Activity Introduction
Quick summary: Students will explore the purpose and intention of the news. They will then analyse and evaluate various news items to identify sensationalist elements in the reporting, and work on creating a more helpful, informative, and supportive newspaper front page.
Subjects: English.
Year Level: 6.
Teaching Time: 60 minutes.
This lesson is part of the wider unit of work Resilient Australia: Building Resilience To Natural Disasters – Primary.
Related Professional Development: We encourage you to undertake the free PD Course How to teach a unit on fire and flood resilience for tips on how to best deliver this lesson.
If you’re concerned about the challenging nature of these topics, consider the free PD Course How to approach trauma in the classroom for information on how best to support your students.
21st-century skills:
Australian Curriculum Mapping
Content descriptions:
Year 6 English:
- Identify and explain how analytical images like figures, tables, diagrams, maps and graphs contribute to our understanding of verbal information in factual and persuasive texts (ACELA1524)
- Compare texts including media texts that represent ideas and events in different ways, explaining the effects of the different approaches (ACELY1708)
- Use comprehension strategies to interpret and analyse information and ideas, comparing content from a variety of textual sources including media and digital texts (ACELY1713)
- Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audience (ACELY1714)
Relevant parts of Year 6 English achievement standards:
Students understand how the use of text structures can achieve particular effects. They analyse and explain how language features, images and vocabulary are used by different authors to represent ideas and events. Students understand how language features and language patterns can be used for emphasis. They show how specific details can be used to support a point of view. They explain how their choices of language features and images are used. Students create detailed texts elaborating on key ideas for a range of purposes and audiences.
Syllabus outcomes: EN3-2A, EN3-3A
General capabilities: Literacy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability, Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding.
Level of teacher scaffolding: High: some concepts will need to be explicitly taught. Teachers may need to demonstrate some ICT skills to ensure the lesson’s success.
Resources required:
- Device capable of sharing a presentation with the class
- Individual devices capable of accessing the internet
- Powerpoint
- Student Worksheet – one per student
- The Story of Bushfires so far Infographic (student worksheet)
- Website https://makemynewspaper.com/templates/free (optional) – please check with your school’s IT admin to ensure you have access to this tool first.
Keywords: media literacy, content, bushfires, sensationalist, responsibility
Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.
