Our Newspaper club includes mixed levels and abilities including special education students, a large range of academic abilities and many students who come from a struggling homes. Sometimes, they have trouble just getting here. When they do attend they are extremely disengaged. They often struggle with their classes and even getting to class on time. All students deserve learning opportunities and access to information to help them become successful, contributing members of society. My students need help finding a way to engage in activities that will keep them connected to what we are doing at school.
They take pride in their successes in the face of many challenges.
With this in mind, I seek new ways to foster excitement to help them achieve. I hope to increase engagement and attendance for our school newspaper by getting a new camera for our club. My students often feel frustrated and disenchanted that our current cameras are outdated and they often find themselves using their phones to shoot events when our old cameras go out of service. I want to build our staff and my students' sense of how they connect to the larger world by fostering their love of photography.
My Project
In Newspaper club, my students are noticeably more engaged when we highlight their articles with photos. In our club, we are the voice of the student body. Newspaper is a place students can voice their opinions, ideas, and ideals. The use of photography and learning about how to use the camera will increase the engagement not just of the newspaper staff, but of our entire school. With this camera, multiple students can highlight important moments in real time, giving heightened emotion to a piece and punctuating the publications with emotions.
Pictures are indeed worth a thousand words, and the right photo goes a long way in generating emotions and engaging students.
This is what my student photojournalists are learning to do - to capture the moment in image. Their images can tell a story. Newspaper club increases engagement and gives students the chance to capture these moments at school. They learn to have an eye for these moments, to capture them, and to present them in print.
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