Rockefeller Archive Center
Understanding Mass Media News
In an age of fake news and photoshopped images, it is vital that 21st century learners development the skills they need to evaluate mass media and assess its validity. A great way to launch such a study is with a carefully crafted lesson...
Curated OER
Orchestrated Hell
Students evaluate a radio broadcast by correspondent Edward R. Murrow as a primary historic source. The broadcast, popularly known as "Orchestrated Hell" recounts Murrow's experiences with a Royal Air Force bomber crew on a raid over...
Newseum
Is It Fair?
Young journalists learn how to analyze word choice, context, and counterpoints to judge the fairness of a news story. They practice using these tools to judge a series of headlines for the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. They...
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...
iCivics
Mini Lesson A: Monetization
Advertising is everywhere! Does your class know that their attention span is for sale, even when they're watching a simple news story? The second installment in a five-part series from iCivics examines the relationship between news...
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...
Facing History and Ourselves
Free Press Makes Democracy Work
A unit study of the importance of a free press in a democracy begins with class members listening to a podcast featuring two journalists, one from a United States public radio station and one from Capetown, South Africa. The lesson,...
Curated OER
Science Videos
Students plan, practice, and act in a 2-3 minute videotaped production about a specific topic. Students from a local high school give presentations pertaining to seasons, earth rotation, and moon phases. Students analyze the...
Curated OER
News Coverage
Students compare and contrast methods of media coverage. In this media awareness lesson, students keep track of news regarding a world or national issue for the period of 1 week. Students collaborate to describe the type of coverage...
Curated OER
Walter Cronkite: Witness to History
Students brainstorm a list of news sources. They interview people about today's media and discuss their results. After watching segments of a film about Walter Cronkite, they role play as reporters and subjects from an historic period...
Carolina K-12
The Major Conferences of World War II
Young historians create a 1940's news radio broadcast on the five major World War II conferences, including the Atlantic, Casablanca, Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam.
Curated OER
Fighting Fake News
Fake news. Alternative facts. Internet trolls. In an age of Newspeak, it's increasingly important to equip 21st century learners with the skills needed to determine the legitimacy of claims put forth on social media, in print, and in...
Pulitzer Center
Food Insecurity
Food insecurity, whether as a result of food scarcity or a lack of nutritious food, is a growing and serious problem in the world today. After discussing the concept of food insecurity, learners listen to an NPR radio broadcast on the...
Curated OER
Show Me the Money!!!
Students research employment rates in the United States with a focus on broadcast journalists. In this employment rate lesson, students visit the given websites to explore popular states to live in, highest and lowest unemployment rates,...
Curated OER
The History of Rock and Roll: Part 1 - Rock and Roll Explodes Music Reflects The Times
Students examine technological advancements in music and broadcast over the decades.
Curated OER
Broadcasting the News Lesson 6
Students practice news reading at three words per second. They produce a news program while working as a team of reporters. They watch news clips of current reporters making a list of news reading tips. They play an online game that...
Curated OER
Back to the Past
What was the Untied States like in 1938? What were the concerns of Americans in the post World War I era? What were their fears? What were their sources of news and entertainment? To understand the reaction to Orson Welles' radio...
Curated OER
Broadcasting World War II
Third graders listen to several broadcasts from the WWII era. They research, write and perform simulated radio broadcasts concerning topics related to American society in World War II.
Curated OER
Broadcast from the Past
Pupils will be responsible for presenting (either performing live or videotaping and playing) a newscast dealing with an aspect of the Civil Rights Movement that connects to the unit topic of media and social justice. During the...
Curated OER
Using News Broadcasts in Japan and the U.S as Cultural Lenses
Students view archives of news broadcasts in order to create a context of cultural understanding. They compare and contrast the news broadcasts in Japan and the United States.
Curated OER
Weather Report
Students prepare a weather script for a broadcast. For this weather broadcasting lesson, student record the present temperature, high temperature, a sky watch, and the current moon phase to be presented in a school broadcast at the...
Curated OER
Where journalism meets art
Students pick out the different techniques in photographs taken. In this photographs lesson plan, students critique patterns, shadows, reflections, and more in the photographs.
Curated OER
Women of Substance ~ Broadcasting Their Stories
Students research the Boston Women's Memorial. Showing their fifth grade buddies around the memorial, they examine the lives of Abigail Adams, Phillis Wheatley and Lucy Stone. They create scripts for a public service announcement while...
Curated OER
Sly Book Channel
Create a commercial for a favorite book and broadcast this pitch on the Sly Book Channel! Learners practice retelling, summarizing, comparing/contrasting, and evaluation skills as they prepare their scripts. The approved scripts are then...