Interactive Learning Activities: News Literacy, Computer Skills, and Writing Practice

1. Day 1 What is the news? Is the news important? Why or why not? 1 paragraph, 5 sentences.

2. What is meant by the term “News Literacy”? • What does it mean to be news literate? Day 2

4. In bullet points, please answer the following: • What is a subject in current events that you feel you are knowledgeable about? • What is a subject in current events that you would like to know more about? • Why do you want to know more about this? • Be prepared to share you response. We will create a list of class goals. Day 3

5. Which computer systems do you have experience with? • Have you used Google Docs? • Which programs would you consider yourself to be very good with? (Powerpoint, Excel, Word, etc.) Day 4

6. Today: Group 1 will go to computer and set up google doc acct. • Go to gmail.com • Firstname.numberIgiveyou@nv.ccsd.net • Group 2: Find a news article on your phone. Write: • A summary- 5 W’s (Who, what, where, when, why, how) • How does this affect YOU or People on a larger scale • We will switch groups in approximately 15 minutes. Google Drive

7. We will read an article from Rick Reilly. • Half the Size, Twice the Man • Radio • You will write a quick review of this article: • What are the strengths? • What are the weaknesses? • What is something here at school that you could write about in this nature? Day 5

8. Go to 10fastfingers.com • Create an account (using an email address that you have access to) • Start a new page in your notebook. Label it “Typing Test” and put down today’s date. We will do this again in the future. • Take the typing test TEN times and record your scores- words per minute/errors/accuracy • After taking the 10 tests, move on to the advanced test. Take this twice. Typing Test

9. Go on your phone. • Go to Google. • Look up the following: Johnson Jr. High Hazmat • Find the most recent article you can and read it. If there is a video, watch the video. • Write a response: • Do you think the media has a bias on this issue? Are they trying to persuade the reader to feel a certain way? How do you know? Use specific examples from the article. Day 6 & 7

10. Notebook Quiz 1: • What is one reason that news literacy is important? • When we see laws in place such as the Press Restriction during colonial times, what happens to media? • What does it mean to be “biased”? • What are the 5 W’s? • Today: Start sentence structure Presentation Day 8

11. What are the different types of sentences and what are examples of the kinds we have seen so far? • Today: Finish Sentence Structure Presentation Day 9

12. Write a complex sentence that will make me laugh. • Write a compound sentence that will make me cry. • Today: Start comma presentation Day 10

13. Everyday Edit • Today: Finish comma presentation Day 11

14. No do now. • Today: work on Run-on and Fragment packet Day 12

15. Everyday Edit • Grade Fragment/Run-on packets • Today: Look at grammatical errors that ruin everything. • http://twitchy.com/adambrickley-3338/2013/03/07/cbs-article-on-illiteracy-riddled-with-spelling-errors-punctuation-mistakes/ • http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/14-worst-typos-ever#sm.00001qebmxdrnjctgtjua5fz2xvcc Day 13

16. Get on your phone. • Find an article. • Make a bullet point for each paragraph in the article. • Next to each bullet point, write about the purpose of the paragraph. What is that paragraph telling the reader? • Do NOT summarize. This is not you saying what happened in the event, but you looking at the information and saying what kind of information it is. Is the paragraph discussing the “who”? Is it listing details? What is the PURPOSE of each paragraph? • Today: Inverted pyramid Day 14

17. In your own words, make a story using the following 5 Ws. Write it in inverted pyramid format. • Embellish (add/make up) details to fill in the blanks. • Who: Blake Shelton • What: Face eaten off by pit bull • Where: On the strip • When: Sunday night, September 18, 2016 • Why: Angry fan had trained it to attack posters of him Inverted Pyramid Practice

18. Create a list of things you are interested, clubs you are a member of, or sports you are involved in, etc. • Choose your top three topics and write one question about each– the question should be something you wish that someone would ask you about this topic. Day 15

19. Mock Interviews– watch, then write a reflection. How would you feel if you were the person being interviewed. • Switch seats • Choose interview questions from the list, interview your partner. Use follow-up questions to have an engaging, meaningful conversation. Make sure to introduce yourself and say what you are interviewing them for. Assignment

20. What did you notice about yourself as an interviewer? • What are your strengths? • Weaknesses? • AND • What did you notice about the people who interviewed you? • Can you learn from their strengths/weaknesses? Day 16

21. Today, we will: • Interview using the questions given, and practice our RECORDING skills. • This means that you will take notes while the interviewee gives responses. • Your story is only as good as your notes. Assignment

22. Rate your personal level of difficulty on a scale from 1 to 10 (1= easy/no problem, 10= Seems Impossible) • Confidence • Getting beyond a simple or one word answer • Dealing with attitude/uncooperative people • Paying attention while they are talking • Making connections to what they’ve said/creating follow-up questions • Writing the direct quotes Day 17

23. Discuss: What is a “Spotlight” article? • IN GROUPS: What are relevant questions you can ask to find out more about a person? Develop a page of questions that you can ask a person to find out about their interests, their life, what makes them unique, etc. • IN CLASS: Create Master List of Spotlight Questions TODAY

