's project in 1999.
• For the first 4 years I did the unit I also did a project. The people I chose were Australian war hero Weary Dunlop, Elvis Presley, Lance Armstrong and U2 lead singer Bono. The finale of the unit sees the students having a presentation day where they must dress as their chosen person. This included me as well. Having to wear a bit too tight Elvis suit is a highlight/low light of my career.
• Having one of my students in 2006 do her project on her mother who was at the time battling cancer. It was beautiful, touching and incredibly heart warming.
• Having a student open my awareness to the incredible Aung San Suu Kyi with a stirring project in 2001.

These are just a few of many highlights.

This year sees a few familiar faces who seem to pop up every year: Sir Donald Bradman, Bill Gates, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Muhammed Ali and J.K. Rowling. Mark Zuckerberg is one who I believe will become very common as the years progress from now.

As well as doing a general biography on their chosen person students must write an exposition (essay) arguing why their person is great. This truly refines their thinking as they look deeply into the life of accomplishment and achievement.

As a final thought can I direct you to the life of Terry Fox? I watched a documentary on his life in January and was truly blown away by his life. It was great without a doubt. I showed this documentary to my class as an introductory activity. It was a great way to focus their thinking about what qualities somebody must possess to be great.