Thematic Teaching
covering the news media: activity ideas
Activity Ideas | Related Resources
- Freedom of the Press
Grade Levels: 3-5
Subjects: Social Studies; Reading & Language Arts; The ArtsRead and discuss the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights with students. Ask students to explain the meanings of the terms freedom of speech and freedom of the press in their own words. Write their definitions on the board.
Tell students that they are going put their thoughts about freedom of the press and freedom of speech into pictures. Have each student choose one of the terms and create a poster showing what that term means to him or her. Encourage students to use a variety of materials.
Ask your students to research freedom of the press in other countries. (See Press Freedom Survey in Online Resources below.)
Online Resources
Freedom: A History of US: The Fourth Estate:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web10/segment4.htmlOnline NewsHour: Making a Free Press (Iraq):
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june03/iraq_06-17.htmlFreedom House: Press Freedom Survey:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=16&year=2005First Amendment Center: A Free Press:
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/Press/index.aspxPrint Resources
The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech, Religion, and the Press by Leah Farish
More Recommended Resources
The U.S. Constitution and You by Syl Sobel, Denise Gilgannon (Illustrator)
The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution by Linda Monk
- Where Did You Hear That?
Grade Level: 3-5
Subject: Social Studies; Reading & Language Arts; Science & Technology; The ArtsIn this activity, your students will research different types of news media. First, ask them to share with the class some interesting news that they might have heard, seen or read about recently. Ask them where the recieved that piece of news. Use chart paper to record their responses. Likely sources will be broadcast news, newspapers, magazines, Internet, radio, etc.
After the conversation, focus on one current event and ask students to compare how the issue is presented in a number of articles, TV broadcasts, etc. The main inquiry should be how the news eventually reached them. Have the students create a flow chart or act out a presentation on how a story becomes "news."
Ask students to keep a record of their families' media consumption for one week (computers, TV, radio, etc.) Compare the amount of time spent using different media. They should ask their parents what their favorite source of news is and why. Have them present their findings to the class the following day.
You may also want to ask a journalist from the local newspaper or TV station to visit the class and tell them more about how they find and report the news.
Online Resources
Newhour Online: Media Watch:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/mediaNOW with Bill Moyers: Media Consolidation:
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/mediaconsol.htmlLocal News:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/insidelocalnewsCenter for Media Literacy:
http://www.medialit.org/Media Literacy Clearinghouse:
http://www.frankwbaker.com/Print Resources
Literacy in Multimedia America : Integrating Media Across the Curriculum by Ladislaus M. Semali, Shirley R. Steinberg (Editor), Joe L. Kincheloe (Editor)
More Recommended Resources
- The News Can Be Funny: Editorial Cartoons
Grade Level: 5
Subject: The Arts; Reading & Language ArtsIntroduce your students to editorial cartoons. These cartoons are designed to make you think about current issues and to sway you toward the cartoonist's point of view. If you understand the techniques used to create them, you will have a better chance of getting the point and appreciating the humor.
Here are some common elements of editorial cartoons:
- Symbolism: Using a picture to stand for a more abstract concept
- Exaggeration/Caricature: Overstating an aspect of a problem or exaggerating a person's physical features
- Analogy: Comparing two things -- for instance, directly or indirectly comparing a situation or event with a historical or fictional event
- Irony: Contrasting (often humorously) between appearance or expectation and reality
Ask students to find examples of two editorial cartoons that take a different position on a current event. Have them briefly analyze them by answering the following questions. They should then share and discuss their cartoons and analysis with a group of two or three classmates.
- What is the issue addressed in the cartoon?
- What do you think is the cartoonist's opinion about the issue?
- Which techniques (symbolism, exaggeration/caricature, analogy, or irony) are used in the cartoon?
- Is the cartoon humorous? What makes it humorous?
- What is another opinion a person could have about the issue treated in the cartoon? How could the cartoon be revised to communicate that opinion?
Online Resources
Big Apple History: Smart Art:
http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/parentsteachers/business_lesson4.htmlBig Apple History: Focus on Political Cartoons:
http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/activities/a_business/activity4/index.htmlBrief History of Political Cartoons:
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/PUCK/part1.htmlPrimary Sources: Political Cartoons:
http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs_media/cartoonspolitical.htmlProfessional Cartoonists Index: Teacher's Guide:
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/teacher/Print Resources
Drawn & Quartered: The History of American Political Cartoons by Stephen Hess and Sandy Northrop (Contributor),
More Recommended Resources
The New Yorker Book of Political Cartoons by Robert Mankoff, Editor
Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year 2003by Charles Brooks, Editor
- Scavenger Hunt Through a Newspaper
Grade Level: 3-5
Subject: Reading & Language Arts; MathSome of your students may not be familiar with the content of a newspaper. Select either as local or national newspaper and ask them to find specific items of inetrest aroud different subjects. For example, you could ask students to find stories that include references to math equations (a percent, a cost, fraction, etc.).
