Curated OER
News or Propaganda?
What is considered news vs. propaganda? Learners will discuss objectivity and press responsibility while exploring these two concepts. They work in small groups to explore the article in-depth, guided by reading comprehension and...
Curated OER
Beyond Media Messages: Media Portrayal of Global Issues
Take a close look at news reporting techniques and global issues. Begin by creating a graphic representation of developing nations and defining the term. After class discussion, the second day's activities pick up by deconstructing news...
Curated OER
Information Overload: Looking at News
How do events reported in mainstream newspapers, on television news, blog posts, and social network sites differ? Ask your class to investigate the way the same news item is presented in the many information sources available. Groups...
Curated OER
A Way with Words
How do facts and opinions impact the news? After reading "How to Cover a War" from the New York Times, middle schoolers evaluate the claims in the article. They also consider the media's responsibilities in reporting during wartime....
Curated OER
Reporting Live from the Twentieth Century
Learners create a news story on one of the top 100 news stories of the 20th century.choose one past news event. They write a news story about that event, and provide a continuation of the story based on their research.
Teaching Tolerance
Journalism for Justice
Roll the presses! Or at least have your class members participate in the time-honored tradition of the student press by creating their own newspapers or journalist pieces on a social problem. After conducting research and collaborating...
Curated OER
Don't Lose Your Way in the News
Students explore language arts by participating in a newspaper analysis activity. In this journalism lesson, students identify how newspapers present stories, who is writing them and how they can obtain information from them....
Curated OER
Citizen Journalism
Students examine the role of citizen journalism, freedom of the press, and the First Amendment. They analyze the results of an Internet survey, discuss the ethics of downloading copyrighted material on the Internet, and write a news story.
Curated OER
Not Just the Facts
Encourage your learners to explore the differences between hard news and news analysis. They outline a complex news analysis about the upcoming presidential election, then endeavor to write an analysis of the same topic, using local...
Newseum
Compare Coverage of Brown v. Board Ruling
Young journalists analyze how The Topeka State Journal, the Jackson Daily News, and The Providence Journal reported on the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education. Scholars scrutinize the headlines, photographs,...
Curated OER
Real Life Or Broken Mirror? Examining Media Representations of Teenagers
Students analyze representation of teenagers in the news and other media, discuss importance of media literacy in interpreting media portrayals of reality, and discuss and write about accuracy, or lack thereof, of media images of young...
National Park Service
News Bearly Fit to Print
There are an average of three human fatalities by bears in North America every year, which is low when you compare it to the 26 killed by dogs and the 90 killed by lightning annually. The lesson encourages researching human-bear...
Curated OER
The Road to Careers (Part 3)
Fourth graders work in teams to write individual friendly letters to the readers of the Careerville News who have written to the Career Information Columnist requesting information about working in Careerville. They focus their friendly...
Curated OER
Hard News to Hear
Students compare the news angle, information sources and construction of different news reports about the Russian school hostage crisis. Based on what they explore the event and about reporting breaking news, they write an analysis of...
Curated OER
School Facilities: Setting the Mood for Education
Students watch the News Ohio video about Lincoln Junior High School. They write a reaction paper, explaining what effect the studying environment has on students. If the classroom was in a basement, perhaps a little dark and damp, would...
Curated OER
Using a Graphic Organizer to Critically Observe Televised News Broadcasts
Students compare two television news broadcasts. They discuss how to organize information when comparing two objects and read and discuss two books to create a Venn diagram to compare both books. After creating the diagram, they view...
Curated OER
Swift Response
Students examine how matters of national security affect the press' ability to practice free speech. They read and discuss an article regarding the Swift program, discuss opinions about patriotism and the press, and write a letter to the...
Media Smarts
Newspaper Ads
Just how free is the press? After examining the advertising and propaganda techniques used by advertisers, class members consider the influence advertisers may exert over newspaper content.
Curated OER
All the News That's Fit to Blog
Students critique three Web logs, each of which offers first-hand accounts, but reflect different points-of-view, on the war in Iraq; students write a response to one of the entries and analyze what they learned about the war from the...
Curated OER
Gas Prices Keep Rising
Students discuss rising gas prices, then read a news article about how the increase in fuel cost may affect other prices. In this economics and current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion and vocabulary...
Curated OER
Creating a Newscast on the Cold War
Students research the events of a specific year of the Cold War. In this Cold War lesson, students investigate the causes of the Cold War and highlight the events of a particular year. Students create a...
Curated OER
And Now, the News from Iraq
Students consider the challenges facing Iraqi voters and various attitudes toward the election. They research topics related to the January 2005 election, then write segments for a television news hour.
Curated OER
The Penny Press, Walt Whitman and the War
Young scholars examine the Penny Press and how it began the era of mass circulated newspapers. They use the internet to research the writing style of the paper and write a short article using that style.
Curated OER
What's The Big Deal?
Fifth graders examine the role of the Gutenberg press and its effect on society. Using this information, they write a persuasive paper discussing which form of copying is easier to mass produce. They share their opinions with the class...