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Decode the News
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Introduction: |
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Resources: |
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Activities: Task One - Putting it in Context 1. To begin, write a simple word that could be defined in many different ways depending on how it is being used. Ask students to define the word in as many ways as they can. Write down the various definitions. Use this exercise to briefly discuss how context is a valuable tool in learning vocabulary. |
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Sample words 1. level 2. draw 3. part |
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2. Hand students the vocabulary exercise. They are to write down as many definitions as they can for each of the 10 words. Some of the words will be familiar to them and others may not be. 4. Correct the paragraph handout using the key. Discuss with students the necessity of listening for contextual clues. |
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| Points to consider in relation to journalism: 1. While watching the news, context can be used to determine what a reporter is saying. 2. When learning a new skill, such as broadcasting, context can help students understand instructions. 3. When words are taken out of context, they can be misconstrued. This can create confusion and frustration. |
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| Students are being bombarded with information from the media everyday. They must have tools that will help them to understand and prioritize that information. | |
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| Objectives: Students will be able to - recognize the difference between writing for electronic media and writing for print media - recognize how pervasive information is in contemporary society - recognize what is news - understand how a radio or television production is created - recognize the elements of a news story - understand the requirements for reporting news using radio, television, and the Internet - identify the conventions of the electronic media |
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View other lessons for the main objective. | |
Instructional Strategies: Task 1 - Problem Solving, Reading for Meaning (Indirect) Task 2 - Games (Experiential), Discussion (Interactive) |
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Task Two - Continued . . . |
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Have students consider and discuss: |
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| At this point, students must begin to make concrete connections between the activities they have done and their relevance to electronic media. If the discussion does not lead students to begin making these connections, guiding questions from the teacher are imperative. Example: While students are able to see that the order of a newscast is generally standard (news, sports, weather, human interest story), they are not able to discuss why. Possible Guiding Questions: Which story is the top story? Why would you have chosen this as the top story if you were the producer? How are the subsequent stories presented? (consider where local news is presented, the importance of the national stories to local people) What is the benefit of ending the newscast with a human interest story? How does the presentation of information on a newscast parallel the presentation in our print journalism module (consider inverted pyramid structure or front page layout)? |
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| In order to introduce a large concept like television broadcasting, students must be able to connect that concept to their own lives and things they have learned in the past. |  |
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Extend the Learning This might be a good opportunity to have students do some reflective writing. Have the students write a short piece describing whether they think society favours newcasts or newspapers and why. They should use their answer to question 4 as a starting point. |
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Assessment and Evaluation: Task One allows you to monitor for student understanding through discussion and assigned questions. Task Two requires the students to apply some of the information they have learned in Task One. If you wish, you could use the treasure hunt as a graded activity and give students a mark for each correct example. However, as this is still an introductory activity with new terminology, a more effective use of the treasure hunt is to use it as the basis for discussion rather than evaluation. This will give you the opportunity to gauge students' ability to make connections and determine which concepts require review before moving on. |
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Last Updated
May 30, 2005