Lessons 2 and 3: We are the gatekeepers!

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We decide what news the readers will be offered to choose from

This matrix sums up the information a teacher needs to plan and deliver the lesson.
Competence training refers directly to EDC/HRE.
The learning objective indicates what students know and understand.
The student task(s), together with the method, form the core element of the learning process.
The materials checklist supports lesson preparation.
The time budget gives a rough guideline for the teacher’s time management.
Competence training Co-operating in a team; making decisions, agreeing on objectives and a schedule.
Team management and supervision.
Learning objective Media editors construct and control the news that shapes our perception of reality. As gatekeepers and agenda setters, the media exercise power in a subtle manner.
Student tasks The students create their own wall newspaper. They compare their newspapers and the choices they made.
Materials and Resources Student handouts 9.2 and 9.3; flipcharts, markers, scissors and glue.
Print media of all kinds and categories.
Method Project work.
Time budget 1. Project work: the students edit and produce a wall newspaper. (60 min)
2. The students read each other’s newspapers. (20 min)

 

Information box

The second and third lessons are devoted to the core of this unit, the project in which the students act as editors and produce their own newspaper. They will deal with the same questions – what topics and events to include and to omit, and discuss the criteria for the choices to be made. In addition, the task of producing a wall newspaper in one hour places high demands on the students’ skills in planning their work and in time management.

The format of a wall newspaper is suggested here, as this works everywhere. The technical aspects of newspaper production are not important. The students can write their news stories by hand.

The production of a wall newspaper takes them back to the roots, as it were, and allows the students to focus on the essentials of editing and the choices involved.

In a setting of task-based learning, the teacher performs as an “assistant”, who supports the stu-dents if they need additional material, access to a computer, etc. He/she also observes the students to assess their level of skills and competence development. The teacher listens to the students’ discussions and reads their wall newspapers while they are being written. This allows the teacher to prepare the brief, but important lecture in lesson 4.

Lesson description

Stage 1: The students edit and produce their newspaper

Student handouts 9.1-9.3

The students work in groups. They assign the three tasks of chief editor, time manager and presenter to different team members.

They follow or adapt the working schedule suggested in student handout 9.3.

If there is an interval between lessons 2 and 3, the project material needs to be stored safely. The teacher and the students make arrangements as to who is responsible for this task.

Guided by student handout 9.3, the reporters prepare their presentations for the plenary session in lesson 4.

Stage 2: The students read each other’s newspapers

Half way through the third lesson, the students display their newspapers in the classroom. The stu­dents are requested to read each other’s newspapers before the next EDC/HRE lesson takes place.

Lesson 1: We are the gatekeepers!
Lesson 4: Do we control the media – or do the media control us?
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