My students need quality DSLR cameras in order to capture better images for our online student newspaper.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Ward's classroom raised $1,196
This project is fully funded
My Students
We've spent the first few weeks of our journalism class together learning interview skills and analyzing the writing of other journalists and student newspaper writers. Now it is time to create our own online space. My students are eager to share their world.
Our high school is situated in a small, farming community.
As we examined some of the award-winning online student newspapers from around the country, we noticed that many of the awarded sites were those situated in urban and suburban communities, schools with large student populations and large budgets. But we have a story to tell. A story that is unique.
Many of the students in our class work either before or after school. Some wake early to muck out barn stalls, while others stay up late working at local restaurants. My students are hunters and gamers and 4-Hers and musicians and writers. We have a perspective different from those in the urban and suburban setting.
Students have spent time exploring our stories. Who are we as a class? As a student body? As a community? But we need help making sure that our stories are heard.
My Project
As part of our exploration of online news sources, we've discussed how technology has changed our media. We are no longer a print driven culture. To effectively reach our student community and those outside of our community, we must consider not just our written rhetoric, but our digital rhetorical choices as well. A picture really is worth a thousand words, especially if it is a quality image.
We currently do not have cameras to use for our online student newspaper. We have relied on student cell phones to capture the images of our community. We are looking to work with mentor photo journalists and photographers to improve our online visual presentation. Adding two quality cameras to our classroom would greatly improve how we capture and present our student voices to the world.
Adding DSLR cameras to our journalism classes is not simply about taking better pictures.
Instead, the cameras will help some of my students learn more about the composition skills and choices that go into capturing quality news photography. Using this visual medium will help some of my students also make connections to the choices they are making in their writing. It's all about how you present your story. I want to make sure that my students present their stories in the best possible way.
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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