Or students might search the paper for grammar-related terms, such as noun, verns, conjunctions. Hold a contest: the team that finds the most nouns in a story wins!
You could ask students to page through a national newspaper and identify where in the Unitted States the stories reported are occurring. Have them plot on a map of the country where the news was happening on that day.
Online Resources
Newspapers in Education:
http://nieonline.comUsing Newspapers as Effective Teaching Tools:
http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/ieo/digests/d35.htmlUse the News:
http://www.usethenews.com/Print Resources
Best Newspaper Writing: The Nation's Best Journalism by Keith Woods, Editor
More Recommended Resources
- What's News to You May Not Be News to Others
Grade Level: 3-5
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts; Social StudiesWhat is important news in one state may not be as important in other communities. Distribute copies of your local newspaper and have students look at its major stories. Ask: Which stories would be of interest only to people in our state? Our city? Have student draw a red "X" through news stories that they think would not have been printed in newspapers elsewhere. How many news stories are left?
To help students understand what makes news in other cities and states, have students visit the online editions of newspapers aruond the country on the same day.
Ask students to compare front-page coverage from city to city. What are similarities in the news? What are differences? Did many newspapers focus on the same national stories? How about international stories? Discuss.
As a follow-up, students can use newspapers from around the country to compare editorials. How are they different? Similar? What can you tell about the concerns of a city, as expressed in letters to the editor of its newspapers?
Online Resources
Newspapers in Education:
http://nieonline.comUsing Newspapers as Effective Teaching Tools:
http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/ieo/digests/d35.htmlUse the News:
More Recommended Resources
http://www.usethenews.com/
- Do Students Have First Amendment Rights?
Grade Level: 6-8; 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies; The Arts; Reading & Language ArtsStudents' free speech in school has been the focus of two landmark Supreme Court cases. In 1969, the Court ruled that a school in Des Moines, Iowa, violated the First Amendment rights of students by suspending them for wearing armbands protesting the Vietnam War. In a 1988 case, however, the court said that school officials had the authority to censor school publications.
In Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, the court said school officials have the authority to censor most avenues of school-sponsored student expression when they can show that their censorship is "reasonably related to legitimate eduational concerns. Since then, legal experts believe school officials have a low hurdle to clear to legally censor student publications.
Discuss the case with your students,(see Online Resources below for more information) making sure they understand terms such as "prior review" and "censorship." Ask them what other forms of student expression could be subject to censorship under the Hazelwood standard.
The articles that the school deemed unsuitable for the newspaper were about teen pregnancy at the high school, which the principal believed inappropriate subject matter and inadequately protected the girls' identity, and divorce. (The principal believed the student's father criticized in the story should have had the chance to defend himself.) Have your students conduct a survey of their school community about editorial oversight of the school newspaper and other student publications. How are controversial subjects addressed, if at all, in these publications or other avenues of expression in school? What is your principal's opinion of Hazelwood? What do students journalists think?
Organize a mock Supreme Court session to revisit this issue. Divide the class into two teams to debate the following question: School officials have the right to censor student publications.
Online Resources
Culture Shock: The First Amendment:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/whodecides/firstamendment.htmlLandmark Supreme Court Cases: Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier:
http://www.landmarkcases.org/hazelwood/home.htmlStudent Press Law Center: Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier:
http://www.splc.org/legalresearch.asp?id=4The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE): Student Journalism after Hazelwood:
http://www.asne.org/kiosk/editor/julyaugust/goodman.htmPrint Resources
School Newspaper Adviser's Survival Guide by Patricia Osborn
More Recommended Resources
Hazelwood V. Kuhlmeier: Censorship in School Newspapers (Landmark Supreme Court Cases) by Sarah Betsy Fuller
- Stereotypes in the News
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts; Social StudiesIn this lesson, students will watch television news shows and evaluate them in regard to stereotyping and develop and sharpen their critical awareness of messages conveyed by the media.
Television news is supposed to be "objective". But do stereotypes creep in? Bring in a videotaped news clip or watch news clips online with students, asking them beforehand to look for instances in which stereotyping and bias affect the reporting. (You may wish to discuss definitions of these terms.) Then, ask students to watch 15-20 minutes of local, national, or international news on a regular or cable network at home. As they watch, they should take notes and write a two- to three-page report, using the following questions as a guide:
- What stories are covered?
