The Investigative Reporter
I have been working on a collaborative learning experience for my students. I want them to think of themselves as hot newspaper reporters breaking the latest news in print. The newspaper format stems from my "Boomer" perspective, but also from a desire to help them develop the ability to write an article (or research paper) well. I wanted them to utilize the Who/What/When/Where & Why format. Interesting how this MaxKnowledge course has brought my idea into more fruition. Now I can see the importance of incorporating technology into the experience for my Gen Yers.
Anyone else been thinking of doing something like this? Your comments and suggestions are welcome!
Namaste, Shelia
I have been teaching my students the 5 w's from
the newspaper for years. They have learned to
get the main ideas from the first sentence of
the news reporter's article. This year I tried
something different. For their mid-term essay in
Eng. 101 I had them write 3 5w's about themselves.
They chose family, pet or school stories, and then
they chose one of the 3 to write about as if they
were the news reporter. It worked quite well, and
the students seemed to enjoy the experience.
Gloria,
yes these are the type of creative activities that Gen Y seems to really respond to & can be a great learning experience.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
In my class we used our own version of "Investigative Reporter." We called it "Predict the Future." We had small groups of students each pick a current global problem and using clips from the Internet, analyze the situation, arrive at a position on what likely scenarios would follow and then substantiate that position in front of the class. Everyone worked very hard to support what they said was going to happen in the future. Though often the global situation in question was unresolved at the end of the class term, the students would still be actively thinking about their predictions and follow news events related to them even after they graduated.
It seemed to be a hit with the Gen. Yers.
Gloria I like an oral version of this and ask the student's in 30 seconds with no other students in the class to provide me a reason to hire them. I do this with each student separately and then have them do this with the class present.
This is a question in all likelihood they will receive in the real world during a job interview.
Al
