Harrison Elementary Creates 'Husky Howler' Magazine
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
For an Ed-Com project during the 2006-07 school year, Harrison Elementary School students in Judy Kinsey's and Rick Glass's classes created a 40-page "newspaper."
The project worked so well, Kinsey and Glass wanted to keep it going and expand on it. With a $1,200 Red Apple Grant from the Warsaw Education Foundation this year, The Husky Howler magazine was born.It will be a 20-page magazine published three times this school year - in November, March and May. The November magazine is about culture. The March issue will be about history, and the May issue will be about ecology and the environment.
During an interview Nov. 16, Glass said the publication is ran as a business. Students applied for jobs and were interviewed for the positions. Advertising was sold, and the publication saw a 33 percent profit in the first year.
The publication is not only text-based, but also Web-based, said Kinsey. Today's students are growing up with technological skills, but need to be taught how to be savvy with those skills, she said. Besides technology skills, students involved in the publication are learning science, social studies and about the world around them, she said.
Glass said the work is being shared with other classes around the world. They work and edit stories with students from as far away as Israel and Japan.
In the first year, students worked with other students from Japan, France, Canada, New Zealand and parts of the U.S. This year, the magazine is being put together with help from students from Israel, Italy, Iceland and Spain.
"This was really meant to be first rate," said Kinsey. "You've got content and quality."
Glass said the publication has proven the use of technology enhances and increases learning. Kinsey said students have expressed that it's easier to type their work than write it out.
"This isn't a crutch, it's a cue," said Kinsey.
Glass said learning to write and using the computer for one's whole life goes hand in hand. If they can get the students to learn to type, it gives them more time to think about what it is that they are writing.
"It moves them, they're excited about it," Glass said.
Kinsey said the project is all about teaching kids. Glass said that while they do believe technology is important and vital, it should be invisible. It should be a natural presentation of learning.
Glass said the students have been involved in technology for a number of years. It is up to teachers to show them the best way to use their skills.
Kinsey said technology is what education needs. Classes today need more than one computer.
"We long for the day when every kid has a computer," said Glass.
Glass said all lessons for the publication are standards based. "We're teaching those standards with all the technology enhancements at our fingertips," he said.
Founded in 1987, the Warsaw Education Foundation is a community non-profit organization which raises support to provide grants for unfunded academic projects in the Warsaw Community Schools.
Through the Red Apple Grants program, the Foundation has awarded nearly $200,000 to Warsaw Community Schools teachers for innovative classroom projects. The Foundation also provide funds for Ed-Com Expo scholarships, bi-annual chess tournaments, the Partners in Education business/school partnership, the Honor an Educator program, the NEW Opportunities Workshop and recognizes academic excellence through programs such as the annual High School Academic Reception and Teacher of the Year community billboards.
