Equipping all students to meet rigorous academic standards is the challenge faced by educators worldwide. NewsMaker was therefore designed to help students strengthen language arts skills and technology skills while mastering content. NewsMaker’s fun video technologies, like face detecting and tracking technologies among others, engage even the most reluctant learners in organizing the material they’re learning, writing about it, reading it, and ultimately publishing it in a video file. As a tool to synthesize information and communicate knowledge, NewsMaker is neither grade-level specific nor content-area specific.
Regardless of grade level or subject, NewsMaker’s WRITE! READ! PUBLISH! strategy reinforces a number of critical language arts skills, as highlighted below.
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| WRITE! |
| Writing across the curriculum is widely used as a strategy for improving communication skills and understanding of content area concepts. Because of the variety of ways NewsMaker can be used in the classroom, teachers are able to assign projects that emphasize specific steps. |
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Prewriting
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Use strategies to generate, plan, and organize ideas for specific purposes.
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Drafting
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Incorporate prewriting activities to create a first draft containing necessary elements for a specific purpose.
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| Revising |
Evaluate and refine the rough draft for clarity and effectiveness.
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Editing
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Proof-read and correct the draft for conventions.
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Publishing
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Format and present a final product for the intended audience.
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Depending on the assigned project, NewsMaker can effectively spotlight one or several of the criteria of effective writing. |
| Ideas and Content |
Writing is clear and focused, holding the reader’s attention throughout. Main ideas stand out and are developed by strong support and rich details. Purpose is accomplished.
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| Organization |
Organization addresses the structure of the writing and integrates the central meaning and patterns that hold the piece together.
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| Voice |
Voice will vary according to the type of writing, but should be appropriately formal or casual, distant or personal, depending on the audience and purpose.
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| Word Choice |
Word choice reflects the writer’s use of specific words and phrases to convey the intended message and employs a variety of words that are functional and appropriate to the audience and purpose.
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| Sentence Fluency |
Fluency addresses the rhythm and flow of language. Sentences are strong and varied in structure and length.
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| Conventions |
Conventions are the mechanics of writing, including capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar and usage, and paragraph breaks.
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| READ! |
| Five essential components of reading build a solid foundation of linguistic understanding for the reader. Teachers can use NewsMaker to target any of them, as needed. |
| Phonemic Awareness |
Identify and manipulate the sounds of speech.
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| Phonics |
Decode words, using knowledge of phonics, syllabication, and word parts.
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| Vocabulary |
Acquire and use new vocabulary in relevant contexts.
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Fluency
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Read with accuracy, appropriate rhythm, pacing, intonation, and expression relevant to the text.
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| Comprehension |
Employ strategies to comprehend text.
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| PUBLISH! |
NewsMaker facilitates a classroom environment in which students produce well-ogranized presentations that clearly and concisely convey concepts and information. NewsMaker provides individual students with immediate feedback for self-assessment of performance. Students frequently choose to rehearse and re-record in order to improve upon fluency, rhythm, pacing, intonation, and expression.
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