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Gator Gazette WebQuest Introduction: Get your Press Pass ready! You have now become the editors of your own single issue of a newspaper. Your job is to cover the controversy involved in the diverting of the water from the Everglades to farming and urban use. There are five required articles for your newspaper: 1) a news article about the diversion of water that formerly flowed from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades being diverted to farms and urban areas; 2) a news article about one of the animals you would find in the Everglades; 3) a human interest story; 4) an editorial; and 5) a letter to the editor. You may include other items such as political cartoons, drawings, pictures, etc. You may take whatever position you believe in—the need to protect and restore the Everglades or the need of the farmers and inhabitants using the area—that is based on what you discover in your reading. Process: You will be divided into groups of three or four. Each person in the group should select one or two of the tasks to perform. You will be the expert on your task and your group is counting on you to present clear information on the task you are doing. As a group your task is to make a newspaper with your Everglade information. Your newspaper can be done using poster board with the articles attached to the board or it can be done using a publishing tool (e.g. Word, Pagemaker, Publisher, etc.) on the computer. Select a name for your paper. Be sure to put your name on your articles. Remember to cite your sources. Part #1: You are to write a news article about the diversion of water that formerly flowed from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades and is now going to farms and urban areas. A news article is one that tells the facts of a story. Your opinion is NOT included in this type of article. The first sentence should be a "grabber," that is, one that will get the attention of the reader. You write a news article by giving the main facts of the story in the one of the beginning sentences. Remember to cite the source of your information. Some Resources you could use to find information are:
Part #2 You are to write a news story about one of the animals of the Everglades. You may pick an endangered animal or one that is not endangered, but interesting to you and would interest your reader. A news article is one that tells the facts of a story. Your opinion is NOT included in this type of article. The first sentence should be a "grabber," that is, one that will get the attention of the reader. You write a news article by giving the main facts of the story in the one of the beginning sentences. Remember to cite the source of your information. Some Resources you could use to find which animals live in the Everglades are:
Once you have decided on the animal of your choice, you can go to a search engine and use the name of the animal as a key word or you can use an encyclopedia.
Part #3 You are to write a human interest story. A human interest story is one that tells about humans and is interesting. (How's that for a definition!) Really—these stories tell about the plight of some person (and in some cases, animals). The story should make the reader feel some emotion about the person involved in the story. The reader might feel sad, happy, fearful, entertained, etc. I found few human interest stories about the Everglades on the Internet so I'm going to call on your creativity to write a story that contains the information you will get from the Web and weave it into a story that will cause the reader to have some emotional reaction. Some places you might look for information about what has happened in the Everglades are:
Part #4 You are to write an editorial for your newspaper. An editorial is a story that has facts BUT it is written from the viewpoint of the writer. The writer's opinion is important in an editorial, but it should be supported by the facts that are gathered while you are doing research. The opposing viewpoints are that the diverted water needs to be allowed to flow as it originally did. This would flood much of the farmland and urban areas that have been developed. It would also allow the species native to the Everglades to flourish. The other extreme is that there should be no change in what has been done. The farms add to the economy of the area and the land is needed for urban development. There are many viewpoints that would fall between the two extreme views listed. When you write your editorial, be sure to give your opinion as your topic sentence. Then list the facts that support your opinion. Some resources you might use to get facts upon which to base your editorial are:
Part #5 A letter to the editor is a letter that a private citizen writes to a newspaper expressing his/her opinion. Your job is to write a letter to the editor expressing your concern about some aspect of the controversy in the Everglades. The opposing viewpoints are that the diverted water needs to be allowed to flow as it originally did. This would flood much of the farmland and urban areas that have been developed. It would also allow the species native to the Everglades to flourish once again. The other extreme is that there should be no change in what has been done. The farms add to the economy of the area and the land is needed for urban development. There are many viewpoints that would fall between the two extreme views listed. It sometimes happens that people write a response to letters that are written. So you might want to write both a letter and then a response to that letter. Statements in both the letter and the response should be based on facts learned in your research. Some resources you might use to get information for you letter or for your response are:
Your team will be given a group grade on your project from 0 to 100 points. (Bonus points will be given for submissions beyond the five articles.) Your total score will then be multiplied by the number of people in your group. Your group can then divide the total score in whatever you would like. For example, your group of three people gets 86% for the total project. This will be multiplied by 3 for a total of 258 points. You could give each person 86 points or you could give one person that worked really hard 100 point and the other two each 79 points. You can divide your 258 points in any way your group would like so long as the total is 258 points. There must be consensus among the group members. You will also receive an individual grade based on the quality of the article you submitted. Criteria for total newspaper:
Up to 10 Bonus points can be earned for additional articles, cartoons, drawings, or other things that would enhance your newspaper. Criteria for individual grade: Your individual grade is worth 50 points. This is based on
Congratulations! You have completed a difficult but hopefully, enjoyable task! Think about what you might do with the information you have gathered. Can you make a difference to the plight of the Everglades. Think about…
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