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User Manual:
American History Newspaper Project
www.mrklemann.com
Created by:
Robert Klemann
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Project Summary
The American History Newspaper Project integrates technology with language arts and
U.S. history content standards. It is a website based writing program that uses U.S. history
content for writing topics, requiring students to complete a twelve article Microsoft Publisher
Newsletter as the culminating product. The student product is called The American History
Newspaper. The website is designed to guide students through Gagne’s Nine Events for each of
the twelve articles of the newspaper. The website provides instructions, a link for each
newspaper article, printable writing prompts, writing outlines, revision charts, rubrics, links for
pursuing research, and videos related to the articles. From the website, students will be
prompted to use the Internet and computer programs, such as Microsoft Word and Publisher, to
create their final product. Essentially, this website will be an interactive tool that will guide
students through the writing process (twelve times) and the creation of a digital newspaper with
little to no guidance from the teacher, once the teacher has modeled each of the writing genres
(expository, persuasive, narrative, and response to literature), as well as how to create a MS
Publisher newsletter. The website provides other resources, such as this Teacher’s Manual, the
American Journey Textbook Online, a Transitional Words List, instructions on How to Start a
Publisher Newsletter, a Sample Newsletter, instructions on How to Make a List of References,
and an assessment Essay and Project Rubric. Overall, this project is meant to be a year long
integrated curriculum program that combines directed and constructivist learning methods with
the aid of technology. Actual instruction time for the teacher should not exceed ten hours. On
the other hand, it does require monitoring student progress, assisting student understanding, and
the assessment of the writing products and overall project beyond the initial eight to ten hours of
whole class instruction.
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This manual will start with the an explanation of how to conduct the writing tasks, followed
by the creation of a Microsoft Publisher Newsletter document, then capturing and placing images in
the newspaper, and finally creating a list of references. Before starting the project, the fiveparagraph introduction on the www.mrklemann.com home page must be read, preferably as a
whole class exercise using a digital projector on a large white screen.
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Contents
Document Storage and Transfer ...………………………………………………..5
Writing Newspaper Articles ...……………………………………………………5
Create a Microsoft Publisher Newsletter Document ..……………………………8
Capturing and Placing Images in Newspaper .…….………………………….…..9
Create a List of References .……………………………………………………..10
Assessment .……………………………………………………………………...11
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Document Storage and Transfer
For storage and access of project documents, the best method is a school-wide intranet
system. If this is an option, students should create an American Newspaper folder in their My
Documents folder, in which to save all their documents. If teachers have access to the “student”
drive on the intranet, make a desktop shortcut for each student file and place them in a class
folder on your desktop for each class. You might need to rename each student file shortcut after
placement on the desktop, last name first, if they are primarily designated by student ID number.
This will allow for quick, easy access to student work from a teacher computer without the risk
of deleting a student’s entire file from the intranet student drive. If a school-wide intranet is not
an option, students should save all documents on a flashdrive.
Another option for document storage and transfer is to have students create a free email
account using one of the major online search engine companies (Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, AOL,
etc.). Folders can be created in these accounts to store documents that have been attached to an
email and sent to the student email address. Emailing an attached document to one’s self, will
allow the document to be placed in the Inbox, from which it can be transferred to another folder
in the email account. These files can be stored there indefinitely, using the storage capacity of
these mega servers to a client’s advantage!
Writing Newspaper Articles
Using the Article links down the left hand side of the home page, start with “Article 1.”
The articles follow in succession as they follow the twelve main California eighth grade social
studies standards for U.S. history. The following instructional events will be repeated for each
article. The only difference will be the components for each of the writing genres (expository,
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persuasive, narrative, and response to literature). Given a prompt, which establishes the role,
audience, form of writing, and the topic, the student will demonstrate proficiency (score of 3 on a
rubric scale of 1-4) in writing a multi-paragraph essay (newspaper article) for each of the four
major writing genres (expository, persuasive, narrative, and response to literature). Once each of
the genres has been modeled once, students are instructed to duplicate the process on their own
for the remaining articles. As stated earlier, they will continue to need individual guidance
throughout the process. The total instructional time for the following generic article-writing
lesson plan may be up to 1.5 hours. Repeating this once for each of the four writing genres will
come to a total of approximately six hours.
Analyze Writing Prompt
After clicking the “Article 1” link, click on the “Prompt” link to read and analyze the
writing prompt. Print and duplicate the prompt as a handout before instruction.
View Related Video and Take Notes
After analyzing the writing prompt, click on “Research” to access “Video” link. Read the
instructions underneath the “Video” link before clicking to assure that your computer is running
the proper version of MS PowerPoint. The videos are password protected, so contact web master
for password privileges.
Model note taking as video plays, using an overhead projector and an overhead copy of
whatever standard note-taking form used by the school (i.e. Cornell note-taking format)
Conduct research
To acquire additional information not provided by the video, use the key terms and the
links provided on the “Research” page. A second option is using an American History textbook.
The content for the articles follows any standard eighth grade text layout. The home page, under
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“Resources,” also contains a link to the Glencoe eighth grade text, “The American Journey.” (It
is password protected from this website, reserving access only to teachers in districts that have
adopted the Glencoe text. Contact web master for username and password privileges.)
Review Essay Components
Use the “Outline” link to display and print the outline, which lays out the essay
components in multiple paragraph form down the left-hand side of the outline. With entire class,
recall the components (attention grabber, description of topic, thesis, etc.) for the specific genre
of writing (expository, narrative, persuasive, or response to literature).
