Somers 7th graders, tomorrow's journalists
“On the day I introduced this project, I was nervous,” said Somers Middle School's 7th grade English teacher Sara Walters. “I don't get nervous often, but this project is something different than anything I've ever done. It's putting the learning square on the shoulders of the kids. I provide guidance through whole class and mini lessons, speakers, organizational tools, etc., but ultimately, it's the kids' responsibility to do what they need do in order to grow, which it usually is, anyway.”
All of Walters' students, nearly 60 in all, are working on independent studies and four of them are doing real investigative journalism.
“The kids are doing what they want to do, the way they want to do it, and that motivation is the key,” Walters said. “That intrinsic motivation is what pushes any of us, really. Because of that motivation and the appreciation that they have for these new opportunities to learn what they want to, they are producing higher quality work.”
Joey Vanni, Ben McDonald, Kaycee Smith, Jay Harrison are nearing completion of an independent study on journalism in Sara Walters' 7th grade English class and over a dozen of their classmates are working on photojournalism projects.
“I think it's been great, the kids who are naturally going to take some risks and go for it are doing it and learning about new areas they didn't know they would have a passion for,” Walters said.
Vanni and McDonald are investigating how the recession has impacted restaurants in the valley and have interviewed three different restaurants.
“It's been a learning process, the kids love it because they get to choose it and I think they get frustrated because they still have to do school work and show progress and do different activities to improve their writing,” Walters said. “Not a day goes by when I am proud, surprised, impressed, or totally blown away by their unique perspective, observation or unexpected sensitivity or curiosity.”
Harrison is currently digging into local economics by looking into how unsold plots of land in a Rollins subdivision are impacting the community.
“I definitely get from them that some of the main things they are learning is how to be more responsible and on task because there's not always somebody telling them what to do,” Walters said.
Smith is working on two articles, one on how gossip spreads and impacts schools and the other is a feature article on Dawn Bowker, a Somers Middle School teacher who died five years ago.
“This class is really independent and motivated and I thought this would be something they could take and do really well,” Walters said. “In the middle of the year in 7th grade there's a lot of maturing that happens and they've really impressed me with how they are motivating themselves. It's really cool to see it happen.”
Scott Crandell from the Daily Interlake worked with the students about interviewing techniques, finding credible sources and other skills they would need for the project.
“There's a couple of girls who said they want to do this for their job and didn't realize that they would like it as much as they did,” Walters said. “We have one boy who takes phenomenal photos and he's writing a blog on techniques on how to take good photos.”
Walters' photojournalism students will have between 45 and 60 photos with brief descriptions or poems once the project is complete.
“It's neat to see what the kids take pictures of from their perspective, you learn a lot about who they are,” Walters said. “It was terrifying, but the risk was worth it; the kids are all shining.”
Some of Walters' student's photos and articles will be featured in upcoming editions of the West Shore News.