Ideas and Advice from Teachers
Planning Experience: Sharon Winzeler
Sharon Winzeler is an English and Journalism teacher at Broughton High School in Raleigh, NC. She has been teaching for 11 years. She integrated the 2003 National Online Youth Summit (Youth Internet Access) into her Journalism/Newspaper Publication class, which she has also taught for 11 years. Ms. Winzeler has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, is finishing a master's degree in English Education and holds a two-year Kenan Fellowship for Curriculum and Leadership Development at North Carolina State University.
Curriculum: Journalism
Students: Grades 10-12
Sharon Winzeler:
Rationale: First Amendment freedoms and rights are a critical element of scholastic journalism. My students study the law and ethics behind the First Amendment, especially as it relates to press freedoms. The NOYS project [National Online Youth Summit] fits within my annual goal of a research project related to the field of journalism. On our way to the project outcome we meet many of the goals and objectives for North Carolina Course of Study for 11th grade English, which I use as the basis of the curriculum for the journalism course. (There is no state journalism curriculum. The county's pacing guide uses the English objectives.)
Approach: Inquiry-based learning that culminates in a project that illustrates critical thinking and synthesis of ideas. Students will ask and answer probing, penetrating, thought-provoking questions that force them and their peers to think critically and synthesize information.
Essential questions: What are our rights and responsibilities as members of the scholastic press using the Internet as a source of information? Should student access to the Internet be limited?
Important areas of emphasis, especially for first-time NOYS teachers:
1. Begin with the end in mind. Read the materials and define what a reasonable culminating project would be for your class. This should be within their technology expertise yet stretch their scholarly inquiry.
2. Encourage your students to keep a portfolio of their research and writing from the summit. Print everything. This means writing their postings first in a Word document and then posting it to the WebBoard [student message board]. This will provide valuable background for the final project.
3. Know YOUR state's curriculum. NOYS is developed with sound pedagogy. Match the lesson plans to the goals and objectives in your standard course of study. A good way to do this is to identify several objectives within the NOYS curriculum and match them with your state goals. If you are teaching an elective for which there are no state standards, then identify goals in the closest subject area. For example, North Carolina does not have a journalism curriculum, but there are many goals in the English and technology curriculum that match the lessons in the NOYS.
4. Be flexible in your project and do not be surprised if your students' technology skills surpass your own. Design or follow the ABA's recommendation for a rubric. Empower your students and spend a session asking them for suggestions for criteria that they think should be included. Let them "begin with the end in mind" by making them part of the rubric-design process.
Creating a Project-Based Learning Experience Through the National Online Youth Summit
Since this was my first year, my suggestions are not only based on what I had done but also on what I wish I had done. My source for the following ideas is from David Warlick, author of Raw Materials For the Mind (2002). David Warlick has created the Landmarks for Schools project, devoted to "inventing instructional applications of computer and communication technologies for teaching and learning."
Tips for Creating a Meaningful Project:
1. Design an assignment that will connect to ideas and work students will use in the future.
2. Begin with the end in mind. Define the audience and goals of the project.
3. Always make students part of the decision-making process.
4. Ask yourself and the students:
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a. What type of information do you want to acquire?
b. How will they use the information for themselves?
c. How will they share the information with others on the Web Board? (Obviously one way is through discussion. Begin with the end in mind and consider how they will share the material in the final project.)
d. What decisions do people make that are related to this information? What are the potentials that this information might be relevant to people's lives and work?
For example, a team of students, after reviewing their NOYS research topic, might investigate reliable internet information on the topic and develop a web site, multi-media project, an issue ad or another model provided by the NOYS.
According to David Warlick (Raw Materials For the Mind, 2000) components of project-based learning technology project are:
1. Explicit connections to established instructional standards. (Let the students know that what they are learning connects to what they are supposed to learn.)
2. Collaboration either among students in your class, between students and experts, or students in a variety of classes. (The NOYS is a natural for this.)
3. Information accessing, either through research or survey. (Ditto, NOYS)
4. Information processing such that students are analyzing, formatting, or assembling information-in most cases using information processing software. (Again, follow the NOYS lesson plans, especially first time around.)
5. The construction of a unique and valuable information product.
6. Self-assessment.
Teachers should recognize that the skills provided by project-based learning are:
1. Information and information literacy
2. Communication skills
3. Problem-solving skills
4. Self-management skills
5. Cooperative skills
You will recognize these skills are critical for successful living and working!
Warlick also makes the following recommendations on Web assignments:
1. A web assignment should utilize unique qualities of the Internet. It should provide access to information that is not available locally, or access to a person who is not easily accessible. It may require students analyze data in a way best done with a computer.
2. Web assignments point students toward Net resources that are educationally appropriate for their use. It is a teacher's job to select that information, or in this case, the ABA program, to provide it.
3. An effective technology assignment should provide a meaningful context for what the students doing. Make it clear how their learning is related to other things they are learning, the world around them and their future.
