Lesson 2: Our newspaper is the best… don’t you agree?

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What makes a newspaper a good newspaper?

Learning objectives The students clarify the criteria for identifying a good newspaper or magazine.
In doing so, they become aware of their own outlooks, values and interests.
Student tasks The students assess the presentations by the other groups and agree on compromises.
Resources Presentations prepared during the last lesson.
Blackboard or flip chart.
Methods Group presentations, plenary discussion and assessment.

Conceptual learning

The term “freedom of the press” refers to the right of the press to go about their business freely, along with the right to uncensored publishing of information and opinions. Freedom of the press takes concrete form in the specific rights of journalists to refuse to give evidence and restrictions on monitoring journalists with audio equipment (“bugging”), in order to protect the sources of information that journalists need for their work. Access to the profession of journalism is not subject to state regulation and training of journalists is organised privately and free of state influence.

The lesson

The second lesson starts with presentations. The groups have prepared their posters and selected their newspaper or magazine clippings. It may be advisable to give the groups five minutes at the beginning of the lesson to run through their presentations.

The students assess the presentations by using defined criteria. The teacher may introduce these criteria and prepare a matrix such as the following.

Group 1 Group 2
 Group 3
 Group 4
 Group 5
 Points
Name of the newspaper or magazine
Poster
Formal aspects of presentation
Content of presentation
Formal aspects of newspaper or magazine
Content of newspaper or magazine

 

The assessment should not be given overdue importance, but should rather, through the element of competition, motivate the students to deliver a good presentation.

After the presentations, the students should evaluate the print media that they have seen (critical thinking), focusing on the following questions:

  • What makes a newspaper/magazine a “good” newspaper/magazine?
  • What purpose does it serve?
  • What do we think of the newspapers/magazines that have been presented to us?
  • What could be improved?

Experience has shown that the teacher will support and give structure to the discussion by noting the students’ ideas on a flip chart that has been prepared before the lesson. Alternatively the blackboard may be used, but this has the disadvantage that the information will not be available in the following lesson.

At the end of the lesson the teacher suggests that the students should produce and publicly present a school “wall newspaper”. The students should be asked to think about the task and to think about which sections should be included in order to give a comprehensive view of school life, and which section they would be keen on producing themselves. They should also suggest a name for their newspaper.

Lesson 1: The newspapers around us
Lesson 3: We produce our wall newspaper
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