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Lesson Plan
Carolina K-12

The Major Conferences of World War II

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
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.
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Lesson Plan
iCivics

NewsFeed Defenders Extension Pack

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Accuracy, transparency, trustworthiness, and impartiality are four unspoken rules of journalism. Scholars delve deep into the subject by discussing the pros and cons of relying on social media for news. They also play an online game to...
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Lesson Plan
iCivics

Step Two: The News and You

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
With so many news resources, scholars likely feel incredibly confused about what the news means.  Pupils participate in reading activities, fill out graphic charts, answer questions on worksheets, and complete a quick write activity.
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Unit Plan
American Press Institute

Introductory News Literacy

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Aspiring journalists learn about media literacy, journalism, and the press. Units come complete with handouts, assignment rubrics, notes, and extension suggestions. Each unit also comes with a list of vocabulary words and learning...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fighting Fake News

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
2
2
Historical Thinking Matters

Spanish-American War: 1 Day Lesson

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
After analyzing newspaper articles portraying different perspectives of the explosion of the Battleship USS Maine, your young historians will take a stand on which position is the most believable in both discussion and writing.
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Lesson Plan
iCivics

Propaganda: What’s the Message?

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
As class members progress through eight fully prepared learning stations, they will identify how bias is present in persuasive media, as well as differentiate among types of propaganda techniques like bandwagon propaganda and the use of...
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App
Associated Press

AP News

For Students 8th - 12th
A respected source of local and global news, you can trust this app to provide breaking stories and current events. The interface is highly visual and easy to navigate.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Unmonumental: Yesterday's News

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Upper graders are tasked with developing a social consciousness as they analyze the impact of the news media. They view a presentation depicting various media events in order to understand threshold moments in history. There are three...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing Summaries

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Practice summary writing with informational texts. Young readers create summaries after reading magazine articles, newspaper articles, or other forms of informational texts. Readers use the GRASP strategy (read text, write what you...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Edward R. Murrow: This Reporter

For Teachers 9th - 12th
What would Edward R. Murrow think of today’s news broadcasts? Learners examine the work of the first public television newscaster and his commitment to researched, accurate reporting. The eight-day study concludes with investigators...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Media Smarts

Bias in News Sources

For Teachers 9th - 12th
As young consumers of media, it is important for high schoolers to explore concepts of bias and prejudice, and how they may be present in media. After discussing ideological messages that media can contain, individuals complete a warm-up...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Television Newscasts

For Teachers 11th - 12th
When we watch news broadcasts on television, we receive a much more visual perspective than when we read the newspaper. How do sets, clothing, and music contribute to our understanding of the story? Compare American and Canadian news...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Beyond Media Messages: Media Portrayal of Global Issues

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Take a close look at news reporting techniques and global issues. Begin by creating a graphic representation of developing nations and defining the term. After class discussion, the second day's activities pick up by deconstructing news...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

News or Propaganda?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
What is considered news vs. propaganda? Learners will discuss objectivity and press responsibility while exploring these two concepts. They work in small groups to explore the article in-depth, guided by reading comprehension and...
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Worksheet
Nemours KidsHealth

Media Literacy and Health: What’s the Truth?

For Students 9th - 12th
In this personal health media literacy worksheet, students use the eight questions on this sheet to evaluate a health news report on television. Students write paragraphs the determine whether the reports are valid sources of information.
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Alienstock: Analyzing Information, Media, And Validity

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
One only has to watch MSMBC and FOX News to realize that media can present the same story in very different ways. Middle schoolers have an opportunity to test their ability to determine the validity and trustworthiness of information by...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

Is It Fair?

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Is Olympic Coverage Sexist?

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Women Olympians have come a long way since 1900 when 22 women competed for the first time. News coverage of the Olympics has also changed dramatically. What has been slow to change, however, is the language used in the coverage of female...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

Bias Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

The Press and the Presidency: Friend or Foe? How the President Is Portrayed

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

Search Boosters: How Content Creators Can Game the System

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Scholars examine the techniques content creators use to boost their search rankings. After watching a short "Search Boosters" video, groups select a story from the "News or Noise? Media Map" and analyze the devices used in the story. The...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Facebook

Metadata

For Teachers 9th - 12th
In previous lessons, young journalists learned about how to trace the original source of scrapes and memes. This interactive lesson plan teaches them another important step in the verification process. Participants learn how to analyze...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Facebook

Versions of Media Texts

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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...