Dear Colleagues,
This packet of instructional materials is designed to introduce your
students to the ideas and individuals on the Remember Them:
Champions for Humanity educational monument being installed
this fall in downtown Oakland.
Included are 1) instructional materials to help students prepare for
visiting the monument; 2) materials designed to help your students look closely at what’s
included when they visit the monument; 3) and ideas and materials for post visit discussion
and study.
We believe the materials in parts 1 & 2, a series of open-ended prompts and activities are
appropriate for students from upper elementary grades to high school. The sophistication with
which they respond will depend on the grade level and the level of background knowledge that
they bring to the viewing and studying of the monument. We expect that part 3, the post-visit
work, will be guided more by grade level and subject matter needs and, as such, we provide a
series of suggested activities.
We are sure you and your students will be inspired and moved by the stories and “champions”
represented by the monument. With that in mind we see this curriculum guide as a starting
point for a conversation among educators on how to support and inspire our students to work
hard as they seek to improve not only their lives, but the lives of people in their community,
city, nation, and world.
As a work in progress, and in the spirit of the monument itself, we welcome each of you to
share lessons (especially suggestions for post-visit activities) and instructional materials you
may develop as you and your students study the ideas and people identified “champions of
humanity.” We look forward to your feedback and to incorporating your work into a larger
body of instructional materials focused on the work extending and deepening the work
represented in this monument.
Collegially,
Claudette Center, Claremont Middle School, 8th grade History/Social Studies
Mercedes Ugarte, Melrose Leadership Academy, 7th Grade History/Social Studies
Mark Zucker, Manzanita SEED, 5th Grade
Nuria Martinez – Brookfield Elementary
Deborah Green – Roosevelt, Art
Stan Pesick, OUSD History-Social Studies
Fillmore Rydeen, OUSD Visual and Performing Arts
Introduction to the Monument and Themes to Explore
Below are a description of the monument and the educational vision of its creator, Oakland
artist and sculpture Mario Chiodo.
With installation scheduled for this fall this monument will be an inspiring, larger-than life
bronze sculpture depicting 25 culturally diverse role models who have made significant
contributions toward global peace, freedom and human rights over the past 150 years. The fullsize educational monument will be installed in a new park in a busy downtown Oakland
neighborhood, and promises to draw tens of thousands of students annually from Oakland and
the Bay Area. Measuring 52 feet long and 25 feet high, this will be the largest bronze
monument in the western United States.
A bold new vision for education and community development:
 Young people become inspired by the life lessons of humanitarians of differing
ethnicity, gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, and nationality.
 Each relates to a different humanitarian, in whom they see themselves in some
way.
 Learning about these humanitarians then helps young people of today to overcome
their own challenges to become leaders themselves.
 Our youth see hope and promise in their future, and a path toward making
positive change in their world.
 Young people and adults move beyond mere “tolerance” and toward the full
embrace of diversity.
 Include the overarching themes that can be explored in history,
literature, and writing.
- from Remember Them: Champions of Humanity website
-------------------------------------------1. The bullet points above identify specific themes and ideas that can be explored
through the monument. Some additional instructional and analytical themes that can be
explored in all grade levels and subject areas include:
 The influence of time and place on specific strategies people might choose as they
struggle to change themselves and the world around them.
 The importance of education and literacy for both personal and societal change.
 What makes an individual and event historically significant – worth
remembering?
 What can we learn about a specific time and place by studying the lives
individuals? What does studying the life of an individual tell us about the specific
time and place in which they lived?
 How does attempting to put ourselves in “someone else’s shoes,” and learning
about the time and place they lived, help us understand the sometimes difficult
choices they made as they worked to transform themselves and the world around
them?
2. Working with the "champions of humanity" is also a means to investigate the specific
historical time periods and places highlighted in the California State History-Social
Studies Content Standards. The charts below identify specific places each of the twentyfive individuals included on the monument within the specific grade level and subject
they would be taught.
