It's News to Me:
Teaching About
The Newspaper

Teach students to be knowledgeable and discerning news readers. Explore six great sites that will help you teach about the newspaper -- before you start teaching with it! Included: Seven original ideas for teaching students about the newspaper.

According to a survey conducted by the Audit Bureau of Circulations and the Newspaper Association of America, seven out of ten teenagers ages 12 to 17 reported they read a newspaper at least once a week, and 47 percent said the newspaper was their main source of news and information. It's clear that most students are familiar with the informational and educational value of newspapers. But what do they know about the contents and structure of the newspaper they read? Can they tell a news article from a feature or an editorial? Can they determine the accuracy of a particular news article? Can they find specific information quickly? Do they know that

a roll of newsprint is 10 miles long and weighs 2,650 pounds?
the base ingredient in newspaper ink is soybeans?
the white space between columns of print is called the alley?
a syndicate is an organization that distributes columns or features such as comics or advice columns to many different newspapers?
if you draw an inverted triangle over the first paragraph of a news story, you should be able to find the answers to the questions who? what? when? and where? within the sentence or sentences indicated by triangle?

EXPLORING THE NEWSPAPER

If the answer to most of those questions is no, it may be time to put off teaching them with the newspaper until you've taught them about the newspaper. So provide each student with a copy of your local paper and begin your exploration. Begin by studying the front page and learning the meaning of common newspaper terms, such as key, flag, cutline, and jump. Then...

Vocabulary. Have students begin compiling a personal glossary of newspaper terms by recording the words and meanings on this page, along with any other newspaper terms they know, in a small notebook.

Of course, news stories generally comprise most of the content of the front page, so students will want to learn more about Writing a News Story. Encourage them to try the first activity on the Writing a News Story page, which involves them in drawing an inverted triangle over the first paragraph of several news stories. Were they able to locate each story's who, what, when, and where?

Writing. Provide students with lists of possible "whos," "whats," "whens," and "wheres." Ask them to choose one item from each list and use it to write a news story. Encourage students to share their stories with their classmates.

At this page, you can also discuss with students the criteria that make a story newsworthy: timeliness, proximity, uniqueness, impact, prominence, suspense, conflict, emotion, progress, and importance.

Reading for meaning. Divide a bulletin board into ten sections, and label each section with one of the criteria for selecting news stories. Ask students to find and cut out examples of each type of news story, and then have them attach each story to the correct section of the bulletin board.

The first part of the Through the Star Tribune is a newspaper scavenger hunt designed to help students learn about the contents of a newspaper. Review the list with students, and discuss where in the newspaper they'd be most likely to find each item.

Locating information. Provide students with the Star Tribune list, or an adapted version, and have them find the items in their own newspapers.

As you go on to the second part of Through the Star Tribune, encourage students to locate each newspaper section and story type in their papers.

EVALUATING THE MESSAGE

Once students have learned about the physical makeup of the newspaper, encourage them to find out about the issues that affect both journalists and readers. Messages and Meanings: A Guide to Understanding Media provides a thorough discussion of the meaning of media, encouraging students to consider both what media is and how to use it.

NEWSPAPER VALUES

Many students probably believe that reporting the news is a simple matter of writing down facts or opinions in a literate and coherent manner. Help them discover that journalists and newspapers must also make value judgments by encouraging them to explore the six core values of journalism from the Journalism Values Institute:

Balance/fairness/wholeness
Accuracy/authenticity
Leadership
Accessibility
Credibility
Judgment

Evaluating information. Ask students to go to 1st Headlines News and read at least two versions of the same story under Breaking News. Provide each student with a copy of a Target Dating chart, and have them use it to compare the stories. When they've completed the chart, ask students to rate each story according to the first four core values of journalism. (You might want to point out that the last two core values are concerned with a pattern of behavior rather than with a particular article or feature.)

Finally...

Just for fun. Encourage students to Create Your Own Newspaper.

ADDITIONAL EDUCATION WORLD RESOURCES

Be sure to check out these other related Education World stories:

Extra! Extra! -- Eight Great Web Sites Connect News to Your Curriculum!
Discover eight great sites that will help you link the day's news to your curriculum and challenge students to look beyond the news! Connect the news to science, geography, social studies, art, math, language arts, critical thinking, and technology! Included are six on-line news quizzes for students of all ages.
Ten Great Activities: Teaching With the Newspaper
Ten terrific classroom activities that use the newspaper to teach all sorts of valuable skills -- including reading and writing for meaning, map reading, media literacy, sequencing, word meaning, and math.
Twenty-Five Great Ideas for Teaching Current Events
Looking for ways to work news into your classroom curriculum? Check out these great ideas for connecting current events to all subjects! (Published on Education World August 3, 1998.)

ONLINE NEWS SOURCES

Check out some of the following Web sites. Many are connected to familiar news sources.