Newseum
Media Mix-Ups Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources
Scholars use the E.S.C.A.P.E. (Evidence Source, Context, Audience, Purpose, Execution) strategy to analyze a historical source to determine why mistakes happen in news stories. They then apply the same strategies to contemporary flawed...
Newseum
Front Page Photographs: Analyzing Editorial Choices
Frontpage photographs are the focus of four activities that ask young journalists to consider what the images reveal about a newspaper and its community. To begin, groups compare what images different papers from across the country use...
Newseum
Case Study: The Execution of Ruth Snyder (1928)
The case of the 1928 execution of Ruth Snyder takes center stage in a lesson that asks young journalists to consider the ethics involved in publishing an image of an execution. A series of discussion questions ask individuals how they...
Newseum
Getting to the Source
Reliable news stories are based on facts from reliable sources. Young journalists learn how to evaluate the reliability of news sources by watching a short explainer video. Teams apply their new source-digging skills to a current news...
Newseum
Media Ethics: Fairness Formula Starts With Accuracy
As part of a study of media ethics, young journalists apply a fairness formula to news reports. They look at accuracy, balance, completeness, detachment, and ethics to determine if the reporting is fair.
Newseum
The Fundamentals of News
A short video introduces middle schoolers to different media-related news terms. Viewers then complete a worksheet and discuss the differences between news and journalism, between facts and opinions.
Newseum
Fake News — What's the Big Deal?
In a time of fake news and alternative facts, young people must have the ability to identify it and its role. Scholars watch a video of teens reflecting on the concept of fake news and the impact of sharing fake news stories. They then...
News Literacy Project
News Goggles: Quotes in News Reports
To quote or paraphrase? That is the question examined by a 29-slide presentation on the importance of including direct quotes in news reporting.
News Literacy Project
News Goggles: Conflicts of Interest in News Reports
Nineteen slides use the story of Chris Cuomo of CNN and his refusal to discuss his brother, New York governor Andrew's political troubles, to inform viewers about the idea of conflict of interest in journalism.
News Literacy Project
News Goggles: Newsroom Lingo Review
Learn how to talk like a journalist. Throw around jargon like "lede" and "nut graf." A 20-slide presentation introduces viewers to words and phrases heard in the fast-paced newsroom.
News Literacy Project
News Goggles: Tracking Developing Stories
A 28-slide presentation introduces viewers to the process reports go through to track and verify developing news stories. Using the reports of the attacks at Atlanta, Georgia, massage parlors as an example, viewers are taught what to...
News Literacy Project
News Goggles: Ad or News?
Ever seen the labels "sponsored content," "native advertising," "advertorial," "paid post," "#ad," or "#sponsored?" If so, then you are looking at advertisements that are designed to appear as news stories. Learn how to tell the...
News Literacy Project
Is It “Checkable”?
Upper elementary scholars test their checking skills with a lesson that challenges them to distinguish between fact and opinion. First, the class takes part in a discussion regarding a helpful flow chart. Next, learners follow the flow...
News Literacy Project
Democracy’s Watchdog
As part of a study of the importance of the First Amendment, expert groups research different historic case studies of investigative reporting, and then the experts share their findings with jigsaw groups. The case studies include Nellie...
News Literacy Project
News Goggles: Covering a Newsworthy Trial
The trial of Derek Chauvin, former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, is the focus of a lesson that asks pupils to compare how local, nationial, and international news organizations reported the testimony of...
News Literacy Project
Fact-Check It!
Here's a lesson designed to help learners develop their digital verification skills. First, expert groups study specific digital verification skills, and in a jigsaw activity, share what they have learned with classmates. The jigsaw...
PBS
Decoding Media Bias
Alternative facts? After watching the We The Voters film, "MediOcracy," viewers compare how cable news outlets CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC report the same story about politics or public policy. After a whole-class discussion of their...
News Literacy Project
News Goggles: Lionel Ramos, Oklahoma Watch
Given all the recent criticism of the news media and coverage, it's crucial that young people are given the tools they need to evaluate what they see, hear, and read about current events. A video interview from "News Goggles" introduces...
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
A 15-page packet includes detailed plans for three activities related to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. To gather background information, class members research topics and create a newspaper page reporting their findings. After finishing...
DocsTeach
WWI Propaganda and Art
Uncle Sam wants you! During World War II, the US government and military created a propaganda campaign to gain public support. The activity uses primary documents such as photos to explain how and why the propaganda campaign was...
EngageNY
Close Read: Epiphytes of the Rainforest and the Creatures That Call Them Home (Pages 24–26)
It's all connected. Scholars use pages 24-26 of The Most Beautiful Roof in the World to identify the relationship between the plants and animals in the rainforest. They answer and discuss questions about the relationship with a group....
EngageNY
Writing and Revising Our Texts: Using Peer Critique to Improve First Drafts
Mail me a postcard. Individuals design a postcard to show what Meg Lowman from The Most Beautiful Roof in the
World might have written to her friends at home. They then continue to work on writing a science journal entry.
EngageNY
Close Reading: Blue Creek, a Rainforest in Belize (Page 12)
Peace and quiet. After reading page 12 of The Most Beautiful Roof in the World, scholars participate in a silent conversation with a chalk talk activity. They take turns describing how the rainforest is diverse by writing on chart paper....
Kent State University
Teaching Ethics in Scholastic Journalism
Events in recent years have underscored the importance of a free and independent press in a democracy. Young journalists engage in lessons about the function of journalism in a democratic society, practice the steps of Bok's Ethical...