School Newspaper

for students: " To motivate students to write more and better " To sharpen critical thinking skills " To encourage responsibility and teamwork " To provide a forum for outstanding work " To provide a student voice " To exposure students to technology " Promote student art and photography " Dragon Press goals for the school community: " Shares school news and info with parents " Invaluable as a public-relation tool " Serves as a school chronicle NESPA NATIONAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS PRESS ASSOCIATION ` The National Elementary Schools Press Association is an organization dedicated to help- ing elementary and middle schools start new and improve existing class and school newspapers.<br><br> The association serves as a clearinghouse for schools interested in sharing information and newspa- pers with member schools from coast to coast. Educational research shows that students write more and better when they are writing regu- larly for a real audience. School newspapers offer kids wonderful writing opportunities for real au- diences.<br><br> NESPA helps schools pull everything together for members by publishing an extensive How-To Book and a regular newsletter ( NESPAper ) for member schools and individuals. These publications are filled with ideas, suggestions, hints, software reviews, and more. Teacher members are invited to submit their ideas and new discoveries for future editions of both publications.<br><br> The association also helps schools share their newspapers by encouraging paper swaps with fellow members. Students from NESPA schools are invited to submit writing for possible syndication in school newspapers nationwide. NESPA boasts a membership of hundreds of schools representing 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Virgin Islands, Australia, and Ireland.<br><br> NESPA maintains a web site at: www.nespa.org Member Benefits " How-To Book (Kids in Print -- Publishing a School Newspaper ) Dozens of ideas, forms, charts, resources, teaching hints, and more. " NESPAper: The NESPAper is the association newsletter. New things to write about, software reviews, and member contributions are just a few of the bits of information to look forward to with each issue.<br><br> " Paper Swaps: We encourage our members to share their papers with each other. " Student Articles for Syndication: You'll receive articles written by students from across the United States to include in your school newspaper. " National Rating & Review Program " NESPA Exceptional Product Awards Program " And much more...<br><br> Hardware Computer What a great time to need a computer! When you start juggling around a 50MB newspaper file the last thing you need is an underpowered computer, so you should get something close to this: 500MHZ Pentium III, with 64 MB of memory, a 8.4 GB hard drive, 17 d monitor and an internal zip drive. This will set you back about $1000.<br><br> A good way to compare is to cbuild d your own computer at a site like www.visioncomputers.com or Dell Computers. Printer Laser is better, and in the long run less expensive. If all you need is an original that is to be pho- tocopied for the final product, try and find on e that will print in 300 dpi.<br><br> Color lasers, such as the Tek- tronix line, now make sense financially. If you can find other printing jobs in your system such as school brochures that otherwise would have to be sent out, they can pay for themselves in a short time. Best yet, get a high-speed mono printer such as the Xerox N32 .<br><br> A good place to look for these items is Structured Data Systems at http://structureddata.com. Copier Get one that will handle tabloid-size (11x17) paper. One that will print with a color cartridge is a great idea for making covers that stand out from the crowd.<br><br> Speed? As fast as you can afford, but at least 14 copies a minute. Camera Look for something in the $200-$500 range.<br><br> Minimum resolution should be at least 640x480 but you 9ll be happier with a megapixal model. A zoom feature is well worth the extra cost if you expect to get good photos of PTO programs or Christmas plays from the audience. Do yourself a favor and get one that either downloads to a USB port or, even better, has a removable memory card that you download in a card reader connected to your PC.<br><br> It 9s an additional expense but it 9s soooo much easier. Still confused? Go to dcresource.com and let them guide you through to some of the best deals on the web, regardless of what camera you choose.<br><br> Scanner Optical resolution should be at least 600x600 (interpolated resolution may be higher). Your best bet will be a model with either a SCSI or USB connection. UMAX has a USB model for under $100 dollars, after rebate.<br><br> Look around& bargains abound! Software Desk Top Publishing and Photo Editing MS Publisher is my favorite. You can do anything with it!<br><br> I love this program! It runs about $75. For those of you who think that Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ there is always Serif 9s PagePlus .<br><br> This is a powerful program which has received a higher rating than Publisher in some reviews. Finally, Canon 9s Publishing Suite is a great buy which combines a powerful DTP program with photo editing and a drawing program, all for about the same cost as Publisher alone. Great buy!<br><br> Making those pictures look good is easy to do even for the photographically challenged. All you need is Click Edit ($30.00) or Professor Franklin 9s Instant Photo Artist ($45). Compuwork 9s Photo Imagination Suite is the steal of the century, combining five great programs for only $20.<br><br> Amazing! Live Pix is also a terrific program for making special treatments and combinations of photos. Newspaper Jobs " Student Editor " Assistant Editor " News Editor " Reporter " Feature Writer " Sports Editor " Business Manager " Circulation Manager " Art Director " Reviewer " Photographer " Joke and Puzzle Editor " Advertising Manager Organizational Forms Job Applications, reporter assignment sheets, 5 W 9s, style sheet and press badges are some of the forms you may need to organize your paper.<br><br> Article Ideas Print Resources for Newspapers " Levin, Mark. Kids in Print. Good Apple, Parsippany, NJ, 1997 " Becher, Nancy A.<br><br> and Sherry Dee Garrett, Ed.D. Creating a Classroom Newspaper . Newspaper in Education Pro- gram.<br><br> " Bonner, Alice and Judith Hines. Death by Cheeseburger: High School Journalism in the 1990's and Beyond . The Freedom Forum: Arlington, VA, 1994.<br><br> " Goldstein, Norm (ed.). The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. The Associated Press: New York, 1996.<br><br> " Kessler, Lauren and Duncan McDonald. When Words Collide: A Journalist's Guide to Grammar and Style. [2nd ed.] Wadsworth: Belmont, CA, 1984 " Kohner, Terrence.<br><br> Your School Newspaper: How to Plan and Produce It. Houghton Mifflin: Boston, MA, 1969. " Lamb, Jane.<br><br> The Complete Newspaper Resource Book. J. Weston Walch: Portland, ME.<br><br> " Metz, William. Newswriting: From Lead to "30". Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1985.<br><br> " Nelson, Jack (ed). Captive Voices. Schocken Books: New York, 1974.<br><br> " Reddick, Dewitt, C. Journalism Exercise and Resource Book: Aids for Teaching High School Journalism. Wadsworth: Belmont, CA, 1985.<br><br> " 75 Creative Ways to Publish Students' Writing by Cherlyn Sunflower " Any Child Can Write by Harvey S. Wiener " Create Your Own Class Newspaper : A Complete Guide for Planning, Writing, and Publishing a Newspaper by Diane Crosby " Desktop Publishing & Design for Dummies Dummies by Roger C. Parker " Elements of Style by William Strunk, E.<br><br> B. White This document is a handout in support of the presentation cPublishing a School Newspaper& the Dragon Press Way, d given on Novem ber 20th, 1999 for participants of the JEA/NSPA convention in Atlanta, GA. For further information contact Al McLeod at almc@rocket mail.com.<br><br> " Classroom News " Editorial Article " Editorial Cartoon " Interviews " From the Principal or Counselor " Movie or Book Review " Calendar of Events " PTO Page " Spotlight on the Staff " School Clubs " Sports " Advice Column " cHow-to d Articles " Consumer Testing " Games and Puzzles " Trivia Nuggets " Local History " Guess Who? " Man in the Street

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