Lesson Plan Title: News Team--Assemble!
GSE’s/GLE’s/Frameworks
Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.
Production and Distribution of Writing:
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge:
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the specific task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.
ISTE 1. Creativity and innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes
b. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression
c. Use models and simulations
ISTE 2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media
b. Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats
d. Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems
ISTE 3. Research and information fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media
c. Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks
ISTE 4. Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan
and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
a. Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation
b. Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project
c. Collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions
d. Use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions
Objectives
- Students will research roles of a journalism team.
- Students will choose a role to play in the team.
- Students will collaborate with team members.
- Students will design and create an online newspaper for their school.
- Students will apply their knowledge of newspaper operations to produce regular online news editions.
Materials
- Computers with Internet access for each student
- Word processing software
- Google account for Google docs
Anticipatory Set
Students will identify online news sources and review their designs and content.
Ask students:
- Which online blogs or news web sites they read and why.
- What makes a good news site?
- What kinds of articles do you like to read?
- What’s important information to cover?
- If you were the editor, would you run (example) controversial story? Why or why not?
- How would you want your news site to look?
Tell students they’ll create their own news site for the school. They’ll research journalistic roles, choose roles to play, and collaborate to design and create a live news blog.
Procedures
*This lesson should on previous lessons surrounding journalism, ethics, and writing.
**Optimal execution of this lesson would involve a WebQuest, but it’s not necessary.
Pre-activity
Talk about questions and details in the anticipatory set.
Have students talk about news sites they enjoy and why. Prompt questions about credibility, design, and content types.
Have students search schooljournalism.org for information about the different roles in a journalism team.
Set up Google Classroom forum for student collaboration when they start the project.
Set up a Google doc for students to choose roles. Under each student’s name, write 1, 2, 3 and ask students to rank their top three choices for team roles. (Ex: editor, features writer, podcaster, cartoonist, copyeditor, sports writer, etc.) Teacher reviews students’ choices and makes final decision of student roles.
Teams
Teacher should break students into these teams and available roles.
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Design/layout
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Editorial Board: Managing editor; Features editor; News editor; Sports editor; any additional section editors
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Cartoonists
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Staff writers: News, Features, Sports, etc.
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Copyeditors & Proofreaders
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Photographers/photo editors
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Podcasts/videos
Design/layout
Editorial Board: Managing editor; Features editor; News editor; Sports editor; any additional section editors
Cartoonists
Staff writers: News, Features, Sports, etc.
Copyeditors & Proofreaders
Photographers/photo editors
Podcasts/videos
Activity
Teacher breaks students into team groups and advises teams to choose a leader/spokesperson within that group. This person will be responsible for liaising with other groups and the editor-in-chief (the teacher).
Teacher instructs team leaders to create a shared Google doc for their team.
Teacher prompts design team to review online news sites that we talked about earlier and drafts ideas for the design. They collaborate and finally create the site for the news blog using a site like Weebly.
Teacher advises the editorial board regarding choosing stories and assigning them to the staff writers.
Teacher advises the staff writers to research and write their stories, then hand them off for copyediting, revision, and publication.
Teacher encourages the photographer/photo editors to liaise with the staff writers (through Google docs) and finds out what they need to photograph and when.
Teacher routinely checks in with students in person and on their Google docs for progress and troubleshooting.
Some questions
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How would you handle discord among groups? (Inevitably there will be arguments.)
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Ask students to debate running one story over another with the editorial board.
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Ask students to consider their audience (student body, parents, teachers) while writing and editing their articles.
When all articles, podcasts, illustrations, etc., are ready to publish, check in with the layout and design team to make sure everything has been submitted on deadline.
Be available for questions as the design/layout team publishes content to the site and makes it live.
Reconvene with students when the site is live to commence reflection.
How would you handle discord among groups? (Inevitably there will be arguments.)
Ask students to debate running one story over another with the editorial board.
Ask students to consider their audience (student body, parents, teachers) while writing and editing their articles.
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