What is ‘Newspapers in Education’?

HOULTON, Maine — Newspapers can be found on people’s coffee tables, on store racks and, just as importantly, in the classroom.
Once again, The Houlton Pioneer Times has teamed up with area schools to celebrate Newspapers in Education Week, by creating a special supplement.
    NIE is a cooperative effort between schools and newspapers to promote the use of newspapers as an educational resource. The international program, which began in 1955, also seeks to help improve the students’ reading, spelling and writing abilities.
This year, pupils at Greater Houlton Christian Academy, Houlton Southside School, East Grand School, Katahdin Elementary School, Southern Aroostook Community School and Hodgdon Mill Pond School were asked to become newspaper advertising artists and copywriters as they created “ads” for about 100 willing sponsors.
Many of the students also provided stories and photographs to show off their artistic talents in other mediums.
While Newspapers in Education is a weeklong event, The Houlton Pioneer Times works with classrooms — students, teachers and administrators — throughout the year.
Whether it be a school board meeting, a basketball game, spelling bee or a band concert, newspaper reporters are covering education on the front line.
Indeed, without news of our youth and their schools, our newspapers would be missing a very important part of the communities in which we serve.
Newspapers in the classroom serve as an exceptional supplement to textbooks, which can no longer keep up with our rapidly-changing world. A newspaper in the classroom connects young people with their community, their nation and the world.
The use of newspapers by the youth of our nation dates back over 200 years to a publication in southern Maine, according to many online references, including the New York Times, which states, “The earliest known reference to newspapers as tools for learning appeared in the Portland Eastern Herald of Maine on June 8, 1795, from which an excerpt reads as follows: ‘Much has been said and written on the utility of newspapers; but one principal advantage which might be derived from these publications has been neglected; we mean that of reading them in schools, and by the children in families. Try it for one session. Do you wish your child to improve in reading solely, give him a newspaper; it furnishes a variety, some parts of which must indelibly touch his fancy. Do you wish to instruct him in geography, nothing will so indelibly fix the relative situation of different places, as the stories and events published in the papers. In time, do you wish to have him acquainted with the manners of the country or city, the mode of doing business, public or private; or do you wish him to have a smattering of every kind of science useful and amusing, give him a newspaper. Newspapers are plenty and cheap, the cheapest book that can be bought, and the more you buy the better for your children, because every part furnishes valuable information.'”
Over the years, members of our staff have worked closely with school personnel and students to build two-way connections between the classroom and newsroom.
Some examples of this are when a reporter comes to a school to interview students for their opinion on a topic of the day or when one of our staff members is asked to host a job shadow experience.
This two-part supplement to our newspaper is the result of the Newspapers in Education exercise, and we hope you will enjoy the student-created newspaper advertisements, essays and photos in this special booklet.
The Houlton Pioneer Times also wishes to thank the pupils, teachers and administrators who agreed to partner with us, as well as the businesses that provided the opportunity for the children to showcase their artistic abilities.