Embedded Files
Student Created Articles Exploring the Issues that Affect Us All
Mission of the project
Mission of the project
Students will learn how to detect bias in research and the media, and present fair and balanced articles of their own.
Timeline of Events
September 29: Students in Civics were required to watch the 1st presidential debate in preparation for class discussion.
October 2: Madison County Librarian Zoomed with students to educate them on research methods, bias detection, and fact checking. Helpful sites included Politifact, Allsides.com and mediabiasfactcheck.org.
October 5-16: Students in Civics, American History I and Earth Science selected election issues and conducted research. Students were required to find multiple articles (especially if original articles were deemed biased using the All Media guide) on the same issue to balance materials and facts.
October 7: VP debate. Many students tuned in.
October 15: Dueling Town Hall meetings (in lieu of a 2nd presidential debate).
October 21: Asheville Citizen Times reporter Paul Moon zoomed with students and talked to them about jounalistic writing, avoiding bias and reporting on sensitive topics in a small town. The zoom followed a Q and A format.
October 22: Final presidential debate.
October 26-30: Students in English I and III classes were grouped and assigned a topic (from research compiled) to write an informative article about for the school website. Students assumed newspaper room roles (Editor-in-chief, Print journalist, analyst, etc.) to better organize jobs within the groups and produce a well organized article with images.
October 30: Our election guide site went public on October 30 on our MECHS Facebook page and our MECHS school web site.
A student peruses the newspaper to help his group with article formatting. One of the things students had to learn was how to write like a journalist rather than an academic.
Synchronous:
Students working collaboratively in F2F environment
Asynchronous:
Students collaborated via Zoom and Peer Editing forms, along with other online support and communication tools such as Canvas and Padlet.
The site link above is the final product for public consumption as posted on our school homepage.
The site link above is the final product for public consumption as posted on our school homepage.
Blackman's Reflection:
Blackman's Reflection:
As this was and continues to be a difficult time, anything produced that moved us forward would be considered progress. What was produced was no less then incredible!!! Students and all of my fellow teachers far exceeded any expectations I had for this CBL project.
Young's Reflection:
Young's Reflection:
Our students are changing lives. They see how important providing solid, ethical news reports truly is, especially in this time of not-so-stellar "journalism" and reliance on social media "news". Some of these world issues were very new to my freshmen. They did have some challenges relating to them and of course had some challenges with collaborating in the time of Covid. However, they truly amazed me with what they were able to accomplish with the help of Google docs--I loved seeing them all working together on the same article at the same time tweaking parts of it, sharing their expertise, doing their news room jobs.... We were able to utilize Zoom for community mentors to help with the articles and research, and we were able to use Zoom break-out rooms for groups to meet remotely for a week or so during a local uptick in cases. I found that more students attended my Zoom class during this project than any other time I've used the platform because they knew how important this project and their time with their group was. I am just so very proud of our students, our teachers, and our CBL commitment!
Whitney's Reflection:
Whitney's Reflection:
I was very happy to have this collaborative opportunity to work with both my students and my fellow educators. The students exhibited cross-curricular skills by taking their research into a variety of current hot-button issues and then expanded their involvement with the material by then applying ELA skills to produce a final product for the community at large to access.
I was able to glean further exposure to veteran educators' skills to incorporate into my own relatively new skill set (I only this year left Beginning Teacher status). Along with that experience, I was able to expand my own digital knowledge through the use of Google format tools to create the website that became our final product. I only wished for more face2face time with students to get even more involvement with them on the digital/tech side.
Long's Reflection:
Long's Reflection:
I have to admit that this turned out much better than I was afraid (during the darkest moments of juggling the remote/ face-to-face scheduling mess).
Students were challenged by both the research (understanding and interpreting the articles) as well as the presentation of just-the-facts. That said, aren't we all? I watch the news today and feel like our students might do at least as well as some of these people who have no problem telling lies and promoting nonsensical conspiracy theories while purporting to be the experts in charge. And honestly, if we helped our students to see some of this for what it actually is, I think all the headache was worth it.
Wallin's Reflection:
Wallin's Reflection:
I am amazed our team, teachers and students, were able to complete this project with the schedules, pandemic, and chaos that ensued during our CBL. With everyone being dedicated to the project and the mission to inform our community during the election process, we were able to achieve our goal and develop an informative website. This project is a direct result of teamwork and determination. Some of the things I suggest for anyone trying a project like this: consider not kicking-off the event after an emergency week long stay at the hospital, Zoom is great but difficult to bring excitement on the project and maintain a schedule, and most importantly you need a strong support system to help carry out the project when doing it remotely. Overall, this was a memorable and very important task that was worth doing regardless of the factors or barriers we all faced.
"Working on this CBL project impacted me in several ways. As a former classroom teacher, I know just how important real-world application is to what is being taught in the classroom. Now, as a public librarian, I face the challenge of making sure all people in our community have access to information. With this Election 2020 project, kids learned and applied their knowledge AND shared it out with the greater community. It encourages me to know that young people are building skills that they can share with several generations. It's extremely helpful that they share this information with people who have not always worked and moved in the technology world and may not feel as adept at navigating it. It also gives me hope that the younger generation is learning to discern information from mis/disinformation in a world that is inundated with it.
The students asked great questions and were engaged. Their final project shows that they mastered something very difficult: presenting information without slant or bias. Challenge Based Learning allows students to tackle a "challenge", research it, and share their findings with a specific community. They become imparters of knowledge and build skills that willserve them for the rest of their lives, not just in preparation for college."
Shawna Bryce
Branch Manager, Mars Hill Library
Technology Instructor, Madison County Public Libraries
"It was a real pleasure speaking with Madison Early College High School students about the importance of non-biased, high-quality reporting ahead of the election. The students were very engaged in the topic and asked excellent questions that reflected their understanding of the role journalists play in reporting on election issues and political candidates. It’s clear they went into their school project understanding the critical role reporting plays in helping readers understand the different angles and perspectives involved with exploring any one issue. Speaking with them and sensing their enthusiasm gave me new energy in my own work reporting on key races in 2020.
Best to you and yours as 2020 comes to a close! Be in touch if there’s anything more I can do to lend a hand. I really enjoyed speaking with students and answering their questions about my work as a journalist."
Paul Moon
Senior Reporter
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