Looking at News Lesson Plan

Journalism & News

Level: Grades 2 to 5

Author: This lesson was created by elementary educator Ginie Waller. Parts of this lesson have been adapted from News and Stuff, by Don Hale (1996), produced by the Ontario Newspaper in Education Association.

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

The newspaper offers a fun and useful tool to learn about the workings of print media. In this lesson, students learn basic information about newspaper journalism through guided class discussion and group and individual activities. Topics include the front page, what's inside the paper, how to find information, and what elements make up a newspaper story.

Learning Outcomes

Know: Students will learn the following essential domain knowledge:

  • Reading media: Different forms of news stories; features of a news story.

  • Consumer awareness: How “newsworthiness” is defined by the news industry, how news outlets appeal to different needs and audiences 

  • Media representation: What is included or left out of media works affects what we see as important or unimportant

Understand: Students will understand the following big ideas/key concepts:

  • Media are constructions: Media creators make particular choices to achieve specific purposes

  • Media have social and political implications: Media works are “frames” that shape our views of reality

  • Media have commercial considerations: The content of a media work is influenced by the norms and functions of its industry, its makers’ business model and the desires of its audience

  • Each medium has a unique aesthetic form: Genre conventions influence how creators make and audiences interpret a work; media makers draw and direct audiences’ attention using specific techniques

Do: Students will understand how genre and purpose influence media makers’ choices, and engage with the impact of media representations on our view of reality. In an optional activity, students use appropriate technology to create a media work.

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) are available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

Lesson Kit