Whether you’ve been teaching online classes for years or are one of the millions of educators thrust suddenly into the virtual classroom, the Medal of Honor Character Development Program is stepping up to help you.  Educators who teach this curriculum in their own classrooms have been adapting lesson plans for virtual use, to make it easy for you to teach elementary and secondary students about the history of the Medal of Honor while also instilling in them the values of courage, commitment, integrity, sacrifice, citizenship, and patriotism.   

The adapted lessons facilitate independent learning via reflective activities and critical thinking prompts. Students whose schools offer access to online discussion boards and video conferencing are encouraged to discuss their work with other students. Each lesson plan offers assignments that allow you to assess student work. Most lessons also feature videos that you can share with your students via direct link or through your online assignment websites.  

The Lessons 

Secondary students can Explore the Six Core Values, examine Integrity in Decision Making through the story of Medal of Honor Recipient James Fleming, or ask themselves What Can I Do? while they learn about Myles Eckert.  

View all of the Secondary Distance Learning Lessons. 

Elementary students can reflect on The Importance of Remembrance while they listen to Gary Beikirch read The Wall or learn about Patriotic Poppies and the history of the Buddy Poppy.

View all of the Elementary Distance Learning Lessons. 

 You can also send students to the website to complete their own independent research, learning about the Medal of Honor Recipients and the Medal.  

Why Medal of Honor Character Development? 

Medal of Honor Recipients are role models: real people who responded to an extraordinary circumstance for which they were recognized by the people who witnessed their actions. Medal of Honor Recipients have in turn established the Citizen Honors Award, with which they recognize extraordinary citizens. Based on these Medal of Honor and Citizen Honors stories, The Character Development Program was created in 2009, and the Elementary Resources were added in 2016 by teacher request. The goal of the program, then and now, is to preserve the legacy of the Medal of Honor by inspiring the next generation of students. 

As the number of living Recipients decreases, it is important to teach the values of the Medal of Honor to students who can embody these characteristics and become heroes in their own communities. Join more than 17,500 teachers and educators who are inspiring their students to represent the values of the Medal of Honor by downloading a lesson today.