Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities

Lesson Idea Name: My Hero

Content Area: English
Grade Level(s): 2nd
Content Standard Addressed: ELAGSE2W5 With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a
topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.
a. May include prewriting

Technology Standard Addressed: 6. Creative Communicator

Selected Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity: MyHero

URL(s) to support the lesson: https://myhero.com/

Describe how you would incorporate an Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity in your
classroom:
As an introduction on writing a story focused on a topic, I will guide the students to the MyHero
website and help them set up an account under my teacher account. After they’re all set up, I will
ask them to search through the website and find a story from another student that they find
interesting and leave a comment on why they liked that person’s story underneath their post. When
they get to the part where they can comment they must raise their hand so I can approve what they
wrote and help them post the comment. Once they have all found a story, I will call on some
students to share their findings. After that I will explain how they will be doing the same thing, but
their stories will be based on someone special in their lives.
Writing the story should take about a week for them to complete. I want to make sure the
structure, grammar, and context of the story I correct and make sure the students are happy with
what they have written. Once their stories are complete, they will also need to make a drawing of
their hero or the scenario the story is talking about. The drawings should be colorful and can include
words if they feel like writing things on it. When everyone’s stories and drawings are complete, I will
guide them through uploading their creations onto their student account.
What technologies would be required to implement this proposed learning activity in a classroom?
We would need computers or iPads in the classroom

Describe how the following features are addressed in this learning experience (note: all of them may not be
addressed in the project, but most should be if you are reaching a high LoTi Level).
a. Collaboration with peers, near-peers, mentors outside their classroom and often beyond their
school: After students have published their stories about the important people in their lives,
others around the world can read the stories and comment if you allow. This website is a safe
place for students to connect and learn about other kids lives around the world.

b. Student-centered learning and knowledge creation (creating original data and or producing original
products as a result of engaging in a project): Their stories they write are about people in their
lives so its in their hands to find someone and figure out how to tell their story. Included in the
story is a drawing of that person that connects to the story the students create themselves .

c. Higher-order thinking: The process of writing a story showcasing someone important can be
tough for the kids. They need to make sure that anyone who reads their story can see
understand clearly why that person is a hero in their eyes. I want the students to feel proud
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when they are writing about the special person and their life and they need to think beyond
just facts about the person and think deeper into how their persons special act has made
them a hero. Also, when creating the drawing to go along with it, they have to think about
how they can illustrate the story so that anyone can see the correlation or draw their hero
well enough so that readers can visual the student’s important person.

d. Students publishing their original work to others who will use/care about their product: Their
completed work will be uploaded under their student account they have set up and after that,
students around the world can read about their hero and see their drawing. Their stories can
be used as an example for other teachers on the website to show their students how this
project works or for others to see examples of what hero’s mean to kids in this part of the
world.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☐ Remembering ☐ Understanding ☒ Applying ☐ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☒ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

Engagement: Design activities so that outcomes are authentic, communicate to real audiences, and
are purposeful
Representation: Present key concepts in one form of symbolic representation( expository text) with
an alternative form ( an illustration)
Action and Expression: Provide learners with spell checkers, grammar checkers, word prediction
software, speech-to-text software, human dictation, and recording

Lesson idea implementation and Internet Safety Policies:

Since this activity mainly takes place on the MyHero website, there are many precautions that need
to take place. First, I will need to create a teacher account with connecting student accounts so that
my class has a safe spot on the website rather than freely just posting and searching the website.
Next, when the students are using Google or Discovery Education to find pictures to include in their
videos make sure to monitor them closer. Discovery Education is a little more secure than Google so
there shouldn’t be a risk of other pictures popping up in the search but since Google is very open, it
might bring up pictures that are not safe for the classroom. Discovery Education or NetTrekker
should be the top choices for the students to search for content and use Google as a last resort.
Finally, by having the student draw a picture of the hero in their story it adds to the animosity of
who the child is and who the person they are writing about.

Reflective Practice:
By allowing the students the freedom to create their own stories that revolve around someone
special in their lives that will later be published on a website increases their creativity, independence
and broadens their look on the world. To go along with their writings is a picture drawn by the kids
of their hero or the scenario that they speak about in their story. It is up to them to draw whatever
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image is in their minds and when it comes to the story, they can structure the story however they
want. There is no word limit and it can be written in whatever form they think fits the story. The
main character of their story is based off someone in their life they believe has done amazing things
in life. It is up to them to write that person’s story and explain to whoever reads this why that
person is a hero in their eyes. Before they begin to write their hero story, they will read some
already published by students around the world. This will open them up to how students in other
countries define what a hero is how children around the world live their lives. It is important to show
students that there are things beyond the city or country they live in and slowly open them up to the
world around them in a safe manner.

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