This past fall 2014 our Title 1, Brooklyn middle school, Ditmas
IS 62, a school that has a state of the art Science and Engineering program
plus its own regularly produced television news show, decided to launch a classic
school publishing entity: a school newspaper.
Initially, as I sat with the head teacher advisor for this
new effort, we both wondered how such a classic school activity, one closely associated with print,
a medium truly before our students’ time, would work. Would our high tech student reporters
and their digitally oriented audience take ownership of it?
Would this just be a top down, teacher-pushed, exercise in necessary reportorial and argumentative skills? Would we expectedly just get participation from a handful of compliant students involved in it for their own sense of accomplishment? In a school with a very strong television newscast program, so popular in fact that participating students are recognized by peers in the hallways for their television news roles, would a print newspaper have any school wide impact?
Would this just be a top down, teacher-pushed, exercise in necessary reportorial and argumentative skills? Would we expectedly just get participation from a handful of compliant students involved in it for their own sense of accomplishment? In a school with a very strong television newscast program, so popular in fact that participating students are recognized by peers in the hallways for their television news roles, would a print newspaper have any school wide impact?
As we sat with an initial team of 8 students, kids who identified
themselves as writers and came forward to work on the project, we had them talk
about things in the school which concerned them and on which they wanted to
report. Energies and enthusiasm among the team began to build. One of them stated “running” the discussion
and announced she would be willing to serve as the editor in chief. She started taking notes of the discussion
and collecting team contacts. She had
each member of the swiftly coalescing team begin to visualize the look and
features of “their” school newspaper.
The head advisor and I simply set out copies of the NY Times,
NY Daily News , and NY Post as anchor newspaper texts. By the end of the first session, many of the
students sitting around the table had come up with their own “beats” and
initial story ideas. We ended with a
challenge about the “flag” or the title of our newsletter.
By the second meeting the students were basically “running”
their news team on their own with the head advisor and I simply facilitating and keeping the excited
students focused. They discussed a flag
for their newspaper and went around the table to take a vote as a team on its
selection. Their selected flag was not
one we advisors would have suggested. But that was fine, they “owned “ their
paper, after all.
Led by a newly formed team of a seventh and an eighth grade co-editors,
the team solidified their “beats,” committed to potential stories to report on,
and several departed from the room in search of interviews or leads. Others sat down by laptops to research issues
before writing their reactions to events.
Using the style and format of the local print adult newspapers as an
anchor, they identified a potential lead story for our school – the visit of the
author, Veronica Chambers - a former student at the school in the 1980’s. Our
young newspaper staff hoped she would share her success as a writer and communicate
her positive memories of Ditmas as a nurturing environment for her authorial
talents. Two of our reporters “covered” the visit and brainstormed their own interview
questions. Other team members reported on a partnership with a Bear Creek, Pennsylvania Charter School. They used their notes from a trip to visit and
selected photos for the story.
As do reporters at an actual newspaper, the students
identified ongoing student happenings and issues within the school as points of
interest. Among these were: Student
Council, vending machine snacks, classroom campaigns to raise awareness of the
need to adopt rescue dogs, specialized high school tests, and the controversial
weight of standardized test scores. One
of the reporters who is also a talented songwriter and driven vocal performer
(at the elderly age of 12) decided that the newspaper’s launch should be
promoted on the school’s DNN Ditmas News Network Television show. Students identified beloved and key school
staff such as Rudy Lewis, Head of the school safety team and Gerard Sargent,
the head of the Flatbush Development Corporation. He recorded a jingle backed
by two of the students who editors and dancers as community figures to report
on. The students who had passionate
interest in dance, art, and international life (some were Bangali or Pakistani)
wrote special features reflecting their expertise. The paper launched with a
joyous team celebration luncheon at a nearby restaurant.
By the second issue,
the student news team, coordinated by its two student editors, was off and
running, with its advisors stepping back.
The self-designated gossip columnist (calls herself “Pheme”) started
turning in gossip columns focusing on wardrobes and school rumors. A restaurant critic wrote up the restaurant where
the launch celebration had been held as well as the Food court the team visited
when they were invited to tour the news studios of WCBS 880 and WINS 1010, two
important, big-time NYC stations.
Students who were from International Backgrounds (13%) of
the school, and those native born in Brooklyn, reacted to international events
such as the Ebola crisis, the bombing of a Pakistani school, the initial
suppression of The Interview film, Malala’s winning the Nobel Prize, and Je
Suis Charlie as citizens of the United States and citizens born into the
religious/ethnic backgrounds of these international news happenings. Students on their own sought out adult
teacher and adult local political leader responses to these issues. One of the students, a gifted graphic artist
who ironically was headed to become a science major, started creating editorial
cartoon commentary for the issue focusing graphically on: censorship of the
Interview film, Eric Garner police controversy case, the Pakistani School
Attack, and Je Suis Charlie.
The culturally focused, internationally born reporters
weighed in from their perspectives as either Muslims or international citizens
of the world on the controversy over the depiction of the prophet Mohammed in
Charlie Hebdo. Three reporters gave up their
lunch period to interview a class of ESL students on the issue. Student
reporters brought in their own story ideas based on school-wide initiatives and
curriculum themes such as a comparison of the feature film Selma to the actual
historical events of the March. One of
the reporters talked with her grandfather and unearthed a photo of a meeting
between him and John Lewis, depicted in the film
The initial team which met on designated after school time,
gained new recruits and freelance reporters.
