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: 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...
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
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...
Newseum
'The Press and the Civil Rights Movement' Video Lesson
Scholars watch a video featuring journalists who covered the civil rights movement, then respond to questions on a viewing guide. The video features interviews with participants and original news footage from the 1950s and 1960s. In...
Newseum
Bias Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources
Young journalists use the E.S.C.A.P.E. (evidence, source, context, audience, purpose, and execution) strategy to evaluate historical and contemporary examples of bias in the news. The class then uses the provided discussion questions to...
Newseum
The Press and the Presidency: Friend or Foe? How the President Is Portrayed
In theory, news reports should be fair and unbiased. Young journalists test this theory by selecting a current news story covered by various media outlets about the President of the United States. They then locate and analyze five...
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...
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
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...
Facebook
Versions of Media Texts
Verification of provenance and the original source of an image or video can be a long and winding process. Young journalists learn about the difficulty of finding the original source of a scrape, a copy of an original news story, and...
PBS
What Makes A Good Video Report?
As part of a media literacy unit, class members establish criteria for good video reporting, and practice giving both positive (warm) and constructive (cool) criticism.
Classroom Law Project
Should we believe everything we read? Becoming a discerning consumer of media
Class members investigate the role media should play in a healthy democracy. As part of this study, groups analyze political advertising, use FactCheck to assess not only the veracity of but the persuasions techniques used in candidates'...
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...
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.
Newseum
Covering a Catastrophe: Press Conference Simulation
Young journalists have an opportunity to experience the challenges of covering a catastrophe by staging a mock press conference. Half the class acts as reporters while the others act as officials from the mayor's office.
Newseum
Breaking News: Tracing the Facts
Breaking news reports can be short of facts. Young journalists select a pair of news articles about a disaster; one published within hours of the event and the second published the following day. They examine whether facts in the report...
Newseum
Civil Rights News Coverage: Looking Back at Bias
Not all southern newspapers covered the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Young journalists investigate how The Lexington (Ky. Herald-Leader and The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun re-examined their coverage of the movement. After...
Newseum
Free Press Challenges Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources
The debate over the integrity of stories in media is not new. Young journalists analyze historical sources that reveal freedom of the press controversies and draw parallels to challenges freedom of the press faces today.
Curated OER
Can You Hear My Now?: Getting the Message Across
In this power transmittance worksheet, students read about sources that transmit power and are given a chart with the distance and the power transmitted by each device. Students determine the intensity in watts of the power for each...
Curated OER
News Anchor
High schoolers view selected clips from news programs, analyzing the volume, stress and pacing of the deliverance. They prepare and deliver a one-minute presentation based on a current news story.
Curated OER
BBC Learning English -working abroad: listening
In this listening worksheet, students will complete a chart identifying which of 5 speakers communicated each of the 18 statements. The corresponding radio broadcast can be found...
Curated OER
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Students create a presentation in which they retell the events of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. In this A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court lesson plan, students are introduced to Mark Twain in a PowerPoint, then...
Curated OER
Character Education Podcasts
Students study character traits. In this character education lesson, students create podcasts highlighting a particular character trait. Students broadcast one podcast per week.