The Teacher's Page

The scenario:

• The teacher should follow the step-by-step approach suggested in the teacher's page.
• The teacher chooses an editorial among the different news sites.
• First of all, this scenario should be tried as a learning activity.
• The activities can be done by one student at a time or by the whole class on an editorial page or by smaller groups of students on different editorial pages of news sites.
• Once the students have looked at the different sections of the home page, they should go to the student's page where they will find information about editorials.
• The students may begin their research on the Internet.
• The time required to accomplish a task may take between one and two hours. Consequently if the activity is not completed in one class period, the students should save the home page of the site visited on a diskette if web archives cannot be found on the site to complete their work later.
• Using the activity as an examination on another news site or another day will stimulate the students' interest in doing good work.
• The students should take notes as they read and they should write their answers on the activity page.
• The students must print their answer-pages for their teacher.
• The students may be asked to participate in an oral discussion and give an oral account of what they have found and written.

Step one: Reading

To familiarize your students with this scenario, the teacher should invite his students to open each part of the menu and to browse at each section. Then, the students should read carefully the following students'information sections:

• What's an editorial?
• The editor's role.
• Editorial letters.
• Opinions by columnists.
• Editorial cartoons.

Web News Editorials  must be opened at the student's page. An alternative would be to print the student's pages before using them in the computer room.

Step two: Searching

• Go to some of the sites listed in the scenario Links.
• Choose the news site of a city or town closer to your location before going to far away places.
• Print some copies of this site for your own use. These sheets will be handy for the activities and the evaluation that follows.
• Give the students printed copies of the activities before they begin browsing on the Internet.
• Tell the students the descriptive name and the URL address of the site you have selected.
• The students should read and examine carefully the editorial section of the selected newspaper site. Choose an interesting subject among the editorials listed.
• As the students read their web pages, they should look at their activity page and fill in the blank spaces.

Step three: Writing

• The students should open up a word processor to type in their answers and save them on a diskette. It will be easier for them to retrieve their answers and paste them in the blank spaces later on.
• At first, each student answers the written comprehension questions.
• Then, follows the written production section. 
• The standard rules of grammar, mechanics, and usage must be followed.
• The student may need to save the news article on a diskette if there are no web archives available on the site. She or he may also print copies for further use. If the student is given the task as homework, (s)he can print the work and hand it in at the next class.
• The page of activities can be done as an exercise first, then it can be used as an examination some other day on another web site.

Step four: Discussing

• A discussion follows in which students present their views orally expressing their opinions about the site that they have visited.
• The teacher may ask the following questions to start the discussion:
  • What problems or issues are discussed in this editorial?
  • Whom are the people involved?
  • What are some of the arguments mentioned in the editorial?
  • Are both sides of the problem presented?
  • Does the editorialist seem to understand the problem well?
  • What main solution does the editorialist propose to solve the problem?
  • What does he recommend?
  • What do you think about his solution?
  • Do you agree or disagree with this solution?
  • What would be your solution if it is different from the editorialist's?
• The teacher should ask more specific questions concerning the editorial.
• The student's written parts could be read in class and be commented by the group or by the teacher.

Step five: Evaluating

• "Since evaluation is an integral part of the learning process" and should "reflect the teaching process," the activities [...] should place more emphasis on comprehension (60%) than on production (40%).⁽¹⁴⁾
• The following criteria are selected for the evaluation:

Written comprehension and written production

The teacher should take into consideration the level of difficulty, the topic of the text, the linguistic or other characteristics of the text and the task to be performed by the students. Refer to the program table of levels of difficulty and rating of the criteria for comprehension and production. ⁽¹⁵⁾

Marking: On a total of 100%, the teacher should mark the students' copies according to the following grid.

Activity No:

1

Comprehension: 9

2

10%

2

Comprehension: 13

2

10%

3

Comprehension: 15

2

10%

4

Comprehension: 16

3

20%

5

Comprehension:17

2

10%

6

Production: 38

2

6%

7

Production: 40

3

34%

Note: The written production grid on a scale of six should be weighed on 34% for activity six.

Oral production:

The oral discussion may be marked according to the oral production scale on five. To print this page, click on this button: