FINAL PROJECT - WebTools4Educators 1st2010

Lesson Plan

Márcia Regina Sawaya

Title:

A Classroom Newspaper with a Wiki

Level:

Pre- Intermediate (can be adjusted to different levels)

Time Frame:

10 one-hour sessions

Overview of Lesson Plan:

Students use a wiki to develop and create a classroom newspaper collectively. The aim of this project is to encourage students to read and write through creative and stimulating lessons as they create a classroom newspaper. As they are transformed into “journalists”, they  will have the opportunity to be inserted in a real context, which will help them to develop the skills required to become fluent readers and writers. Also, as reporters and editors, they will become effective users of digital tools to publish their newspapers. Finally, besides reading and writing skills practices, several aspects of newspapers  are covered, such as newspaper reading habits, writing an article, editing, layout, etc.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

-       be able to skim, scan, and summarize newspaper articles.

-        apply all their English learning (written or spoken) and visual language – language structure, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, media techniques, Web tools, etc. - to communicate effectively with an audience.

-        identify the parts of a newspaper and the format of a news article.

-        practice their research skill.

-        use a variety of technological and information resources to collect and synthesize information and communicate knowledge.

-        write and edit newspaper articles, and layout and publish a classroom newspaper collaboratively.

-        participate as collaborative,reflective, creative, and critical members of some digital literacy communities, such as a wiki and a blog.

-        practice respect towards the work of others, by editing work carefully and respectfully.

-        be able to understand the importance of respecting copyright and giving credit to authors (media literacy).

Technological Resource/Materials:

Computer with Internet access

“Online Newspapers—thousands of world newspapers at your fingertips"  -  http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/index.htm

“BBC” – www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc (BBC’s easier version)

Wiki – www.pbworks.com

Flickr – www.flickr.com

Blogger – www.blogger.com

Voicethread – www.voicethread.com

Newspaper Story Format from ReadWriteThink Printing Press – www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=249

Procedures:

Before starting the lesson, teacher will need to create a classroom wiki and a classroom Blogger account; students will be instructed to open Flickr and Voicethread accounts.

As a class, students will brainstorm topic ideas for the classroom newspaper. They will share their ideas by logging their answers in the wiki, thus creating a general list of ideas for topics. Students will evaluate each other’s ideas. The class will review and edit their ideas. The topics  which the class collectively agrees will be appropriate for the newspaper will be chosen.  Students will be grouped, by topic, into groups of three or four. Each group will be responsible for one page of the newspaper. Each student in the group will write an article under the group’s topic based on online readings (Online Newspapers—thousands of world newspapers at your fingertips" - http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/index.htm or “BBC” – www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc are suggested), and then edit each other’s article.

Students will be asked to print-out and turn in the original article to the teacher.

Since students will interview people or research information on the Web -for their articles,.they will be explained the importance of paraphrasing while doing research, and will be learn about Creative Commons and the importance of respecting copyright. Also, throughout the project, teacher will be monitoring the wiki for inappropriate language or actions.

Students will be taught what is required in order to write a news article (the 5 W questions: who/what/where/why/when)

Students  will be taught how to make up each paragraph to write their article. They will finally write their articles and publish them in the wiki.

Students will read and edit each other’s articles based on a a peer-editing  checklist which will be published in the wiki  by the teacher (involving spelling, punctuation, grammar, paragraph set-up, quotation, etc.). Each student may then re-write his/her article based on the peer-editing checklist and re-publish it in the wiki.

Students will then use Flickr to find a suitable picture to be used with their article.

Teacher will then read the articles in the wiki, check the pictures used and make comments/suggestions before students write their final draft.

Next, students will finally work together to create a layout for the newspaper. Each group can choose a format for their newspaper section from the website www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=249, which they will fill out with their articles and pictures.

Finally, each group will display their newspaper section in the classroom blog (www.blogger.com).

Assessment:

Students will be evaluated on their ability to:

-        read/write as demonstrated in their newspaper articles, by applying their knowledge of language structure, language conventions, vocabulary, etc.

-        explore technological and information resources.

-        work collaboratively and manage time.

-        respect the work of others.

-        edit with care, based on the peer-editing checklist written by the teacher.

-        respect copyright and use Creative Commons licensing.

Reflection:

After the conclusion of the project, each student will use the “comment area” in the wiki or blog to reflect on his/her own experience and learning.

Extension:

Each student will:

-        use Voicethread (www.voicethread.com) to give a brief summary of his/her article in the wiki.

-        use the “comment area” in the wiki or blog to make comments on each group’s work.