Healthy NewsWorks delivers school-based programs that develop student literacy skills and enhance health knowledge; our core offering is a yearlong program. But what if a full year is too much of a commitment for a school?
Healthy NewsWorks this year launched an intensive program that allows schools to experience an abbreviated version of our curriculum.
Through our intensive program, schools “get a taste of our programming with a smaller time commitment,” said Mia Blitstein, Healthy NewsWorks program manager.
The main difference between the core and intensive programs is the time involved. The intensive program lasts about 12 to 13 weeks with one lesson per week, and the reporters produce one issue of their newspaper. The yearlong program, meanwhile, starts off with a “journalism boot camp” that involves two to three lessons per week for the first six lessons. Beginning with the seventh lesson, reporters work on a weekly basis to publish as many issues of the newspaper as they can—usually about three issues during a school year.
“While the yearlong program gives students more opportunities to participate in interviews, field trips, and other exciting journalist work, the intensive is a great starting point for schools to experience firsthand what Healthy NewsWorks is all about,” Mia said.
The inaugural intensive program kicked off this year at Global Leadership Academy, Wissahickon Charter School, and Stewart Middle School. Participants researched and reported on topics including heat-related illnesses and the health and environmental benefits of walking.