Individual
Grade level - Subject
1. Cesar Chavez
4th – California History; 11th
U.S. History
4th & 11th – U.S. History
4th & 11th - U.S. History
8th & 11th – U.S. History
8th & 11th U.S. History
8th & 11th - U.S. History
8th & 11th - U.S. History
10th World History
10th – World History
10th – World History
10th – World History
10th - World History &
11th U.S. History
10th - World History
10th - World History
10th - World History
10th – World History
2. Maya Angelou
3. Harvey Milk
4. Chief Joseph
5. Frederick Douglass
6. Abraham Lincoln
7. Susan B. Anthony
8. Winston Churchill
9. Mahatma Ghandi
10. Nelson Mandela
11. Elie Wiesel
12. Thich Nhat Hanh
13. Mother Theresa
14. Shirin Ebadi
15. Rigoberta Menchu
16. Unknown Demonstrator
of Tiananmen Square
17. Oskar Schindler
18. Malcolm X
19. Martin Luther King, Jr.
20. Franklin D. Roosevelt
21. Rosa Parks
22. Ralph Abernathy
23. Ruby Bridges
24. Helen Keller
25. Coretta Scott King
10th – World History
11th – U.S. History
11th – U.S. History
11th – U.S. History
11th - U.S. History
11th – U.S. History
11th - U.S. History
11th - U.S. History
11th - U.S. History
Key California State
Content Standard
11.10.5
11.10.4
11.10.5; 11.10.6
8.12.2; 11.1.4;
8.9.1; 8.11; 11.1.4
8.9; 8.10.4; 11.1.4
8.6.6; 11.10.7
10.8.4
10.4.4; 10.9.4
10.10.1
10.8.5; 10.8.6
10.9
10.9.4
10.9
10.10.3
10.9.4; 10.10.3
10.8.5; 10.8.6
11.10.4
11.10.4
11.6.; 11.7.4
11.10.4
11.10.4
11.10.3
11.10.7
11.10.4
Artistic themes to Explore:
In addition to Language Arts and History Themes many visual arts themes can be
explored with this series of lessons.
Artistic Perception: Processing, Analyzing, and Responding to Sensory Information
Through the Language and Skills Unique to the Visual Arts. Students perceive and
respond to works of art, objects in nature, events, and the environment. They also use the
vocabulary of the visual arts to express their observations.
Creative Expression: Creating, Performing, and Participating in the Visual Arts.
Students apply artistic processes and skills, using a variety of media to communicate
meaning and intent in original works of art.
Historical and Cultural Context: Students analyze the role and development of the
visual arts in past and present cultures throughout the world, noting human diversity as it
relates to the visual arts and artists.
Aesthetic Valuing: Responding to, Analyzing, and Making Judgments About Works in
the Visual Arts
Students analyze, assess, and derive meaning from works of art, including their own,
according to the elements of art, the principles of design, and aesthetic qualities.
Connections, Relationships and Applications: Connecting and Applying What Is
Learned in the Visual Arts to Other Art Forms and Subject Areas and to Careers.
Students apply what they learn in the visual arts across subject areas. They develop
competencies and creative skills in problem solving, communication, and management of
time and resources that contribute to lifelong learning and career skills.
Visual & Performing Arts Standards
Grade 1.0 Artistic
Level Perception
2.0 Creative
Expression
3.0 Historical 4.0 Aesthetic
and Cultural Valuing
Context
4
5
1.1
1.1
3.1
6
7
8
1.2
1.4
1.2
2.3, 2.5
2.2, 2.4, 2.5,
2.7
2.1, 2.4, 2.5
2.4, 2.6
3.1
3.1
4.1, 4.2, 4.5
4.1,
4.1, 4.2,
4.1, 4.2, 4.3
4.2, 4.3
5.0
Connections,
Relationships,
Applications
5.1, 5.3, 5.4
5.2, 5.3
5.3, 5.4