The My Hero Project. This free online website www.myhero.com is devoted to student writing. It was formed by two women, Jeanne Meyers and Rita Stern, who were seeking ways in which their children could identify true heroes in the world. They were concerned about rock stars and athletes being identified as the only heroes for kids. Their website actively seeks writing by kids and helps them identify the qualities of a hero. They are particularly seeking writing in which a student identifies unsung heroes who do great things that go unrecognized, possibly someone in their neighborhood or in their family. The website is very user friendly and sets up a 5 paragraph template into which kids can type their work. When finished students may submit the work and it can then be read by anyone on the internet.
DVD /
Half Past Autumn
is a companion piece that goes with Parks' book of the same name. It is very insightful as it explains many of the photos in the book but teachers beware, in addition to being powerful it is also very sad.
DVD/
Born Into Brothels
is the documentary done by Zana Briski on how photography helped change the lives of the children who were born into brothels in Calcutta, India. It also is an excellent companion piece to the photography book of the photographs taken by these kids.
Both DVDs are available at www. Amazon. Com, or on www.netflix.com