- Who are the people shown? (note qualities such as gender, race, ethnicity, age.)
- What kinds of visuals accompany the stories and the portrayals of individuals and events? (e.g., are "experts" shown against a backdrop of books?)
- What kinds of words are used to characterize individuals or groups? (e.g., is a group of demonstrators described as "an angry mob" or "passionate rights activists"?)
- Do you see instances where stereotypes are promoted or perpetuated? Describe.
- Do you see instances where stereotypes are counteracted? Describe.
- How does the style in which news is presented and the choice of newsworthy stories affect viewers' perceptions and judgments?
Assign this activity as homework. Students can then work with partners or small groups to share and discuss their responses in class. Allow students to share the results of these group discussions with the entire class; students can then write group reports based on their conclusions. (Note: It is useful for discussion purposes to plan ahead with students and determine which shows they will watch. This way, each student can have at least one other person who saw and responded to the same program.)
Online Resources
Frontline: "The Merchants of Cool":
http://www.pbs.org/pages/frontline/teach/coolBig Apple History: Talk Back:
http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/parentsteachers/arts_lesson10.htmlP.O.V.: "Stranger with a Camera":
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2000/strangerwithacamera/index.htmlPrint Resources
Covering the Community : A Diversity Handbook for Media by Leigh Stephens Aldrich
More Recommended Resources
- Evolution of a Story
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies; Reading & Language Arts; The ArtsHave students track the development of a news story over a one-week period in several different publications or Web sites from different regions of the country. Students should collect as many articles as possible on the event from different sources and keep a scrapbook in which they record the date, page, reporter, and length of the story as well as what images, if any, were used and what overall impression the article gives about the people and the region involved.
Have students bring their scrapbooks to class. Lead a classroom discussion about the differences in the articles from different news sources, asking students to give concrete examples of how vocabulary, images, placement, etc., might affect the reader.
Working in small groups, have students compare and contrast various points of view represented by the articles they have collected. Have them chart contrasting perspectives (for example, pro-Iraqi war statements, anti-Iraqi war statements, and statements they see as non-biased).
Discussion questions:
- Should news and editorials be unbiased? Why or why not?
- What issues should the reader keep in mind when reading a news story?
- Why is it important to read several sources before drawing conclusions?
Have each group create two editorials, editorial cartoons, or a television commentary that take a recent and related issue and present different points of view about that issue.
Online Resources
Flashpoints USA: The Media Today: Truth or Lies?
http://www.pbs.org/flashpointsusa/20030916/ASNE High School Journalism:
http://www.highschooljournalism.org/Media Awareness Network:
More Recommended Resources
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm
- Is it Really News?
Grade Level: 6-8
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts; Social StudiesPose the following question: How much of what you see, hear or read in the news is really news?
Place students in appropriately sized groups. Their first task as a group is to decide on a definition of "news." Have groups share their definitions so that the class can reach a consensus.
Distribute a copy of the newspaper or news magazine to each group. They may also visit a news Web site.
Students should brainstorm in their groups to generate a list of the different content categories that are contained in a newspaper. The list might contain items such as these:
- News: Local, National, & International
- Employment Advertisements
- Entertainment
- Sports
- Photographs
- Weather
Have the class reach a consensus on the headings that will be used to categorize the contents of the newspaper.
Using transparent centimeter grid paper, students should determine how many square units it will take to cover the entire page (excluding the margins). Have students describe strategies for using the transparent grids to determine the area. It is essential that the class reaches a consensus on an approximation for the area of an entire page.
Each group will be responsible for collecting the data from several assigned pages. The number of pages assigned will depend on the number of pages in the newspaper or the number of pages in the sample. Note: These pages should not be sequential so that each group will have a variety of topics.
Take time to ensure that all students understand that the total number of square units on a page represents 1 whole (page) and the area of any article, advertisement, or picture that is selected from that page represents a fractional part of that page.
Students should determine how the article should be categorized and, using the transparent grid paper, count the squares to determine the area. Then students express the area of the article to the area of the page as a fraction and decimal and record results by category and page number. It may be necessary to round decimals to a specified place value. Discuss with students why the sum of the areas for a single page should add up to one. (The sum may not exactly equal one due to rounding.)
Online Resources
ASNE High School Journalism:
http://www.highschooljournalism.orgUse the News:
http://www.usethenews.com/Newspapers in Education:
More Recommended Resources
http://nieonline.com
Published: November 2003