PBS
Finding Story Ideas
Pitch your best news story to your news team, or the peers in your journalism class, with a activity about finding, reporting, and presenting a story. After watching clips of different examples, as well as strategies for finding the best...
Curated OER
A Classical Maya News Report
Students research the culture of the Mayans. In this early civilizations lesson, students research selected Maya city-states including Tikal, Clakmul, Piedras Niegras, and Uaxactun. Students use their research findings to present news...
Curated OER
Finding and Gathering The News
Eighth graders discover what makes an event newsworthy. They research topics by using the five W questions. They examine the difference between facts and opinions and practice interviewing people for stories.
Curated OER
Exploring Media: Understanding and Identifying Editorial Perspective in Television and Radio News
Students research the topics Boat People: A Refugee Crisis, Dr. Henry Morgentaler: Fighting Canada's Abortion Laws, and CANDU: The Canadian Nuclear Reactor on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site.
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Making News
Students explore the news media. In this social studies lesson, students discuss what the definition of news is. Students write a newspaper article about positive activity that students at their school are involved in.
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Mining Mass Media
Students take a closer look at the attributes of electronic media. For this journalism lesson, students compare and contrast electronic and print versions of the same news stories. Students then write their one broadcast news stories.
Curated OER
Consider the Source
Students explain how to critically compare news reporting from around the world, focusing on coverage of the Taliban regime. They compare and contrast television and print media reporting on the issue.
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A Free and Open Press: Evaluating the Media
Students compare and critically evaluate the different media as sources of news, develop criteria for defining "news", experience the editorial process of selecting news stories and detect bias in news reporting.
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Reporting War: a Comparison of News Reports on Vietnam And Operation Enduring Freedom
Young scholars research how television news shows reported on the War in Vietnam. They describe how television news shows reported on the Iraqi War and compare the two coverages. They contrast how are they similar and how they are ...
Curated OER
Bringing a TV News Story To Life- BBC News- School Report
In this BBC news school report about bringing a TV news story to life, learners use a the form plan a TV interview. They video the interviewee's head and shoulders while they answer a reporter's questions. They add graphics that explain...
Curated OER
Vanishing Verbs
Young scholars analyze recent media trends, and develop critical thinking skills by summarizing main ideas, extracting details, formulating opinions, drawing inferences, and comparing and contrasting attitudes. They also practice...
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Watching the Clock: An activity to build media-savvy students
Students analyze time constraints on broadcast news. They apply data collecting and data display skills. They identify the difference between news progams and the evening news.
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Words in the News: Carol Thatcher Wins TV Show
Students discuss what they know about reality television. In groups, they use new vocabulary words to match to its definition. They read an article and answer questions about reality television.
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We're On The Air!
Students use the CBC Archives Web site to explore the relationship between television and print news and create television news reports based on print news.
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You Choose the News
Students investigate the process used in choosing the news. They serve as guest editors and select newsworthy stories for the evening news program. Students explore how news is selected by editors and gain insight into the making of the...
ProCon
Social Media
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter—are they good for society? Pupils prepare for a class debate in which they voice their opinions on the issue. They read the main pro and con arguments, explore others' opinions, view videos, and discover the...
Curated OER
Parliamentary Newsroom : Developing Media Literacy
Students explain and examine the selection, development, sources, transmission and impact of news on the public. They write a brief essay on the topic: "The Public Must Be Critical In Their Assessment of the News Before Drawing...
Curated OER
What is News?
Eighth graders discover elements that make a story newsworthy. They play an online game about newsworthy stories and complete a worksheet with partners. They also examine the difference between facts and opinions.
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Reporting on History
Have fun with history and turn your kids into news reporters of the past. Each group will research, script, and deliver a news report on a historic event they are studying in class. They'll identify the main characters of the historical...
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Media Coverage
Students research news coverage to examine how a local issue does not receive fair attention in the news. In this new coverage instructional activity, students discuss where they get their information and why some issues are ignored....
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Local Motives
Investigate current local elections across the United States with this New York Times reading lesson. Using informational text, middle and high schoolers research local elections and create their own news reports about what they...
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Ordering News Reports Lesson 5
Students create a news program with several reports. They examine the newsorthiness of the reports. They include different types of reports in their news program. They consider how the different reports appeal to audiences.
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"War of the Worlds": A Broadcast Re-Creation
Why did Orson Welles' 1938 Broadcast of a adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds cause such a panic? To answer this question, class members listen to the original broadcast and research the panic that resulted. They then engage...
Southern Poverty Law Center
Evaluating Online Sources
All sources are pretty much the same, right? If this is how your class views the sources they use for writing or research projects, present them with a media literacy lesson on smart source evaluation. Groups examine several articles,...