Having studied about newspapers, students could then create their own classroom newspaper or contribute to the school newspaper. Students could study their own school newspaper or other on-line school newspapers for either their classroom or for the entire school:

Yahoo Directory
High School Journalism
Google Directory

They could then analyze these papers in terms of the quality of the design features employed: layout, columns, font size, use of photos, headlines, photo captions, white space, etc

Students could then compare the quality of the layout/design of different school papers based on specific design features. They could then write a series of stories, essays, or even short fiction/poems, and then create a classroom newspaper based on certain design features using software to combine the different texts and adding headlines and photos with captions.

In helping students design a classroom paper, teachers could integrate student production of final projects, reports, or essays into a published classroom paper for peers and parents. For further activities related to newspaper production:

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Writing the news story

Bangkok Post: Writing feature stories

School newspaper unit

Jteacher.com [ lots of on-line resources related to school journalism ]

High School Journalism [ lots of teacher units on all aspects of news ]

SNN: Student Magazine: A Canadian Magazine by Student Reporters

Censorship and First Amendment rights related to school newspaper

Students could also discuss issues of school newspaper production with members of the school newspaper staff. One major issue has to do with freedom of the press related to potential censorship of controversial stories by the school administration. Students could examine various legal concepts associated with First Amendment freedom of the press:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

In writing for high school newspapers, students are often subject to potential censorship of coverage of stories or issues that the school administration may perceive to be controversial or challenging their school policies. Because students are also subject to their disciplinary control, they are highly vulnerable to potential censorship threats.

The Media and American Democracy site [ teaching units ]

Newseum [ Lesson plans on teaching about First Amendment Rights ]

Freedom Forum [ a organization addressing First Amendment issues ]

Freedom of the press vs. prior review [ webquest ]

Lots of journalism units/activities:

edHelper.com
High School Journalism Lesson Plan Archive

Module 10: Word document

Newspaper or Print News

Teaching the News Itself

Analysis of Newspaper Sections and Functions

Differences in Types and Uses of News

On-line News

Web-based Political Lobbying

Weblogs

The Web and Politics

Editorial Perspectives

Newspaper Ownership

News Bias

A Teacher Teaches about Bias

Studying and Producing Classroom / School Newspapers

Television and Radio News

Characteristics of Television News

Selecting News Stories

Accuracy / Completeness of News Coverage

Television News Development

On-line Television News

Sports Coverage

Coverage of Political Issues and Campaigns

Creating a Television News Broadcast

Teaching Activity: Analysis of a Local News Broadcast

References