A 23-slide presentation teaches young media analysts how to identify a scoop or exclusive first report of a breaking story, how these reports become verified, and how subsequent reports in other news sources add information or refocus...

A 25-slide presentation teaches viewers how to identify the source of stories in newspapers and online news sites. The slides show how to locate the byline where either the reporter's name or the wire service that provided the story can...

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...

Newspapers and broadcast news. Social media, blogs, and blogospheres. Class members generate a list of news sources they use to get information about events. The big idea here is to introduce the necessary vocabulary and to establish a...

Freedom of speech is not always free. Scholars investigate how the First Amendment provides for the right to express opinions. Through the court case Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, they analyze free speech using primary documents—and hopefully...

Young journalists learn that how we get our news and information matters in a collaborative social studies activity. The class is divided into three groups with the first analyzing a transcript of FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech, the second...

What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...

Students work in a small group to create news stories, feature stories and editorials/letters to the editor and organize them in a podcast, video-based program, or newspaper/magazine focused on Hurricane Katrina.

What does it take to develop and publish a newsletter? Young academics create a newsletter with original artwork for their school or community. They explore social justice themes and spread messages of tolerance and inclusion. Scholars...

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...

From the time of its publication, Uncle Tom's Cabin has been controversial. To better understand the debate, class members first examine a broadside decrying the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and then two newspaper reviews of the...

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher helps bring difficult, but important, topics such as suicide and bullying into the classroom. An educator's guide for the novel provides activities and discussion questions to help teens explore the...

Students formulate guiding questions to use as an aid for research and then use the guiding questions worksheet to help gather information necessary for meeting all criteria for completing the project. They then work together to collect...