Time-Saving Tips and Free Web Tools for Designing Literacy Newsletters
Brenda Power
Newsletters are like bulletin boards -- they can trumpet some of the liveliest work of the year for a larger audience...and they can also become the bane of a literacy leader's existence. But like bulletin boards, newsletters are often worth the time and effort it takes to create them. Brief, well-designed newsletters will be read by colleagues, students, and parents -- there are few better vehicles for getting anyone's attention. The good news is that there are many time-savers available to help educators create newsletters in a fraction of the time it took in years past.
Divide and Conquer
Consider writing a joint newsletter with other teachers or literacy coaches, or if your school is small, with the whole staff. Figure out what each teacher's strengths are, and divvy up the jobs accordingly. If at least one teacher on your staff is a computer whiz, she or he can be responsible for formatting. Another teacher can compile the events of the week; still another can ferret out good quotes about teaching, literacy, and kids from newspapers and magazines. If one teacher is assigned the most challenging task of writing up feature articles, consider bartering to free up time to accomplish this. Newsletter writing time might be exchanged for lunch or recess duties during the week.
Create Standard Features
Decide individually or with your colleagues what features you want to have in every newsletter. Some possible features to consider:
- a round-up of literacy activities in each classroom
- announcements of literacy-related school events
- very quick summaries of recent research or facts
- a "question of the week"
- a "quote of the week"
- an "activity" or "strategy" of the week
- a fun cartoon or clipart
- a weekly message from a "special guest" (varying from week to week, these guests could include custodial staff, administrators, lunch workers, bus drivers, school volunteers)
Less Is More
It's better to send home a two-page newsletter consistently, on the same day of the week or month, than to have a larger newsletter that varies wildly in quality or is produced on a haphazard schedule. Parents (particularly those who are not avid readers) are much more likely to read something that is short and information-packed than they are to wade through pages of extra features and examples of student work.
Use the Web for Information
There are a number of websites that have many materials that might be used in literacy newsletters, including updates on research, sample lessons and unit ideas, and upcoming regional and national events. These can be bookmarked and referred to when you're struggling to fill your newsletter. Some of our favorites include:
www.ncte.org
The official site of the National Council of Teachers of English includes sample lessons, articles, and listings of state, regional, and national conferences.
www.reading.org
The official site of the International Reading Association has significantly increased their postings for literacy coaches and staff developers over the past few years.
www.nsdc.org
The National Staff Development Council has many features tied to school improvement and development.
www.middleweb.com
Middleweb has a special focus on the needs of learners in early adolescence, and has a strong teacher-friendly voice.
www.literacycoachingonline.org/
A joint venture of the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association, this site provides a research base to support literacy coaching initiatives.
www.learner.org
A project of the Annenberg Foundation, there are always new video telecasts of literacy instruction from exemplary classrooms available for viewing, as well as workshop guides and model lessons.
Clipart and Photo Resources
Downloading or purchasing some clipart and graphic materials can add pizzazz to your newsletters. There are a number of both hard and electronic clipart collections available with a school focus -- many multipurpose word-processing programs include at least a small amount of school-related clipart. There are also free sources for clipart with a school theme on the web, including:
www.school-clip-art.com
www.freeschoolclipart.com
www.classroomclipart.com
www.teachnet.com/how-to/clipart
www.kidsdomain.com
www.theteachersguide.com (link found under free stuff)
Picasa is Google's free photo editor and organizer. If you don't want the expense of purchasing professional photo editing software or the hassle of learning to use it, Picasa is a terrific tool for simple cropping, resizing, and touch-up tasks:
http://picasa.google.com/
Moving from a Print to a Web-Based Newsletter
If you're a veteran of print newsletters, and you're thinking of making the shift to an e-newsletter or web-based format, there are some helpful tools available for free on the web.
Brainy Betty has a nifty newsletter template you can dowload and use:
www.brainybetty.com/educatorstemplatesandplans.htm
Notetab Light is a free software program which helps even the most inexperienced web user master simple HTML coding and formatting:
http://www.notetab.com/ntl.php
Image Chef is too much fun -- a free program to personalize and download literacy-related images to use in newsletters or any other correspondence:
http://www.imagechef.com/
Finally, if a newsletter seems too overwhelming to contemplate, start smaller. A "Literacy Tip of the Week" or "Tip of the Month" will get your toes in the water, so you can see how much energy and time it takes to send out any regular correspondence on the web. It's often easier to start with something simple and build, then to scale back or regroup.
| 
About
