Here is the short scoop!
A friend of mine, Alan Jacobson, has redesigned the NIE (Newspapers in
Education) program for Norfolk's Virginian Pilot Newspaper. He has come up with
the most awesome online, interactive news site for kids called “tweentribune”
. It is basically designed for kids about ages 10 to 14. (All the smut is
removed, and it is loaded with stories of interest to kids, and kids can
blog) Alan shared his project with me and of course, my first reaction was “
where’s the art”. Well, now the art has been added! Alan can continue to add
artwork to meet our needs and requests. The first artwork that we added
includes pieces from Norfolk's Chrysler Museum of Art (of course ones that kids
would like), and we are now adding others. (In my next post, I'm going to ask
you to help me come up with sub categories for the artwork and even ask you
to help me pick the pics!)
I road-tested Tweentribune with my eighth graders on Thurs. and Friday.
They were totally engaged and enthralled. I'll post the assignment that I gave
them later. Here's what you do to get set up with Tweentribune: Teachers set
up a class or classes. Kids log into their class and set up their own
password. Kids complete your assignment by commenting/blogging online. You can
choose direct posting or all posts can be approved by you first, if needed.
The best part: you can sort and print out all of your kids comments for
assessment. When kids finish their art assignment, they can read some of the news
stories. Its an incredible resource for teachers. ( Please share with
others!)
Safeguards are in place to protect student identity and after set up, your
classroom can be locked to keep out imposters! And we need your ideas and
input, it's a building process - - - building to meet your needs!
Give it a try (and its FREE!!) www.tweentribune.com
