NABJ visits Webster

By Alana President with Donte McElroy

On Friday, December 18^th, Daniel Webster eighth graders talked to a group of journalists about their lives in the media industry. These professionals are a part of an organization called the National Association of Black Journalists. We met Phil Thompson, a sport reporter for the Chicago Tribune and Gail Walker, the president of EnviroCom Incorporated. Mr. Thompson is the Vice President of Print Journalism and Ms. Walker is the Parliamentarian for NABJ Chicago.

But guess what?

We met another guest named Art Norman. He’s on NBC channel 5 News. Have you heard of him? All of the NABJ guest taught us something and he taught us about broadcasting. We discussed our future career plans with Mr. Norman and he challenged us to work hard and be successful. We spent most of the time learning from him while he encouraged us to be leaders. It was a great day at Webster school.

All About Storyboarding

This week students @ Webster learned the importance of storyboarding. Here’s a few of the shots.

This week we explored a different culture… while learning about content creation.

The Day of the Dead is a day celebrated by the Mexican culture. I think this day is very spiritual because even if you aren’t apart of the Mexican culture, who wouldn’t love to see their family members that have passed on. The part that I don’t understand about this wonderful holiday is how they see the spirits. This holiday is similar to Halloween because they get candy and sweet treats and put on makeup. One tradition me and my family follow is on Christmas, we open our gifts at midnight. When I was at my old school, we had a Spanish teacher who celebrated Day of the Dead. They introduced us to a sweet Mexican bread called conchas which were delicious. I think this is a great holiday to show love for missed loved ones.

Happy Dia de Los Muertos,

Anthony (7th grade)

Dionna (7th grade)

Day of the Dead [Oct 31-Nov 2] is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, in particular, the central and south regions.

For Day of the Dead, the Mexican culture decorates with flowers, candles, pan de muerto, ceramic skulls, and most importantly, pictures of their loved ones. The food that the Mexicans usually eat is their famous bread that is called conchas. Anyway, the main purpose of this holiday is to celebrate the death of Mexican people’s loved ones.

Alyise (6th grade)

I think this holiday is very honorable to the people that love the ones they lost and will be able to feel their presence. I don’t understand the fact that other ethnicities do not celebrate or acknowledge this holiday.

Navaeh (7th grade)

This holiday is very similar to many holidays we celebrate here in America. The Day of the Dead happens the same day as the holiday we celebrate as Halloween. Why don’t Americans celebrate their people that passed on the same day as Mexican people do? My family celebrates the same things throughout the whole year, but not on Halloween.

We learned how to interview…

Our Interview Practice

: The 8th grade class of 2019 at Webster Elementary School has been working on various digital media skills

8th Grade Class

This Fall, the Fabulous 8th graders at Webster Elementary learned how to operate the cameras, the audio and to project their voices. We learned new skills such as interviewing and facing our fears. We discuss current events.

7th Grade Class

Hi, we are the Webster Wildcats. We are also the Royal 7th graders. Here are the fun interview clips we learned with the Westside Media Project. We practiced these skills with our instructors for the past four weeks. We shared our opinions and we want this video to show that it takes time to learn new skills.

6th Grade Class

We are the 6th-grade class at Webster Elementary working with The Westside Media Project to learn interview skills. These are trial and error clips to show that we are working to learn new material.

Let the blogging begin…

We are the Webster middle school bloggers. We’re smart. Creative. Funny. Interesting. We’re from the west side of Chicago.

You can follow us here while we learn about blogging, video editing, broadcasting and public speaking with our instructors Ms. Pepin, Mr. Marion and Mr. Latin from the Westside Media Project.

Stay tuned for our posts as we learn, laugh, discuss pop culture and current events.

You won’t be disappointed.

“In the real world, we just people with ideas.” – Chance The Rapper