Aspiring Journalists in the Fourth Grade

Aspiring Journalists in the Fourth Grade

By Mrs. Tricia Heyer

I learned today that my students independently launched their own class newspaper.

They named it BNN. "Like CNN, but Better," they said.

But then they did some copyright research, and they discovered that BNN is already taken by some “knock off” organization called the Business News Network.

So, they rebranded. Theirs would be the American News Network, which means they started sending me email after email with the subject line “ANN.”

Which caused me to wonder, who in the world is Ann?? I do not have an Ann on my roster.
Took me a minute. Or an embarrassingly long amount of time, actually.

They put together a whole writing staff. An editor, a research team, and publishing deadlines. They’ve used every spare minute and every Chromebook to write click-bait stories about the Titanic and Harriet Tubman.

Here's the thing. When *I* assign their writing assignments, I have them share their Google docs with me, since it’s a school-endorsed event, a teacher-designed curriculum that I’m investing my time and energy into.

But with *their* newspaper, ANN, they decided they’d go ahead and follow protocol and send me their articles. By the dozen.

Which caused me to call a meeting this morning.

“While I deeply appreciate what you are doing here - and I mean really, you have no idea how much I love what you’re doing here - I cannot be your publishing assistant.
It is the ninth day of school, and I have many things to do for you. You may not send me articles to edit, type, and print in color, and then hound me to meet your deadlines.

Also, this newsroom of yours needs to come after all of your other responsibilities. We cannot sacrifice classroom Chromebooks for your newsbeat, not in the learning blocks designed for social studies, science, or Spanish.

Also, these subscriptions you’ve sold to your classmates cannot continue. The *actual cash* that has exchanged hands? This can’t be a thing. We are not selling products to one another. You must issue full refunds before recess.

So, just a few parameters, fourth graders. But seriously, you have no idea how much I love what you’re doing.”

World changers.
Entrepreneurs.
Initiators.
Copyrighters.
Copywriters.
Journalists.
Dreamers and Doers.
And Writers.

These are our students.