Clemente News Club

How YOU Can Use Clemente News as an Outreach Tool

One problem that many teachers face in their classes is communicating what’s going on in their classrooms. Many want to tell coworkers and students about the great projects they’ve completed, while others merely wish to inform the school about upcoming events or activities. The problem is finding a vehicle by which these and other ends may be reached.

The first way is through the school’s Daily Bulletin, but for long-range plans or to highlight your classroom activities, the bulletin is your staff outlet to let your coworkers know what you’re doing. Let’s face it; visual appeal gives you and your class the representation you need. And the school newsletter, Clemente News, provides such appeal. Together, the Daily Bulletin produced by school personnel, and Clemente News, a student-driven project, make a very powerful communications tool for any classroom!

There are plenty of reasons for letting Clemente News become your voice in the school:

1.      Students are in charge of the project. Students will be reporting, writing, typing, photographing, and producing the newsletter each marking term. By giving them the responsibility, teachers develop a sense of pride among the students, making others want to read what their peers have to say. Soon students throughout the school will get wind of your news.

2.      The newsletter is bilingual, representing the status of the school. Staff, students, and parents will be able to read your news in Spanish and/or English each time the letter is produced. Twice as many readers will read your news, creating a much larger audience for your stories.

3.      A newsletter offers the space for creativity in layout and design that a simple blurb in the daily gram cannot provide, giving your news stories their proper and well deserved attention throughout the school and into the community.

The list of reasons why you should allow Clemente News to become your personal classroom and outreach tool could go on and on. Let it suffice to say that sharing and swapping classroom ideas and activities isn’t just a reason why you should keep up with the school newsletter. Instead, it’s a vehicle by which you can keep up with the rest of the school as well as keep the rest of the school up-to-date with your class.

Feel free to submit any news stories you’d like to publish in the school. All we ask from you? Welcome our student reporters and photographers into your classroom when you have the time to do so. Don’t stifle the aspirations of these young people who share the goal of keeping Clemente Middle School in the forefront as a bilingual technology school that empowers youth and outreaches to the community. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to be a part of the “Voice of Clemente Middle School!”

Thurman A. Martin, III

Consulting Editor