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Activity One
The purpose of this activity is to motivate students and pique their interest in the news.
1. Make copies of the photographs listed below, or bring in photographs of your own choosing. You may also search for photographs by typing in a search word and clicking the "images" button on the Google website. http://www.google.com
Number the photographs and hang the photographs on the board. Ask students to write a caption for each photograph, making sure that they record the number of the photograph as they write the heading.
http://www.univie.ac.at/cga/art/walk/ministry-of-silly-walks-4.jpg
http://mstu.cz/~bozek/obrazky/Animals/blackcat.jpg
http://www.jeffalbro.net/photography/photojournalism/over-the-basket-800.jpg
http://www.carreonphotography.com/photos/los_angeles_photojournalism/photojournalist29.jpg
Provide time for students to share their captions with the class. Discuss how each picture has a story to tell, even though we might not know what that story is.
Steps
Activity One
The purpose of this activity is to help students become aware that there are multiple perspectives to any given news story.
1. Stage a situation in your classroom that results in an "unfair" punishment of the students. You might need to elicit the help of students, another teacher, or the principal to help you set up the situation in which you will pretend to unfairly punish the entire class. For example, you could have one of the students disrupt the room and tell the class that the whole class will miss recess, or have to stay after school every day for a month.
2. After awhile, explain to students that the situation was staged. Discuss what happened from the various viewpoints of the people involved. Ask the students, the person who caused the "situation," and the teacher, principal or yourself to tell what happened from their point of view.
3. Lead the class in a discussion about how people involved in the same situation can have varying perceptions regarding the event.
4. Read Jon Scieszkaís book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs to the class. Discuss how this version is different from the original story of The Three Little Pigs.
5. Ask students to imagine that the wolf has been captured and is being kept in the zoo. Tell them that some local residents are questioning why the wolf is being kept in the zoo, and that the students are being asked to write a newspaper article about the situation.
Teacher Note: For this activity students could choose to create a news video, audiotape, or a podcast in place of the written newspaper article.
6. Pass out the "Three Little Pigs News Story" organizer.
7. Provide time for students to share their work with the entire class.
Activity Two
The purpose of this activity is for students to analyze and critique news reports by comparing and contrasting a variety of news formats.
1. As a class, consider how the format for delivering the news has changed through the decades. Discuss how town criers could technically be considered the first newscasters. If students don’t know what a town crier is, explain to them that criers were people who alerted other townspeople of danger and communicated local news. Criers had to be able to read and write, as they would generally write the news, read it in public and then post it in a public place. Discuss how, as society changed and technology evolved, new mediums for delivering the news grew to include newspapers and print materials, radio, television, and more recently the Internet.
2. Involve students in a discussion about which news media they use to keep informed about what is happening in the world around them.
3. Explain to students that they are going to work in small groups to create a news report for an actual event that occurred in 1856. Ask groups to choose, or assign one of the formats outlined below for the report. Make sure that all of the formats (with the exception of the pod cast) are covered by at least one group.
Group One - Town Crier: Create a written account that will be posted in the classroom and deliver the account orally in a public (classroom) setting.
Group Two - Newspaper Article: Write and print a newspaper article.
Group Three - Radio Report: Create a radio news report. If possible provide a tape recorder for students to record their report.
Group Four - Television Report: Create a television news report. If possible, have students video tape the report.
Group Five - Pod Cast: Create a pod cast news report. If you, or a student, have the necessary technology, create a pod cast news report.
4. Read or print the following excerpt for the students.
Mary Patten was newly married and barely out of her teens when she set out with her husband, Joshua, on the clipper ship Neptune's Car, bound for California. During the voyage, Joshua taught Mary navigation, meteorology, the ropes and sails, stowage of cargo, and many other ship's duties. During the voyage, the first mate was caught sleeping on duty and was thrown into irons. The second mate, Mr. Hare, had little knowledge of navigation, and Captain Patten took most of the watches to keep the ship on course. When Patten collapsed from the strain, the former first mate organized a mutiny. Mary stood up to the sailors, convincing them that she could navigate and get them to California on time. When they reached Golden Gate Bay, California, Mary personally took the helm and navigated the ship to port, delivering the cargo to the owners intact. The trip had taken 136 days. After the voyage Mary became famous, but she ignored all the attention and quietly took her husband home on the vessel George Law. A hospital at King's Point Academy in New York is named for her.
A nineteenth-century sailing vessel would have been severely tested by the dangerous seas around Cape Horn. Mary Patten stunned the maritime world by safely rounding the cape and delivering her cargo to California on time and intact.
The Mariner's Museum: Women & The Sea
Source - http://www.mariner.org/women/goingtosea/whither.htm
4. After students have completed the assignment, have them share their work with the class. Pass out the "Reporting the News" organizer for students to fill out as they watch the groups' presentations.
5. Involve the class in a discussion about the unique qualities of each news format.
Extension Activity
Have students create and conduct a survey about the role that news plays in people's lives
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