Journalism Studies 20 Header

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Module 1, Activity 8.3 - How are Magazines Made?
Teacher Page
(student page for this lesson)

Introduction:

Magazines and newsletters are a common, increasingly popular way to reach a specific audience. The start-up of each new magazine includes numerous steps and key people to ensure success. In this lesson, students begin to will learn who and what is needed to run a successful magazine.

Resources:

- Magazine jobs handout (.doc) or (.rtf)
- Whose Job is it Anyway? (.doc) or (.rtf)
- Whose Job is it Anyway Key (.doc) or (.rtf)
- individual simulation evaluation (.doc) or (.rtf)
- group simulation evaluation (.doc) or (.rtf)

Activities:

Task One - Roles and Responsibilities
In order to understand the magazine industry, students must first understand the major players in the industry. Each magazine will have a unique staff based on their target audience and circulation, but there are also some jobs that exist at every magazine.

Have the students read the handout on types of jobs at a magazine. After they have the handout, give them the worksheet Whose Job is it Anyway? Students must decide which person at the magazine should be dealing with each of the listed problems.

To make this more interesting you might choose to make a game of it. Have students work in partners and time them. The first group to hand-in the worksheet with all of the answers correct wins!

Task Two - Publishing the Magazine
Once the students have an understanding of the key roles in running a magazine, they must also look at the steps taken in order to publish an issue.

Have students look at the steps in publishing an issue of a magazine. Spend time discussing why the steps for developing a classroom magazine will be different than the steps involved in publishing a real world magazine.

For Example - They will not have the opportunity to solicit submissions; therefore, they will have to work within their group to delegate the necessary articles.

Task Three - Oh My Goddess
Bonnie Fuller is one of Canada's most infamous media personalities. By researching her life in the magazine industry, student will learn more about the industry as they learn about Fuller.

In partners, students should research Fuller. When they have read a substantial amount of information about Fuller, they will prepare a simulated discussion between Fuller and a staffer. The students will tape the interview and hand in a VHS tape for evaluation.

Objectives: Students will be able to - understand how a magazine or newsletter is produced
	View other lessons for the main objective.
Instructional Strategies: Task 1 - Problem Solving (Indirect) Task 2 - Compare and Contrast (Direct) Task 3 - Simulation (Experiential)
Task Three . . .Continued Each person in the partnership will have specific responsibilities such as the ones listed on the student version of this page. As the students begin to research, you will need to discuss how the taped interview will be evaluated. Here are some links that will help students to begin their research: Bonnie Fuller - I Want Media Bonnie Fuller is shaking up the world of magazines Bonnie Fuller - Life and Times After the research stage, the students will need some guidance on types on questions and how Fuller might answer them. The most useful thing that you can provide is an example of a question the students might ask and the answer Fuller might give.
Example question: I have started working on laying out the cover. I am wondering if you could make some suggestions as to how to grab the reader's attention. Points that might come up in the answer: - cover lines must stand out regardless of what they say. Try using bright colors and different fonts. - choose outrageous cover lines to tease the readers - everything has to be in small, and easy to see and read chunks - use that picture we have of Jennifer Aniston buying the bag of cookies at the grocery store. Readers love to see their favorite celebrities indulging - everytime you add something, I want to see what you have done
Assessment and Evaluation: Tasks One and Two will allow you to informally assess the students' understanding of the material presented through the handouts and discussion. Task Three can be evaluated in a more formal way to ensure that students have applied their researched knowledge to the simulation. You may want to mark the students individually or as a partnership. You may also want to consider asking the students to hand in their research and script in order to give marks for process.

Last Updated
May 30, 2005

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