From the cluttered desk of Dean Swift

Here’s the template for a Newsletter written by the students and teachers of One of Our Kind Boarding School :  TINAWS Newsletter You can use this for inspiration–and have students explore templates of their own–or they can handwrite or type/cut/paste into the available spaces. 

This is such a fun project, and one that might help everyone (especially you) make it through those last grim days before the winter break or that wacky week of half days during conference time.  It’s the ideal group project because every student will be responsible for writing one of the stories independently, but the grading rubric could also take into consideration how the individual parts create a unique whole.  Creative projects like this assess whether or not students understand a key concept like character voice.  I know they will enjoy imitating the character whose column they choose to write.  Encourage them to imagine the character doing something that is in keeping with his/her personality, but not necessarily depicted in the novel.

I would be so thrilled to get some samples of student work on this project! Send them to me at sandy@sandra-evans.com.