Celebrate American Newspaper Week by teaching 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?
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.
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.
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.
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.)
Check out some of the following Web sites. Many are connected to familiar
news sources.
Article by Linda Starr
Education World®
Copyright © 2005 Education World
Originally published 09/27/1999
Links last updated 09/29/2005
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