Those directly involved with it were celebrated on the television show
and some of the writer/camera crew began contributing to the newspaper, as well. But was this lovely print publication (a digital e-version is distributed online,
as well) important beyond the students immediately producing it and the student
audience it addressed directly?
Yes, teachers began reading it on their own beyond mention
of their names and commended the student reporters on their work and art. Other students whose work was not featured in
the newspaper, asked how they could purchase or get a copy of the printed publication. Staff joyously looked at their candid photos
which, like those in local tabloids, decorated the paper. Students generated their own ideas for issues
and insider columns. The e-issue of the
paper prompted students from Major Johnstown High School in Pennsylvania to
offer their own commentary on how cultural jokes would affect them from their
more homogenous, rural Pennsylvania perspective. A visiting author, Jacqueline Woodson, was
impressed by the level of their commentary.
Teachers and staff members contacted the student editors with story
ideas. Karina Constantino, the
Superintendent of District 20, praised the newspaper at the monthly Council of
Education meeting. Praise and financial support came in from the Flatbush
Development Council.
While the first issue only covered 7 of the school’s 45
classes (the school has 1300 students- including ESL, Special Needs, Principal
Classes, Collaborative Team teaching Classes and regular 6-8 students), by the second issue 40 % of the school’s
classes were either represented in articles or had individual student
contributors. Parent leaders were featured
as celebrities and the school’s adult volunteer program was covered by a
reporter in the eighth grade who also trained the volunteers in differentiated
instruction.
Yes, all well and lovely for school spirit, staff and
community. However, in this time of
school accountability to meet PARCC Model Frameworks, to prepare students for
college and careers, and to align with the Common Core Standards in ELA and
History/SS, how can this newspaper project be justified, even though much of it
is done afterschool (with support from the Flatbush Development Corporation) and, in truth, the paper is put together by a limited
number of students? Firstly, the
students involved became active, authentic apprentices in the field of
journalism as they tackle word limits, do editing, focus on stories, interviews,
research, and collaborate in teams.
True, this newspaper program was fortunate to arrange visit to
two major NYC broadcast stations, CBS880 and WINS 1010. However, other middle
school newspaper teams can also arrange visits to local news offices in order
to connect student skills to the real world of work. Standardized testing and writing Common Core
standards are all about argument writing and reading as well as writing informative details about
topics that are informational. These are
essential components of news reporting, as are Common Core History topic research, use of secondary/primary
sources, identification /use of document quotes and placement of graphics with
text content.
Dr. Anthony Bryk’s research as part of the University of
Chicago’s Consortium on research predicates school success on collaboration and
developing a positive nurturing school environment. Our newspaper, the Ditmas Bulldog Buzz, is the
product of a team of teacher advisor collaborators (SS and ELA) plus a growing
team of additional school instructional, guidance, administration, safety office,
and support staff working together to facilitate the student’s efforts. School branding can and is achieved through
school vehicles and devices run by and produced by students, teachers, and
parents. The Ditmas Bulldog Buzz both
reports on the rigorous multi-content Science, Law, ELA and other content area
happenings in the school and authenticates it for the reporter researcher
team. The newspaper fosters a supportive
and positive environment in which high expectations for the students are
realized through their publication and the reporting process. Strong family and
community ties are effected as students cover and become part of teaming with
the PTA president, the Parent Coordinator, and the adult tutor trainers. Students present their product and process to
the school community and train teachers and students at other schools. Mr. Barry
Kevorkian, the Principal of Ditmas and his team of assistant principals: Ms.
Santiago, Ms. Smalley, Ms. Esposito, and Ms. Lynch work collaboratively with
the students, staff, and parents to make certain the newspaper “covers” the
school activities and community involvement mission. Ultimately the newspaper
filled with the images of the spirited faces of Ditmas students, staff,
community and outreach beyond the walls of the school, concretizes and “images”
the trust and affection that bonds “Ditmas”citizens on all levels as a
community. An essential framework for
great schools emerges in one fell swoop
with a school newspaper. The classic
vehicle of the school print news team transforms the 21st century
PARCC and CCSS aligned school visions, one student newspaper issue at a time. This speaks “volumes” of the power of the
press to inform and to define a community with links to life, literacy and
liberty.
Visit the Ditmas Bulldog Buzz at: http://ditmasis62.webs.com/Ditmas%20Bulldog%20Buzz.pdf
Dr. Rose Reissman is a veteran
English Language Arts educator who founded the Writing Institute Program
currently based in Ditmas IS 62. Under the leadership of Barry Kevorkian,
Principal, 18 educators collaborate with Dr. Reissman to produce literacy
projects. Mr. Downes (Head Advisor), Ms. Xavier (ELA Editor), and Dr. Reissman are faculty advisors
for the Ditmas Bulldog Buzz, a student newspaper that reports on local
neighborhood, New York State and International News as it affects the students’
lives as citizens of the world. roshchaya@gmail.com
“Classroom Climate, Rigorous Instruction and Curriculum, and
Students ‘Interactions in Urban Middle Schools.” The Elementary School Journal 108.4 (2008):
293-312. Web.
Newmann, F. M. (University of Wisconsin), B. Smith, E.
Allensworth, and A.S. Bryk. “Instructional program Coherence: What it is and
why it should guide school improvement policy.” Educational Evaluation and
Policy Analysis 23.4 (2001): 297-321.
