Produced during:
Put title of your curriculum web here.
Links to other pages in module
Teaching GuideTaking the Lead in News Storiesproduced by Carolyn L. JonesWeb Institute for Teachers, Summer, 2000Menu
Introduction: Millions of people around the
world read hundreds of news stories every day- whether in news
Lesson
Plan Guide
AimThe objective of this lesson is to teach 7th graders how to identify the elements of a news story.Click here to return to MenuRationalThe thinking process involved in identifying the elements of a news story is an important study skill that students need for their studies in high school and college. Many people continue to use these skills in their adult lives.
Click here to return to MenuGoals and ObjectivesRead with understanding and fluency.Comprehend a broad range of reading materials. Identify text structure and create a visual representation to use while reading.Click here to return to MenuAudience
Click here to return to MenuPrerequisitesStudents should have the ability to read age-appropriate material; they should be able to identifymain ideas, supporting details, and the summary of a body of information. Also, they should be able to connect yinformation presented in...charts to printed or electronictext.
(Source: English-Language Arts, State Goal and CPS Standards)
Click here to return to MenuSubject-MatterLanguage Arts - Reading ComprehensionClick here to return to MenuInstructional Plan1. Open the lesson by asking the students if they read the newspaper or read news from the internet, how often they read the news, and what parts of the newspaper or kinds of news they enjoy. Allow about 10 minutes for discussion.2. Tell the students that there are many
people who read several news stories daily. Some of these people
are verybusy with full time jobs that might require them to do lots of
other types of reading also. Ask the students how they think many
of these people are able to do this. Tell students (if no one comes up
with this answer) that news stories are written in a different format than
the descriptive, persuasive, and narrative compositions they've been taught
to write.
LESSON PROCEDURE OPTIONS 3A. Teachers many wish to do the entire lesson on computer or only parts. That will depend on the comfort level of both the teacher and the students in using the computer and the internet. Also, the availability of computers may be a factor. If the teacher opts to use the computer, the following pages from this web site can be used in this order: A note about news stories on the web: Stories tend to be rather lengthy. I would suggest assigning the students to read only a portion of the story-enough to allow them to practice the skills and enough to enable the teacher to evaluate the students' work.3B. This lesson can also be done entirely with newspapers or any combination of newspapers and print outs of the Lesson Page-1, Lesson Page-2, Practice News Story and Reading News Story worksheet. 3B-1. Pass out copies of a front page news story from a daily newspaper. Allow the students to read the news story and determine how its format is different from their written compositions. Point out that a typically written news story has two main parts: the LEAD, and the STORY (This information can either be given to the students in the form of a handout or be written on the board or on a wall chart.)
* LEAD- the first paragraph of the news story . It
* STORY-this part is one or more paragraphs long. This is
As a whole class. have students identify the LEAD and STORY parts in the first news story. Ask:
* Does the LEAD accurately summarize the STORY part.?
3B-2. With a second news story, have the students work with a partner, or in cooperative groups, to identify the LEAD, STORY and the 5Ws and H questions as done above. Have students identify the elements by underlining each with a different color pencil or crayon. For example: in both the LEAD and STORY- Who is red, What? is blue, Where? is green, When? is brown, Why? is yellow, and How? is purple. 3B-3.. When students have completed the assignment, check their responses with the whole class. If time does not permitcompleting a second news story, assign its completion for homework. :FOR BOTH OPTIONS The next day, follow up on the homework with students,
allowing them to check and correct their own work. Ask individuals
to give answers as you review the homework with the whole class.
If students seem to need more practice with this skill, allow them to work
with a partner or in small cooperative groups. Those students who seem
to be more able, assign them to find their own news story and complete
a worksheet on it. Students using computers can find stories on the
Click here to return to MenuMaterials:
Click here to return to MenuAssessment and EvaluationAn assessment for evaluating students' skill in identifying a lead, its main ideas, and the 5W's and How answers in the story, use
Click here to return to MenuAppendices (optional, if needed)
|