Step
One: Preparation of Content
Choosing the
Hero
MY HERO offers several lesson plans, including
What
is a Hero?, Who
is a Hero?, Heroic
Activities, and Reading
a MY HERO story, any of which
can be used to introduce your students to
the Web site. These lesson plans help students
to develop a definition of a hero (distinct
from celebrity), and identify their own
heroes. Since an individual’s hero
is a personal value choice, MY HERO encourages
teachers to allow students to make their
own decisions. Explain to students that
MY HERO will not publish hateful stories
or stories intended to cause harm.
Researching
the Hero
Every hero deserves a little research. For
the well-known hero, this may include Internet
or library resources. Please be sure students
gather citations along with information
so they can give proper credit to their
sources. If the research involves multiple
sources, it can be a great exercise in synthesizing
information and paraphrasing. Please caution
students against plagiarism, which includes
copying sections of information from other
sources and pasting them into the students’
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 students
do their best work will lead to the greatest
rewards when the stories are published.
However, it is not required that every piece
be teacher-edited. The concern is that a
teacher-edited story might inadvertently
alter the individuality of the students'
stories. Emphasis is on the students owning
their own stories and doing their best work.
Stories should be saved
as a text file in any word processing program,
and be from one to five or more paragraphs.
MY HERO editors encourage authors to answer
these five questions within their 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
We strongly encourage students to 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 a student 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 wants 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.
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. Those without access
to a scanner or digital phototools can snail
mail copies of their images to MY HERO.
Do not send original photos or artwork.
Be sure to clearly label the photos with
the hero’s name, and credit the photographer
or artist who made the image.
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. We
recommend that students be assigned to the
same computers for saving images and uploading
their projects to MY HERO. If the computers
are part of a lab, tell anyone responsible
for the computers about these files. All
image files can be deleted from the computer
hard drives after completion of the MY HERO
project.
Audio, video and multimedia
files can be added to MY HERO Web pages.
Multimedia files may be mailed to MY HERO
on a CD-ROM, Zip disk, audio or digital
videotape to:
MY HERO
1278 Glenneyre #286
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Teachers may want to devise
a naming system for the files so that students
can easily recognize their images. One simple
idea is to have the file name include the
student’s name, followed by an underscore
and a name the student makes up for the
picture (e.g., Sam_recycling.jpg). Naming
each image will also helps students know
where to place them in the text.
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.
Q: How much preparation
do you need to do before going online and
uploading the stories?
If you have unlimited access to Internet-connected
computers, you have the luxury of using
MY HERO during the whole creation process.
However, if your computer access is limited,
you can do all or most of the work beforehand.
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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Step
Two: Registering on the Create site
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.
Minors working at home must have parental
approval prior to giving out any email or
telephone contact information. 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.
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Step
Three: Inserting Hero Stories into the Create
Template
Stories can be prepared
as a text file in any word processing program
and be from one to five or more paragraphs.
MY HERO editors encourage authors to answer
these five questions within their 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?)
Completed essays can be
saved as text files on your computer and
then pasted into the MY HERO template. You
may return online to edit and revise your
text as often as you like over the next
several weeks. Be sure to check your spelling
and punctuation.
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Step
Four: Uploading Pictures and Inserting Them
in the Text
Artwork or photos can be
scanned into the computer and then uploaded
onto the MY HERO Web page. 
Images
must be saved as jpg or gif files on the
desktop at 72 dots per inch (dpi), maximum
resolution (200k maximum file size). We
suggest that photos be around four inches
by three inches. Choose the layout of the
images (left, right or center of the text).
Make sure to credit the photographer or
artist who made the image.
Those without access to
a scanner or digital photo tools can "snail-mail"
copies of their images to MY HERO. Do not
send original photos or artwork. Be sure
to clearly label the photos with the hero's
name, and credit the photographer or artist
who made the image.
Audio, video and multimedia
files can be added to MY HERO web pages.
Multimedia files may be mailed to MY HERO
on CD-ROM, Zip disk, audio or digital videotape:
MY HERO
1278 Glenneyre #286
Laguna Beach, California 92651
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Step
Five: Uploading information about Links
Research
links to other educational Web sites, then
copy and paste the Web site's URL into the
area provided for links in the MY HERO Web
design program. Clearly describe the names
of the Web sites that you have chosen to
link to and check that the links are working.
To research additional links
while you keep your Web design program open,
go to the "FILE" menu option at
the top of your Internet browser and choose
under the file option, "NEW WINDOW."
A new window will open on your Internet
browser and the MY HERO design program will
stay open as well. Then use a search engine
to locate educational Web sites that are
relevant to your hero Web page.
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Step
Six: Save Your Work-in-Progress
To save your Web page-in-progress,
be sure to click "Work on this page
later."
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Step
Seven: Editing a Saved Story
Log
on to your MY HERO account to edit your
Web page, adjust image sizes and layout,
and add additional information, such as
a bibliography. Place credits under each
image and provide
a caption with the name of your hero. Check
your spelling and
punctuation. Once you are satisfied with
your work you might want to print a copy
or save a copy on your desktop.
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Step
Eight: The final step: Submitting Your Story
to MY HERO
This
is it! This is the moment students have
been working toward. Once they click on
"I'M FINISHED - SUBMIT THIS PAGE,"
their story can no longer be revised.
Before they submit their
work, have students print out a copy of
their web page to proofread and make sure
they are satisfied with the layout.
Be sure they “SUBMIT”
their finished work!
All submitted stories are
reviewed by the MY HERO staff, then activated
for public viewing. Stories can be found
by searching the MY HERO database by name,
keyword or organization.
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Prizes
T-Shirt Prize
All authors of stories "FEATURED"
on the MY HERO Web site will be awarded a
Genius T-Shirt Prize. A school e-mail or telephone
contact must be provided on the registration
form in order for staff to notify teachers
that their student’s work is featured
on the MY HERO Web site.
Special Recognition Award
Prizes are awarded each year
to authors whose stories are selected for
special recognition. Students, parents, teachers
and authors of all ages are eligible for this
special award. Stories are first selected
by the MY HERO staff, then reviewed by an
outside panel of journalists. There is no
deadline; stories selected for this honor
will be FEATURED on the MY HERO home page
in a special awards section.
To be eligible, the MY HERO
essay must be 200-800 words and must be submitted
using the MY HERO Create Program. The essay
may include original illustrations or photographs,
all of which need to be properly credited.
Authors must provide their grade (if relevant),
age and an e-mail or telephone contact.