Identify the Topic Content
In brainstorm fashion, make note of how the content, obtained from video and research,
fits into the essay components, creating an outline of what will actually be written.
Model the Writing of a Sample Rough Draft
With the writing prompt in mind, model the writing of a rough draft on the writing
outline. Students must be encouraged to do the same, but in their own words rather than copying
the teacher model.
Approve Student Outline
Briefly review, with each student individually, their outlined notes before allowing them
to write a rough draft. This will ensure concept and content understanding before significant
time is spent on writing.
Write Rough Draft
Monitor and assist student writing, as they write their rough draft on the essay outline.
They will need guidance on how to refer to the essay components down the left-hand side of the
outline, using the provided clues and sentence starters.
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Revise Rough Draft
On the “Article” page, click on the “Revision” link to display and print a revision chart.
Students must have another student revise their rough draft, following the directions on the
“Revision” chart. This also must be modeled by the teacher as a whole class for each genre.
Type Final Draft
After making necessary revisions, students type the final draft into MS Word, making a
final spelling and grammar check provided by the program. The document should be in a font no
greater than 10, in order to ensure proper placement when copied and pasted into the MS
Publisher newsletter.
Final Assessment
Teacher may use the “Essay and Project Rubric” under “Resources” on the home page to
assess a final score. This may be done after each article is written, or after the entire American
Newspaper Project has been submitted. Students may also be given the option to perform
another revision and rewrite to improve the final draft.
Create a Microsoft Publisher Newsletter Document
The following list of procedures, for creating a Publisher newsletter document, should be
demonstrated in a whole-class situation, using a digital projector and white screen. To access the
directions, click on “How to Start a Publisher Newsletter” under “Resources” on the home page.
Using the projector, model the following steps.
1. Start the Publisher program and select “Newsletter” on the left side under publications
2. Choose a newsletter design
3. Navigate through the set-up Wizard
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4. Change the generic title of the newsletter to a title of their choosing related to
American History.
5. Save newsletter, named "American History Newspaper," as Publisher 2000.pub, or
oldest version used on school computers.
6. Re-open Publisher and retrieve previously saved newsletter document
7. Copy and paste Word documents (articles) into Publisher. Make sure original
document is set in a font size that is small enough to allow the proper fit into the
Publisher article text boxes. The text boxes can be manipulated in Publisher to create
more space for an individual article space.
Given the above list of steps to follow, learners will generate a Microsoft Publisher newsletter
document, manipulating all of its parts and saving the document in the appropriate program
version and in the appropriate folder, so that it is secure and retrievable. Student success for this
objective is assessed immediately by the teacher before the student leaves the computer, and the
final assessment for the creation of the Publisher newsletter will be conducted when the project
is due, using the “Essay and Project Rubric,” found on the home page under “Resources.” Total
instructional time for this lesson should not exceed forty minutes.
Capturing and Placing Images in Newspaper
In order to collect and insert appropriate images from the Internet into the Publisher
newsletter, they must first be saved in a My Pictures folder in the My Documents folder. If
images are simply copied and pasted from the Internet, they will sometimes disappear out of
whatever document they’ve been pasted into. This may still occur, but at least there will be a
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saved copy that can be easily re-inserted without having to search the Internet again to find it.
Use a projector to model the following steps to the entire class.
1. Choose “Save As” option after right-clicking on found image
2. Save image in My Pictures file in Z drive on the school intranet
3. In newsletter document, choose insert picture from file
4. Select image
5. Place image in desired position and resize as necessary
Given the above list of steps to follow, learners will demonstrate the capturing and placement of
images from the Internet into their newsletter, so that the images will remain permanently in the
document. Immediate assessment of student success can be verified by the teacher as students
complete their first attempt while on the computer, but the final assessment for the inclusion of
images and captions will be conducted when the project is due, using the “Essay and Project
Rubric,” found on the home page under “Resources.” Total instructional time for this lesson
should not exceed forty minutes.
Create a List of References
The importance of copyright laws and consequences should be stressed to students
whenever using borrowed material for their own creations. Use the “How to Make a Reference
List” link under “Resources” on the home page to guide the listing of references. Students
should be encouraged to gather references as they collect information or images during the
research step of the article process. They can keep a running MS Word document in their file, to
which references can continually be added. Use a digital projector to model the following steps.
1. Use the “How to make a Reference List” to collect required information from source
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2. Place information in proper format
3. Add resources as they are found throughout project directly into Publisher or Word.
Given the guide and demonstration, learners will generate a list of references, in proper APA
form, of all sources of information they used to complete the newspaper project (i.e. textbook,
internet, encyclopedia, etc.), with two or less errors. Student progress can be monitored by the
teacher as the project progresses, but the final assessment for the reference list will be conducted
when the project is due, using the “Essay and Project Rubric,” found on the home page under
“Resources.” Total instructional time for this lesson should not exceed forty minutes.
Assessment
Assessing student final writing products can be an ongoing process, especially for the
first of each genre modeled. Ongoing final assessment allows students to revise and rewrite their
final drafts before the entire project is due. Use the “Essay and Project Rubric” under
“Resources” on the home page to give articles a holistic grade. The same rubric is used for the
final project grade. Students have access to this summative assessment rubric to guide their
writing, as well as the newspaper final product. The point scoring has been assigned to give
more weight to the writing than the design and creation of the Publisher newspaper.