After hearing Jim Hatten and Chris Baker guest speak in class on November 18th, I was reminded of my own love of being in Journalism and on the newspaper in class. It made me begin thinking of how much I would love to one day teach Journalism classes, and possibly, digital news (which they did not have when I was in high school). After a little insipiration and really enjoying their talks, here is a lesson plan I wrote for a 10th - 12th grade Journalism classroom. It incorporates the use of VoiceThread as a different way to "interview" a person and to learn to use the sources's information (and not your own) when writing a newspaper story.
Lesson Plan:
Subject Area: Journalism Class
Grade Level: 10th – 12th grade
Unit Title: Through the Eyes of Another
Time: Two Class periods totally 100 minutes (each class 50 minutes)
Essential Question: What elements of writing must be included (and therefore also excluded) in order to write a news story without bias?
Objectives:
• Students will be able to describe pictures/images in a clear and concise way; describing emotions as well as actions portrayed.
• Students will be able to use VoiceThread effectively and efficiently.
• Students will be able to write a new story without personal bias or opinion.
• Students will be able to use information from a source as the base for their news article.
Materials/Resources Needed:
• Notebook and pencil
• Scheduled time in computer lab and access to VoiceThread
Previous Knowledge: By this point, students will already have gone over the important elements and aspects that go in to writing a news article. The class will have already gone over how to write an article that is appropriate for a newspaper: such as length, word choice, and how to not include a biased opinion or personal opinions. Students will also have received a tutorial on how to use VoiceThread and should know how to upload pictures to the computer and the VoiceThread program. As homework prior to these two days, students will have been instructed to find five pictures that are important to them. They can represent who they are or important memories/events in their lives. They will be instructed to either email these photos to themselves (so they can open them during work time in the computer lab) or download them on a zip drive that they will bring to class. As for differentiation, if a student does not have the resources to do either of these things, they can bring their photos to class prior to workday and the teacher can scan them in and upload them for the student.
Day 1
Procedure:
1. Intro (10 minutes):
The students will meet in the classroom and, as a class, generate a list of things that are essential to incorporate (or exclude) when writing a story using a source. The teacher will write all of the ideas on the board and the students will record them as notes in their notebook. The teacher will direct the discussion towards on tips on how to not include personal bias or opinion when writing a news article/story.
2. Computer lab and VoiceThread (35 minutes)
Students will move to the computer lab and have remainder of the class hour to work in there. The students will upload their photos (however they chose to do this) to the VoiceThread program and record about three to five minutes of a description of what is happening in the photo, who is in it, and the emotions happening when the photo was taken.
3. Closure: (5 minutes)
The teacher will tell the students to wrap up their recordings. Then, the teacher will pair the students up into groups of two students each. The teacher will inform the students that tomorrow, each pair will listen to their partners VoiceThread and then write a news story about their partner.
Day 2:
1. Intro (10 minutes):
The teacher will immediately move the students to the computer lab. Here, the teacher will provide each student with the link to their partner's VoiceThread (it is not essential that partners sit next to each other). The teacher quickly go over the brainstorming elements the students generated and took notes on the day before so that the ideas are fresh in their minds. The teacher will remind the students that they should write down direct quotes they hear that they would like to include in their article.
2. Listen to VoiceThread (20 minutes):
The students will listen to their partners VoiceThreads and take notes while they listen, paying particular attention to write down notes that include their sources ideas, feelings, opinions, and emotions and not theirs.
3. Article Writing (15 minute):
The students, using their notes, will begin to write a news article about their partner. They can write about the events in the images or write a story about who their source/partner is. They can write the story however they choose, but their personal opinion and bias cannot show through or be included. They must use only the information they received from their partner.
4. Closing (5 minutes):
The teacher will stop the students from writing about five minutes towards the end of class. Here, the teacher will remind the students of important things they should include in their article and words/ideas they should leave out that could lead to personal bias/opinion. The teacher will allow for one or two students to share a sentence or two from their articles as an example for the rest of the class. The teacher will assign the students homework to finish their rough draft tonight so that they can edit it and complete it in class tomorrow.
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