9. The ‘I SAW THIS’ moment
I knew the dog
before he came
to class!
10. Benefits
Scours the entire internet
Filters by location/subject
Can be accessed on
independent learning
devices
Drawbacks
Too many results
Overuse of digital sources
Tip: Google ‘Guardian
Classroom materials’
14. Print media
Benefits
Feels more like an
artefact
Will often take by
surprise
Looks good on display
Drawbacks
Difficult to search
Cannot be edited
15. Benefits
Good results quickly
Pupils can easily access at
home
Past news stories
included
Drawbacks
Unfiltered
Any big event has lots of
talking heads
22. How can you use the news?
Tried and tested activities
As a tool for reinforcing knowledge/basic skills
Highlight key words that you have learnt (and/or words of which they do not know the
meaning. This can recap on vocabulary and also expand their vocabulary too.
Pose questions to let them find the answer. E.g. Where can I found out what’s on ITV tonight?
Letting them practise using the index will enable them to find their way around reference
books in the future.
Edit a newspaper article so it contains lots of mistakes, then ask pupils to edit it.
As a resource to aid evaluative skills
Use a newspaper article simply as a historical source!
Highlight statistics and arguments to prepare for a debate, and/or look for skewed statistics!
Annotate for biased statements, or separate fact and opinion. Good for Historians/English
students.
Find the same story in more than one media source and compare how it is presented, to really
put historical skills to the test. A Venn diagram could work here.
23. As a stimuli
Use it as a stimuli to start a debate. What philosophical/ethical questions can they extract from
the piece?
Conduct an opinion line on an opinion piece.
Write a letter to the editor in response to the news article.
Use it as a worked example for the pupils’ own news articles
As a springboard for creative writing/creative work
Ask pupils to write a headline to match the story.
Cut out the image from an article and ask pupils to create a picture/take a photograph to go on
the news story
Ask pupils to write and perform an interview with/diary of somebody in a news story
And of course…
As further reading for a topic. No activity, just let them read.
24. Further ideas for use
http://www.illinoisnie.com/pdf/100_Ways_to_
se_Newspapers.pdf
A range of activity ideas, some better than
others. Organised under section titles related to
the American system so may take some
navigation to find a good idea for your subject,
but still worth a read.
25. Practical tips for employing the news
http://media.gatewaync.com/cit/NIE_Page/Ho
ToUseTheNewspaperInTheClassroom.pdf
38 practical tips and hints for the use of news in
your classroom. Not necessarily activities, but a
guide to make things run a bit smoother.
