How and why we did ‘The Chatter Box’
As a part of the chapter ‘Newspaper Reading,’ the students of grade 7 started penning articles on topics that interested them.
In class, we discussed the different elements of newspaper articles and the importance of using factual evidence in their articles. Consequentially, we practised identifying facts and opinions in a text.
Later, we discussed the different types of articles we read in newspapers, such as editorials, feature articles, reports, reviews, etc. In addition, we practised writing articles in the inverted pyramid structure. This activity helped us to prioritise the information that we collected from different sources.
Finally, students formed committees like language editors, content editors and layout assistants to simulate the working environment of a news organisation. We even appointed a Head Editor!
Each student had to contribute one article for the magazine, which went through several rounds of editing. The language editors ensured that their peers made use of appropriate words and sentences to convey the information, while the content editors ensured that the articles were free of plagiarised content and factual errors. The Head Editor monitored the entire process and coordinated the functioning of the different teams of editors.
Creating a magazine was a long process, and we have learnt the art of hardwork and perseverance through it. Moreover, we developed the skill of working together as a team. The end result of the project is the magazine that you have in your hand today. It is composed of articles that cover myriad issues and topics of interest.
We published the magazine during the Language Week celebrations because writing is a natural response to reading and thinking; therefore, when we celebrate language, we celebrate the writer in us.
