Most educators are probably familiar with the expression, “if you can explain it, you know it.” But what does this look like in the classroom for our students? When our students explain and create new content, the learning deepens, and these types of projects become more engaging and memorable. Opportunities for students to explain content can take shape in a variety of ways, especially when we start integrating technology. For educators looking to strengthen student writing skills, consider a collaborative classroom magazine project.
What are the Objectives of a Classroom Magazine?
When implementing a classroom magazine, students work collaboratively to plan, research, draft, and design an article. In a project like this, students are working at high levels of collaboration to make decisions with one another and create work that can be interdependent. As students research and create outlines for their articles, they build up skills for becoming better writers. Students learn important tech-based skills like margin, alignment, readability, and more when creating the magazine layouts.
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What Will Students Learn?
Ready to dive into a collaborative classroom magazine project? If so, start with the Let’s Make a Classroom Magazine lesson. In this ready-to-use lesson, students will:
- learn what magazines are
- how magazines are structured
- how to plan an article
- how to create an outline/draft
- best practices about design, such as color and alignment
Although the lesson incorporates 4th grade writing TEKS, educators can easily adapt this project for any grade level or content area.
Once students are ready to design their magazine, use this Google Slides Magazine Template to help your students start designing quickly. The template comes with easy-to-use layouts that students can choose from.
Publishing Your Classroom Magazine
Publishing the finished magazine is a great way to get students excited about writing for a real audience. When the magazine is finished, simply publish the Google Slides to the web or download the slides as a PDF.
Collaborative classroom magazines are a great hands-on project for powering up learning via writing and design. With these ready-to-use resources, students can get creative and show what they know, and educators can implement immediately.