middle school journalism assignments

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20 Activities to Get Your Middle Schoolers Into Journalism

• Middle School Education

1.News Scavenger Hunt: Organize a scavenger hunt for your students to find and analyze news articles. They can bring in clippings, share online links, or even write their own summaries.

2.Interview Practice: Teach students the art of interviewing by having them partner up and practice asking each other open-ended questions.

3.Classroom Newsletters: Encourage students to contribute news stories or opinion pieces to a classroom newsletter, fostering their interest in journalism.

4.School Newspaper: If your school doesn’t already have one, start a school newspaper with your middle schoolers and enlist them as journalists to cover school events, news, sports, and other topics.

5.Guest Speakers: Invite local journalists to speak about their experiences and answer student questions about the field of journalism.

6.Blogger’s Club: Form an after-school club focusing on blogging where students can learn about journalistic writing styles in an online medium.

7.Digital Portfolio: Encourage your middle schoolers to create their digital portfolio of journalistic work that they can showcase later on.

8.Current Events Discussions: Lead regular in-class discussions about newsworthy events and have students consider possible angles for reporting on the story.

9.Collaborative Fictional Storytelling: Have students create a fictional news story collectively, where each student contributes a paragraph or two before passing it on.

10.Mock Press Conferences: Set up a mock press conference with your students acting as journalists and subject matter experts.

11.Journalistic Ethics Debate: Discuss real-life journalistic controversies relating to ethics and encourage students to engage in debates around these issues.

12.Field Trips to Local Media Outlets : Visit local newspapers, television stations, or radio stations with your class so they can see journalism in action.

13.Podcast Club: Create a club centered around creating podcasts where students learn the basics of storytelling through audio journalism.

14.Social Media Reporting: Have students create, curate, and share content through social media platforms using journalistic principles.

15.Op-Ed Writing: Assign students to write opinion pieces on timely events and issues, honing their persuasive writing skills.

16.Video Reporting: Teach students the basics of video reporting by having them film interviews and create their own news videos.

17.Book Review Column: Encourage students to write book reviews for your classroom or school newspaper, highlighting journalism-inspired books.

18.Current Events Quiz: Test your students’ knowledge of recent national and global news by holding weekly current events quizzes.

19.Peer Editing Workshops: Develop peer editing workshops where middle schoolers can critique each other’s journalistic work and foster teamwork and collaboration.

20.Reporter Roleplaying: Provide scenarios where your students pretend they are a field reporter covering a breaking news story, helping them practice their reporting skills.

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Worksheetplace.com For Great Educators

Journalism Teaching Activities

An introduction to journalism and news teaching activities. This is a free teaching unit that requires critical thinking and exposes students to news, news sources and how to write the news. Writing a good news lead and using the inverted pyramid structure to learn how to write news for both print and televised. A grades 7-10 teaching unit aligned to the ELA standards. These free journalism and media teaching activities are available in both google apps and print format.

All worksheets are created by experienced and qualified teachers. Send your suggestions or comments .

SchoolJournalism.org

Reporting and Interviewing Lesson Plans

Asne lessons created for use with the reporting & interviewing training module.

Day 1 Reporting and Interviewing lesson Reporting and Interviewing PowerPoint – Day 1 Snowball Collateral

Day 2 Reporting and Interviewing lesson Reporting and Interviewing PowerPoint – Day 2 One Word Interview Person Poem Guidelines My First Interview

Other ASNE Lessons

• Rotation Interviewing Exercise By participating in a structured interview of each of their classmates, students will learn to identify types of interview questions that yield better answers, demonstrate a professional approach when meeting an interviewee, recognize how time constraints affect interview questioning, and recognize the difficulty in getting to source for interview.
• Lesson Plan for the First Day of Class A lesson for the first day of class: Don’t give out a syllabus — make ‘em interview you for it!
• Getting to Know You A good lesson plan for the first few weeks. It asks students to interview fellow students and identify the “false fact” through careful listening and cross-checking.
• Out of Your Comfort Zone Students learn to use their innate skills to improve their interviewing and reporting talents.
• Covering a Presidential Election A multi-day lesson that asks students to look at presidential debates for issues of interest to teens then research and write articles about what they heard.
• Basic Interviewing and Reporting Basic skills are the foundation of journalism. Improving writing and reporting will impact the quality of the student newspaper. With a clear understanding of basic interviewing and reporting skills, students will gain confidence in their abilities.
• Mock (or Shock) Interview This lesson plan with help students understand the importance of preparation prior to a difficult interview. They will also recognize the importance of sympathy and empathy. Note-taking, fact-checking and writing leads will also be emphasized.
• Mall Trip: Interviewing and Reporting Exercise A role-playing exercise evolves into a news story. Students play roles of mall denizens and interview each other for individual points of view. A teacher-turned-police chief delivers the press conference.
• Interviewing basics and profile article practice This lesson gives students information and insight on how to research and prepare before an article, what stellar interview questions are, how to create a conversational atmosphere with their interviewee, and how to use material given to write an eccentric profile article.
• News: Researching, Interviewing, Reporting and Writing A lesson that gets at the heart of reporting and writing an article and goes through all the steps of doing so.
• Interviewing Prep This lesson incorporates activities to help students learn the process of interviewing – beginning with preparation.
• Effective Interviewing After having students watch television interviews, they are asked to come up with interviews of their own using open-ended questions and a conversational style.
• The Locker Exam – Getting the Details and Asking the Right Questions ;  The Locker Exam – Getting the Details and Asking the Right Questions (supplemental 1) This multi-faceted lesson plan is designed to help students use details to develop open ended, viable interview questions through observation.
• Generating Open-Ended Interview Questions Open-ended questions force the interviewee to explain and talk more — giving reporters more to quote. This lesson asks students to interview inanimate objects to hone their skills at open-ended questioning.
• Interview Scenario This plan hones your students’ ability to listen and ask the right questions. Seven role-playing scenarios allow them to ask questions about a news event and write stories based on their questions.
• Oral Histories of World War II A unit designed to introduce students to techniques of transcribing and conducting oral interviews. By interviewing people who lived during World War II, students will gain an understanding of this generation.

