Ideas For Preparing Students for Participation
in a Computer Chronicles Learning Circle
Newspapers and Newswires
Show the front page of a local newspaper and ask students to identify
its key features (i.e., headlines, table of contents, pictures, mastheads,
etc.). Then, focus on a story written about a current event in a foreign
country very far away from your own country. Ask students where they think
the reporter was when he or she heard or saw the news and how the information
was transformed into a written story and printed in the newspaper so quickly.
Help your students think about how news and information travels from the
source to the newsroom, to the printing presses, and finally to the public.
Discuss the role of computer technology and telecommunications in transmitting
written texts around the world. If you are unsure of the process, invite
a guest speaker who can extend your ideas.
Field Trip Idea
Call the editor of your local community newspaper to see
if you arrange for a field trip to the newspaper office. Have your students
carefully examine the newspaper and think about how the editors decide
what types of stories to print. Ask the newspaper editor to explain to
your students how reporters are assigned to tasks and how editors make
decisions about articles. Ask the editor to list the criteria he or she
uses in evaluating articles.
Invite a reporter from a local newspaper to come to your
classroom and talk to your students about their work. You might want to
have students ask the reporter how he or she is assigned to a story. When
can a reporter write about whatever they want and when must a reporter
cover the story that was assigned. As you might want to ask if every story
they write is published. Again they will want to understand the process.
It often helps students to know that now everything that is written, ever
by talented adults is published. This discussion may help prepare students
for assignments that they will receive and the possibility that they work
will not be chosen for publication by distant editors.
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