Day 3

Goals:

1. Build a newspaper so students have exposure to publishing a document.

2. Learn how to write an effective document.

3. Learn how to critique a fellow student's article.

Time:

120 minutes.

Resources\Materials:

Pencils, paper, computers, printers, and paper.

Procedure:

1. Students will choose a topic, of any interest, related to the Caribbean region. This could be an island, a person, a place, an artifact, or any special item that fascinates the students.

2. The students will gather information on the topics they have selected and write a hypothetical story using the information they just retrieved. An example would be: "Caribbean Island attacked by Vampire Bats" as a title and a story that is not true, but rather made up about vampire bats in the Caribbean. Encourage the students to be creative. Let them write about anything that relates to the Caribbean.

3. The students will write these short stories in class, type them into the computer, and correct any grammatical errors. Once this has been completed, the students will clip all the stories together in the computer and print a newspaper or a newsletter.

4. After the newsletter has been printed and read by all the students, each student will be responsible for writing a critique of their favorite newspaper story. The critique must mention which article was chosen, what the student liked about the story, and what could be improved to make the story better. This paper must be written in complete sentences with no grammatical errors.

5. The paper is due the following day.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on this activity by turning in a critique of another students newspaper story. The following guidelines as listed in the procedure are in effect. See procedure #4 for the guidelines. In addition, they will be assessed on completion of the newspaper task. This means that every student must submit an article to our class newspaper.

Task completion
 
4 Student actively performs and completes required tasks presented to him/her.

3 Student performs and completes required tasks presented to him/her.

2 Student passively performs and completes required tasks presented to him/her.

1 Student passively performs, but does not complete required tasks presented to him/her.


Sentence structure:



4 Student writes in complete and accurate sentences and makes no grammatical errors.

3 Student writes in complete sentences and makes few grammatical errors.

2 Student writes in complete sentences, but makes many grammatical errors.

1 Student writes in fragments and makes grammatical errors.


Paper requirements:



4 Student addresses all components expected of him/her in a clear and organized manner and in addition, enhances his/her paper by using illustrations or diagrams.

3 Student addresses all components expected of him/her in a clear and organized manner.

2 Student addresses all components expected of him/her but not in a completely clear and organized manner.

1 Student addresses most components expected, or fails to organize the paper, in a clear and orderly manner.

Curricular Strands:

Art - creating a newspaper

English - Writing a newspaper article and submitting a critique

Possible Extensions:

Visit a local newspaper company. Learn how to print a newspaper. The class could write a column in the school newspaper every week about the Caribbean.

This page submitted by St. Norbert College Ocean Voyagers Program