News Gathering and Reporting Tools

• “Blottr is a user generated/citizen news service. As citizens upload their (breaking news) stories, journalists can see these stories collected on the Blotter site.”
• “ Geofeedia allows a user to search and monitor social media contents by location. A user can mark the location they want to gather crowd contents that are uploaded on Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, Instagram and Picasa, and gather them realtime.” Poynter’s News U hosted a webinar on how to use Geofeedia .
• “ Google Alert  provides e-mail updates of relevant Google results (through the web, news, etc.) based on queries that are hand-picked by the user. As such, the Alert can be used to monitor the development of a news story or event. The alerts can be provided daily or as they happen and come in different formats.”
• Knoema  offers a vast global database of information and statistics.
• Mention  finds keywords or phrases on social platforms. It also scans blogs, forums, videos and images. You can download it as a program on your computer or as a mobile app. You can select the keywords and have Mention alert you, or you can watch a live feed.
• Overview is a free tool for journalists that automatically organizes a large set of documents by topic, and displays them in an interactive visualization for exploration, tagging, and reporting.
• PANDA is a newsroom data solution that can email you when information that’s relevant to your community and your publication becomes available. It also makes it easy to save data and to subscribe to searches. Poynter’s New U held a webinar on how to use PANDA .
• ProPublica’s Online Data Store sells a wide array of data sets accessed from FOIA requests for a one-time fee. It is invaluable for data journalists.
• Storyful is a website dedicated to bringing journalists accurate information as it emerges on the Internet in real time.
• WolframAlpha  does dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms and methods and returns referenced answers instead of just searching the web.
• Any social media platform!

Be sure to check out Schooljournalism.org’s tech tools page for other useful online news gathering and reporting tools.

Lesson 1: Journalism

Learning objectives.

• Recognize standards-based journalism
• Identify markers of verification, transparency, accountability, and independence in a news story
• Evaluate the reliability of an anonymous source
• Related Resources

What separates journalism from other kinds of information out there? Would you know reliable reporting if you saw it? This lesson introduces students to journalistic standards and ethics. Students learn basic markers of high-standards reporting based on the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics. They flex their new skills by analyzing a variety of examples to identify what reliable reporting looks like.

Web Activity Link: https://www.icivics.org/node/2518248/resource

Got a 1:1 classroom? Download fillable PDF versions of this lesson's materials below!

This resource was created with support from the Raab Family Foundation.

Access engaging resources with an iCivics account!

Create your free iCivics account and discover standards aligned lessons and games that meet all of your instructional needs. Our nonpartisan classroom resources engage students with complex concepts in ways they can understand and relate to.

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More resources in the unit 'news literacy', lesson 2: misinformation.

Misinformation? Disinformation?? Fake news??? Don't be fooled! Train your students to examine news stories for evidence of transparency and verification that will help them…

Lesson 3: Bias

Strip the fear out of bias by showing students how to notice the word choices and framing that show up when bias is present in a news story. Students learn about methods…

Lesson 4: Opinion & Analysis

Opinions can be cleverly disguised as news. Can you tell the difference? After completing this lesson, hopefully so! Learn to distinguish news from opinion, recognize standards of…

Use the Scope & Sequence to help you plan your iCivics classroom experience!

Whether you enjoy finding opportunities within a well-structured sequence of resources or prefer looking around for pieces and bits that can be jigsawed together, our Scope & Sequence documents are a perfect reference point for planning. Scope & Sequence documents are available for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms and list all of our resources in one place.

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20 Middle School Newspaper Ideas: How To Start One

March 2, 2024 //  by  Ashley Charles

If your middle school currently doesn’t have a newspaper, then you might want to jump on the bandwagon. Not only is it a great way to connect kids to writing, reporting, and journalism, but it creates a sense of community and gets kids involved in citizenship around their school.

