Engaged Learning Lesson Plan
Creating a Student-Produced
Chicago Public Schools, Area Cluster 3
A miniquest developed for grades 6-8 by Mr. Gunn.
Home | Task | Project Goals | The Process | Resource Links |
| Assessment | Learning Standards |
The Student Council recently had their elections.
During the campaign, a candidate for President pledged to have a school
newspaper. This candidate was
elected and he discussed the newspaper at the first Council meeting and
organized a Newspaper Club committee with assigned jobs for each member.
He stated that they want a school newspaper and that they will manage
its production. Teacher sponsors
have agreed to support this task and help direct students as needed, including
the computer teacher and the writing teacher.
The computer teacher will offer all available school technology,
including digital cameras, internet research, and large-format printing.
The writing teacher will offer her journalism experience (her undergrad
major) and extra credit to participants.
Essential Question:
Can the newspaper club produce an educational monthly newspaper that the students will read?
Specific Questions:
Will students edit their stories and reports to acceptable writing standards?
Will students strive to research and report stories and news items so they are accurate and complete?
Will students strive to have a newspaper that is representative of all students and interests?
Will students plan their work to finish assignments by the deadline each month?
1. The Student Council will discuss the benefits of a Newspaper Club committee and commit to accept the responsibilities. The committee will meet two days a week on Tuesdays and Thursday as part of our “After School Counts” program.
2. The Student Council will form a Newspaper Club committee and assign sections, columns, and jobs to each student. There will be at least two co-editors-in-chief.
3. The Newspaper Club will assign each student to at least one classroom to work on story ideas.
4. Students will use AppleWorks’ Draw module to produce the newspaper assisted by two teacher sponsors. AppleWorks is chosen since it is available on the main school computers, students have been familiar with the Word Processor module for many years, and it is well supported for their grade level.
5. The Newspaper Club committee will maintain an "Assignment Board" that will list all current sections, columns, and stories.
6. Students will work and an 8-page monthly newspaper format that will be two double-side 11x17 sheets. Students in charge of layout will add material as it comes in with set deadlines for final submission. Since the newspaper will be printed at school, deadlines can be up to the last day and ensure current information.
7. Students will use peer editing to review content and then the co-editors-in-chief will approve the content. Of course, the teacher sponsors will verify and supervise the final content.
8. Students will assist with collating, stapling with long-neck staplers, and folding the newspaper for distribution.
9. One newspaper will be given per family. Families of four or more will get two copies. Depending on the legal permissions, the newspaper may be sold in the community as a fundraiser for $.50
Sample Project: http://www.castletechnology.com/showcase/Region%20III/Middle%20School/Sannito-Suder/Extraextra/homepage.htm
1.
Is there a website that helps students and
teachers review their legal rights with content?
Student Press Law Center
2.
Is there a website that teaches students how to write a great story?
The Write Site
3.
Is there a national association for elementary school
newspapers?
National Elementary
Schools Press Association's (NESPA's) homepage
4.
Is there a site for kids to discover cartooning
http://www.cagle.com/teacher/
6.
Are there monthly publications for kids who care about people, animals, and
the Earth?
KIND News Online
8.
Is there a website that helps students write articles
about drug use prevention?
Straight Scoop News Bureau
(SSNB)
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CATEGORY |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
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Rough Draft |
Rough draft brought on due date. Student shares with peer and extensively
edits based on peer feedback. |
Rough draft brought on due date. Student shares with peer and peer makes
edits. |
Provides feedback and/or edits for peer, but own rough draft was not ready
for editing. |
Rough draft not ready for editing and did not participate in reviewing
draft of peer. |
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Organization |
Content is well organized using titles, sub-titles, tables, and paragraphs
to group related material. |
Uses titles, sub-titles, tables, and paragraphs to organize, but the
overall organization of topics appears flawed. |
Content is logically organized for the most part. |
There was no clear or logical organizational structure, just lots of facts
or information. |
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Content |
Covers topic in-depth with details and examples. Subject knowledge is
excellent. |
Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to
be good. |
Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual
errors. |
Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors. |
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Mechanics |
No misspellings or grammatical errors in article or column. |
Three or fewer misspellings and/or mechanical errors in article or column. |
Four misspellings and/or grammatical errors in article or column. |
More than 4 errors in spelling or grammar. |
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Sources |
Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. All
documented in desired format. |
Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. Most
documented in desired format. |
Source information collected for graphics, facts and quotes, but not
documented in desired format. |
Very little or no source information was collected. |
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Attractiveness |
Makes excellent use of font, graphics, effects, layout, etc. to enhance
the newspaper. |
Makes good use of font, graphics, effects, layouts, etc. to enhance to
presentation. |
Makes use of font, graphics, effects, layout, etc. but occasionally these
detract from the presentation content. |
Use of font, graphics, effects, layout, etc. but these often distract from
the presenation content. |
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Workload |
The workload is divided and shared equally by all team members. |
The workload is divided and shared fairly by all team members, though
workloads may vary from person to person. |
The workload was divided, but one person on the committee is viewed as not
doing his/her fair share of the work. |
The workload was not divided OR several people on the committee are viewed
as not doing their fair share of the work. |
State Goal #
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CAS letter
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CFS #
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#3 WRITE TO COMMUNICATE FOR A VARIETY OF PURPOSES
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Grade
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ALL
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Grade 7/8-B. Write with focus, organization, coherence, and unity in
relation to purpose and audience using a variety of supporting evidence
and elaborative detail
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ALL
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Grade 7/8-C. Produce well-developed expository, narrative, persuasive,
and technical texts that address audience, purpose, and context
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1, 2, 3, and 4
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#5 USE THE LANGUAGE ARTS FOR INQUIRY AND RESEARCH TO ACQUIRE, ORGANIZE,
ANALYZE, EVALUATE, AND COMMUNICATE INFORMATION
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Grade 6-A. Gather, organize, and integrate information from a variety
of print and non-print sources (e.g., library, electronic sources, human
resources) to answer questions and solve problems related to investigation
and research.
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1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7
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Grade 7/8-A Conduct research, individually and cooperatively, analyzing
and applying the acquired information to produce presentations.
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1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9
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