My+Hero+Project

Our Class My Hero Page My Hero: these are the people that hold up the mirror and make us question our own humanity - Chris Abani


 * What does it mean to be a hero?
 * What are the characteristics of a hero?
 * Classification of types of heroes?
 * Quotes about heroism.
 * Famous Heroes?
 * Local Heros?
 * Videos about heroism
 * Links to websites related to heroism


 * Google Doc: Hero Brainstorming (Shared across two classes!)**

Youtube Channel

Home Page

Alex's Lemonade Stand

Block 3 presentation sign up

Block 4 presentation sign up

Presentation Rubric

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Creating Your "My Hero" web page My Hero Web Page Assignment Evaluation Rubric


 * 1. Register**

Have students follow these steps:

a) Open the MY HERO home page at www.myhero.com

b) In the left navigational bar, click on "Create"

c) A registration form will appear on the screen. This form asks for relevant information such as name, grade, school, and email contact. This information is only used to contact authors whose stories have been activated and selected to be featured. This information will not be given to any third party. Students may use a school contact or email address, rather than their own. Teachers and after-school program instructors using this project in classrooms should ask all participating students to **identify the name of the school or organization in the requested "organization field" on the registration page.**

d) Once submitted, all stories are reviewed and then activated by the MY HERO staff. Teachers can then locate their students' work by searching the MY HERO database with the name of their school or organization.

This creates an individual MY HERO account, which the student uses to log on to his/her MY HERO web page to edit his/her story.

__**Choosing the Hero**__ Based on our development of the concept of heroism, choose the subject of your web site. Be sure to carefully consider our discussions about what constitutes a true hero; remember the distinction between hero and celebrity.

Get approval by Mr Janzen then record the name of your hero on this Google Doc. **//(Also Shared across 2 classes-open editing)//**


 * //No two students in either class will create a web page for the same hero.//**

__**Researching the Hero**__

Every hero deserves a little research. For the well-known hero, this may include Internet or library resources. Please be sure to **gather citations** along with information so you can give proper credit to your sources. If the research involves multiple sources, it can be a great exercise in synthesizing information and paraphrasing. **Please be cautioned against plagiarism, which includes copying sections of information from other sources and pasting them into your work without giving credit**.

For lesser known or unknown heroes, the best research source may be the actual person. The process of preparing for and conducting an interview, along with transcribing and accurately representing information, develops important skills.

__**Drafting, Writing, Proofing and Editing the Hero Story**__ Taking the time to insure that you do your best work will lead to the greatest rewards when your story is published. You will write a first draft as a Google document then copy and paste it onto Collaborize classroom. Your peers will then offer suggestions for improvements followed by a revision into your second draft. You will then share the Google document with me for review; followed by your final revision.

See the Due Dates page for the project timeline.

Try to answer these five questions within your essay:

> WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN AND WHY?

> 1. Who is your hero?

> 2. What has your hero done?

> 3. Where does your hero live?

> 4. When did your hero live?

> 5. Why is this person important to you? (How have they made a difference in your life?)

__**Images for the Story**__

Students will create their own illustrations and visuals for their stories. Some students like to create drawings or paintings. Students with access to Photoshop, paint programs, Illustrator, and other computer arts programs are encouraged to use these to create visuals for their stories. In addition, MY HERO also welcomes audio, video, and multimedia pieces. Just as students experience in their own reading how strong creative images draw the interest of the reader and offer clues to the story’s content, they, too, should choose visuals with these same goals in mind.

If students want to copy a picture off the Internet, **be sure they also copy the URL for the picture,** as the Create program asks where the picture comes from. (We may need to obtain permission to use the picture.) To get the URL, have students right click on the image and choose “Properties.” A small window will pop up, giving the type of file, the address (URL), the size and the dimensions of the image. First, have students copy the URL and be ready to supply the information later, when uploading their story to MY HERO. Also, have students look at the file size and dimension. Images need to be saved at 72 dots per inch (DPI) maximum resolution (200K maximum file size). If the image being copied is larger than this, it will need to be processed through a program such as Photoshop to reduce its size. Making sure the image files are the proper size and that the source material is ready will make the uploading process go more smoothly.


 * See Mr Janzen for assistance with resizing an image.**

Visuals that do not originate on a computer or the Internet, including original artwork, pictures from books, and other two-dimensional images, need to be scanned onto a computer or a digital photograph may be taken.

All visuals need to be saved as either jpeg or gif files at 72 dpi, 200K maximum file size on the desktops of the same computers students will be using to upload their projects to MY HERO.

__**Related Links for the Story**__

MY HERO stories have “Related Links” at the bottom of each story. When students are uploading information about links to their MY HERO web page, they will be asked to provide the link, the URL, and a Link Detail. The “Link” is the name of the website (for example, MY HERO), the URL is the website address (i.e., http://www.myhero.com) and the Link Detail is the description that will appear under the link on the student’s web page.

Students can wait to add the information about links until after they have uploaded and edited their stories. They can copy and paste the URL into the area provided, which can save time and avoid errors.

__**Uploaded stories can be edited UNTIL they are submitted**__

When students upload a story, a page-in-progress is created, enabling them to see how their story looks as a web page.**Uploaded stories can be SAVED, returned to, and edited. However, once a story has been SUBMITTED, it can no longer be edited by the author or the teacher.** Teachers will need to emphasize this to students when they are uploading their stories.

> Each student now has:

> • a completed, original hero story

> • bibliographic information citing their sources

> • images saved on the computer’s desktop

> • citation information about image sources

Students are now ready to go online and upload their work using the MY HERO Create Program.

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