24. Do Now: • What was your favorite question that your group came up with yesterday and why do you think it is more effective than the other questions when it comes to really having a conversation with your interview subject? Day 18

25. I will pair you up. • You will use questions from the MASTER LIST to interview one another. • Choose the most interesting thing about your partner and make that the focus of the spotlight– the “angle”. Once you discover that interesting focus, tailor your questions to find out more about that one particular aspect. • Draw an inverted pyramid and use it to help you decide how you will format the spotlight article. • We will work on the rough and final drafts next week, today you just need to get the Inverted Pyramid filled in. TODAY

26. Do Now: • Get on your phone. • Google a student spotlight article high school • Read it. • Look at the way that the journalist addressed the angle. • Look at the way he/she set up the article • You will use this article as a model for your own spotlight article. Day 19

27. Today you will: • Draw an inverted pyramid that takes up a page. • Use it to plan out what will go in each paragraph for your spotlight article. • This will serve as your rough draft for the article. Spotlight Article

28. Give your inverted pyramid to a neighbor. • Read each other’s rough draft of the spotlight article. • Give each other feedback: • Can you tell what the spotlight is? • How can they make the article stronger? • What can they leave out? Day 20

29. Do Now: Write about what grabs your attention visually when it comes to reading news or magazines Day 21

30. Get your vocab list. • Get scissors, glue, and a newspaper. • Find all the of different elements from your vocab list, glue them into your notebook, and label them. • This is an individual assignment, but you can talk to a neighbor to figure out what the parts are. TODAY

31. Do Now: • Write a response to the following: • What are your strengths as a writer? • What do you need to work on as a writer? • How do you feel about writing in the inverted pyramid style? • How do you feel about the spotlight article you wrote? Day 22

32. Think about yesterday’s Situation Strips Article. • What did you have a hard time with? • How do you feel about setting up the article in inverted pyramid format? Is it becoming easier for you to decide what to put in each paragraph? • Do you feel you are getting better at it than when you wrote your article? Day 23

33. You will choose something from your life– • Something embarrassing, • Something sad (Not too sad– I don’t want you crying in here) • A big accomplishment • Something you had to overcome • ANYTHING YOU WANT! • Do a quick inverted pyramid that outlines your paragraphs • Complete a speed article by the end of the period. • If you finish early, do some PEER REVISION OR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TODAY

34. Think about what you wrote yesterday about your life. • Was it… • Harder than writing it as a story?Why/How? • Did you… • Follow the inverted pyramid format, or did you write it as a story? If you wrote it as a story, how can you fix it to make it read like an article? Do Now

35. In a pair of 2, or groups of 3, decide on a topic. It can be real, fictional, crazy, anything. • Write an article on it in which you each write a piece or section, brainstorm/work together to create on cohesive, interesting article. GROUP ARTICLE!

36. Do NOW- VOCAB QUIZ, Page 1 Day 25

37. Put the desks in a giant circle. • Get your articles out. Rip them out of your notebook. • We are going to pass them around and read each other’s. • On each one, write • 1. What they did well • 2. What they can improve on. • WRITE YOUR INITIALS NEXT TO YOUR RESPONSE FOR A GRADE TODAY

38. Do Now: • What is your favorite type of article to read, and why? If you don’t know the specific name of the type of article, write about topics you enjoy reading about. Day 26

39. Do Now: Read an article on anything you choose, as long as it is a different topic than you read about yesterday. • Summarize the 5 Ws • Is it Hard News or Soft News? How do you know? Day 27

40. DO Now: • Find a COLUMN • Write a summary • Did you find it useful? Why/Why Not? • If you did not find it useful, do you think someone else could’ve found it useful? Day 28

41. Do Now: • Find a Human Interest story. • Summarize • Discuss the emotional reaction the article aims to instill in the reader. Day 29

42. In your opinion, what is the most important issue occurring in today’s world? Day 30

43. Go to wikileaks.org • Read through the materials here and start to think about this website. • You don’t only need to think about the actual content (the information available on here), but about the concept of the site. • Develop THREE discussion questions that we can use in class to talk about wikileaks as a whole or the information ON wikileaks. Intro to Ethics and Laws

44. Do Now: • Write a quick summary about one of the Wikileaks you read yesterday. • What is your response to it? • Why does it matter? Day 31

45. Find an article about something happening in Las Vegas. • Write a summary. • Write about how this affects the people of Las Vegas- it is beneficial? Harmful? Something else? Day 32

46. CATCH UP DAY Day 33

47. Look up the definition of the word “Ethics” • What does this mean to you? • Is this important in the field of journalism? Why/Why not? Day 34

48. In your opinion, should specific groups of people have different ethics from other groups of people? Why/Why not? • (Think about careers or places where people live). Day 35

49. Do Now: Read an article on anything you want. • Write one paragraph/5 sentences in which you summarize what you read and discuss whether or not it is important and to whom it is important. Day 36

50. Go online and find an instance of a journalist doing something UNETHICAL- for example- spreading libel, lying, taking money, conflict of interest, etc. • Write up the 5 W’s about this. • Who did it? • When did this happen? • Where were they working as a Journalist? • What happened? • What was the result? Did they lose their job? Get sued? Face a demotion? Nothing? • How did the public respond to this? TODAY