WHY A NEWSPAPER IN CLASS?

On Monday, teacher asked us why is important and interesting doing a newspaper in class. As good journalists we looked for the answer on Internet all together in class and we have concluded that:

• A newspaper makes easier the learning of the work processes

The newspaper affordably enables active learning.
For us it is more important that students develop their writing skills, research, computing, search, creation, analysis or synthesis, rather than to develop perfect products.
In many cases, school newspapers are reduced to activities undertaken by teachers. They get so prodigious and well built results, but not responding to the development of students, and those who learn little or nothing.
If students are in a position of having to make a newspaper, they will be able to integrate into it all their knowledge, which is one of our main objectives and thus can work all the elements of the curriculum.

• The newspaper is an integrator of communication.

A newspaper is an integrator of communication, and as such can be used in classrooms at all levels. In recent years it has been widely used in language classes and sessions and some other areas, particularly those related to social sciences and nature. In calculation and mathematics in general the use is little, but at this time there are teachers who are working in this obtaining very satisfactory results.

• The newspaper is more than a classroom activity.

Historically school newspapers have been made, but infrequently in response to learning objectives, becoming rather simple classroom activities, or being elaborated during a holiday, or to the gallery, ultimately resulting newspapers are more of teachers that of students. We want to end this practice by having children understand that you can learn through a newspaper.

• The newspaper makes possible to achieve difficult goals.

The bottom line is that the newspaper, as a working tool of great breadth and diversification, can serve us as a privileged educational tool to get through and from it objectives would be impossible or very difficult to achieve by other means. The school newspaper can be, for example, one of the most suitable vehicle for the integrative reasoning of students.

• The newspaper reports on results of class work.

It is not always easy to summarize results of integrators work in the classroom, or tell others what is done there, or record students' efforts in certain activity. The newspaper, is one of the most suitable elements for this. When students see in their hands a newspaper by themselves and their peers, their efforts are reinforced effectively, internalizing their own learning and giving great importance to the way or process that has led them to the final result. Thus it becomes the school newspaper, facing the evaluation and review of the learning process, irreplaceable work item.

• The newspaper helps integrate the teachings.

Working together, personal interaction, data search, research and many other aspects are possible in the classroom through the development of the newspaper. In a newspaper, on the other hand, everything has a place, and also creatively structure multitude of different activities that converge in a common whole, integrated unit value.

• The paper motivates to learning.

Perform a newspaper is a situation that motivates students to the activity. The results also reinforce considerably the interest in learning and processes, such as research, information search, aesthetics, composition and development of plastic and image.

• The newspaper leads to a working method. 

A newspaper has a certain work process to be followed, you must go through 8 stages:

1. Stage of interest: what is the aim ?, what do we say or express?

2. Planning stage: choosing the media, people, organization, resources, decide where and how the information is obtained, etc .

3. Stage information search: in which data are collected, interviews are conducted, drawings and photographs are made, etc .

4. Stage layout: in which the paper is structured spaces are assigned, headlines and decide the presentation, etc .

5. Step mounting: in which the matrix is made of paper.

6. Phase printing: as the means by which you count.

7. Phase distribution: which is vital to make the students.

8. Stage of review and assessment of the above: without which, in the classroom, nothing would make sense.

• The newspaper carried out the research.

To make periodic we must follow a series of steps as in any research method, and they are: planification, search data and compare, confirm assumptions and possibilities, writing and editing, describing, and finally present their work. The newspaper serves as an assessment tool.

The school newspaper allows the possibility of being appreciated and judged. Why? Because it can reflect the way the work was carried out and the different activities in the classroom. It thus becomes a showcase that can lead to criticism and suggestions and that is the basis for the review of all learning processes and of course the same newspaper.

That's all! See you soon :)