Media Smarts
Looking at Newspapers: Introduction
A scavenger hunt introduces class groups to the different sections of newspapers and the different types of articles found in each section.
Media Smarts
News and Newspapers: Across the Curriculum
Did you know that the Chinese Court Gazette is the longest continuing news paper in history? In addition to some great background information, this resource includes suggestions for activities across grade levels and across the curriculum.
American Press Institute
High Five: Media Literacy and Newspapers
Teach the five different types of media with the first of three in a media literacy unit. Learners create and propose a final newspaper project, which must address information covered throughout the unit.
Newseum
News About My Community
After researching statistics about their community in local census reports, young journalists interview a resident about their interests and then analyze a local newspaper or homepage to see how similar the stories are to the residents'...
Newspaper Association of America
Press Ahead!
Give class members some great news! A media unit teaches individuals about ethics, parts of a newspaper, business writing, photojournalism, and more topics that have to do with the press. Full of material for a variety of learners,...
American Press Institute
Newspapers in Your Life: What’s News Where?
Big news isn't necessarily newsworthy everywhere! How do journalists decide what to cover with so much happening around them? A instructional activity on media literacy examines the factors that affect the media's choice of stories to...
Social Media Toolbox
Reporting with Social Media
What does it take to create news stories that are both informative and objective? Aspiring journalists walk the line between engagement and activism with lesson 15 of a 16-part series titled The Social Media Toolbox. Grouped pupils...
Newseum
Journalists Code of Ethics
Journalists are supposed to adhere to a Code of Ethics. To determine the degree to which reporters follow this code, individuals select three recent stories with photographs from newspapers, magazines, online news sites, or television...
American Press Institute
Media Literacy: Where News Comes From
What actually happens at a press conference? Make sense of the mayhem with a mock press conference activity designed to promote media literacy. Individuals participate as either members of the press or the governor's office to examine...
Curated OER
Current Events
Here is an ongoing activity intended to build interest in local, national, and world news. The class is divided into four groups of approximately five students each. The groups are responsible for monitoring the daily news. They compose...
American Press Institute
Introductory News Literacy
Aspiring journalists learn about media literacy, journalism, and the press. Units come complete with handouts, assignment rubrics, notes, and extension suggestions. Each unit also comes with a list of vocabulary words and learning...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Yellow Journalism
What role did yellow journalism play in bringing the United States into war with Spain? As part of their study of the Spanish-American War, class groups examine newspapers of the times and other texts and then produce their own...
The New York Times
The Careful Reader: Teaching Critical Reading Skills with the New York Times
The 11 lessons in this educators' guide focus on using newspapers to develop critical reading skills in the content areas.
Curated OER
Creating a Newspaper
Get the scoop with a fun, engaging newspaper project. After analyzing the parts of a newspaper, including the headline, subtitles, and pictures or images, young journalists get to work by writing their own stories in a newspaper article...
American Press Institute
Creating a Classroom Newspaper
Hot off the press: a mini-unit for class members to create their own newspaper. Complete with graphic organizers, extension activities, and helpful learning targets that teach parts of a newspaper, the resource contains everything needed...
Social Media Toolbox
Social Media Usage
Is there a difference in the way organizations present news via social media and in print? The third in a series of 16 lessons from The Social Media Toolbox explores news outlets and their delivery methods. Groups follow a story for a...
Newseum
Anonymous Sources in Our Daily News
Young journalists search for two examples of news stories, either published or online, that use anonymous or unnamed sources. They then consider the possible motives for why the sources remain unidentified, the types of stories that use...
CJ Hatcher & Associates, Inc.
Skill Building with the Newspaper
Extra, extra, read all about it! Use a newspaper as the primary resource in a special education classroom to teach reading, writing, and math skills. The activities help class members build their reading skills as well as their knowledge...
Newseum
Persuasion Portfolios
After class members brainstorm a list of current social and political issues, groups each select a different topic from the list to research. Teams create a portfolio of at least 10 examples of stories about their issue, stories that...
Dream of a Nation
Read, Watch, Write for Pathos, Logos and Ethos
Encourage your young citizens to make a difference. Using Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America as a starting point, class members watch documentaries, investigate issues, and then write letters to...
Discovery Education
Election in the News
Young people are the future voices of the country. In order to be knowledgeable about local and federal elections, future voters must first become aware. Bring an informative lesson plan to your social studies class, in which middle and...
Energy for Keeps
The Energy Times
Extra! Extra! Read all about past and present energy use in a classroom-made historical newspaper. Useful as a cross-curricular assignment between science, history, and language arts, the project is sure to get young journalists...
NPR
Journalism Lesson Plan
Honor women in journalism with an online exhibit called Women with a Deadline. Class members demonstrate their understanding of the topic in a final assessment by writing a newspaper article on the information they learned in the online...
Madison Public Schools
Journalism
Whether you are teaching a newspaper unit in language arts, covering the First Amendment and censorship in social studies, or focusing on writing ethics in journalism, a unit based on the foundations of journalism would be an excellent...