1. Organize a Team or Club 

The school paper is an important publication. It should include middle school reporters, publishers, editors, and content creators. You can publish it in paper or online. Follow these simple steps to get started.

Learn More: Pro Writing Aid

2. Try Teaching a Journalism Teaching Unit 

Get students interested in what journalism is with some terrific classroom activities to peak their interests and challenge students. There are likely going to be some students who start to pull ahead of the pack and those are the ones you’ll want to invite to the journalism club.

Learn More: School Journalism

3. Idea for Articles: School News

Once you have your crew and they know their expectations, it’s time to start brainstorming article ideas. The first and most obvious is school news; sports, science fairs, and school policies are all just some of the topics reporters can cover.

Learn More: Classroom

4. Idea for Articles: Editorials 

The opinions of the editorial staff should not be overlooked. Journalism students should have the opportunity to express their ideas on school happenings to keep readers engaged and interested.

Learn More: Creative Writing Ideas and Activities

5. Lesson Basics: Writing an Article

Teaching kids how to make sure their articles follow the format of a traditional newspaper article is important but easy with the basic resources listed here on Pillnut Press.

Learn More: Pillnut Press

6. Ideas for Content: Funnies 

Allow the creative students to utilize their skills to make a comic strip. Most kids in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade won’t know what a comic strip is, but with a little direction, they can get them going in no time.

Learn More: Imagine Forest

7. Ideas for Articles: Current Events

Are current events creating a murmur around the school? Hit major stories by allowing students to peruse actual newspapers to fact-check and then do their own research on them.

Learn More: Solid Essay

8. Ideas for Content: Calendar of Upcoming Events

Calendars are a great addition to any publication. Middle school students will appreciate having all their information in one place.

Learn More: Education

9. Ideas for Content: Feature Story

Allow your students to take turns creating a feature story to headline the newspaper. This type of story allows middle schoolers to really express their journalistic style while still reporting the facts, details, and interviews.

Learn More: Study

10. Ideas for Content: Advice Column 

The paper can become an interactive resource when you get other students involved by allowing them to submit questions to gain advice circling around their own middle school lives and harder challenges.

Learn More: Connect with Kids

11. Go Digital

Do you have limited funds for a printed publication at your school? Give middle schoolers an extended challenge by having them practice their typing and word processing skills on the computer while creating their news stories.

Learn More:  Dribbble

12. Ideas for Content: Reviews

What middle schooler doesn’t like to give his or her opinion? Whether it’s on the current trend style, movies, school curriculum, or extra-curricular activities, allow your students to express themselves and practice freedom of speech in a safe, responsible way.

Learn More: SchoolJournalism.org

13. Ideas for Articles: Educational Articles

Students learned something that they just can’t keep to themselves. Allow them to write an educational article that explains how to do something, or something important that they learned and think the rest of the school should know.

Learn More: Ness Labs

14. Keep the Journalism Team Engaged With Fun Activities

Whether your journalism team is new to one another or they’ve been together for a while now, students will need some occasional team-building activities to keep things running smoothly and prevent discord. These ideas will work great for all middle school grade levels.

Learn More: Edutopia

15. Invite Guest Writers to Increase Buy-In

Going back to the idea of interactivity and resourcefulness, allow students who are NOT on the team to create guest articles every now and again. Guest spots often create intriguing articles and offer an opportunity for a new viewpoint and break up any monotony that might occur.

Learn More: Louisville Business First

16. Have Students Read Other Student Papers

Before you have your students jump into the world of middle school newspapers, it might be a good idea to have your group start brainstorming ahead of time by collecting school papers from other places to read and research. Have them write down what they like, don’t like, what works well, what designs or templates they like, and more.

Learn More:  SNO Sites

17. Content Idea: Caption that Photo

Host a weekly contest where you post a random photo and ask the student body to “Caption that Photo” for a prize. Yet another creative way to turn the paper into a connective and entertaining resource.

Learn More:  Pinterest

18. Content Idea: Staff Interviews

Create entertaining articles by allowing young journalists to interview staff members at your school. This is an entertaining way to allow students to get to know the staff as people, and not just as adults in charge.

Learn More:  Fast Company

19. Content Idea: Explain Famous Photos

The middle school paper should be informational and entertaining. Help teach others some things by having your journalist team research the real information behind some of the world’s most famous photos and watch the readership explode.

Learn More:  Scoop Whoop

20. Journalism Workshops

Create an outreach right in your school by having the newspaper club or team host journalism workshops! Get underclassmen interested in journalism, help cultivate great writing skills, and become a hub for learning where kids teach kids. Learn more about workshops and glean ideas to host your own below.

Learn More:  School Journalism

Middle School Journalism Activities

Sample Newsletter Ideas for School

Middle school journalism students can unravel the mysteries of their school while also paying more attention to the world and rapidly changing technology. They'll gain social, research, English and organizational skills too, along with potential career choices.

Do the Groundwork

To help students understand gathering the news, have them find online, television and print stories, such as news of a crime, a feature on a local food pantry or an editorial critical of the mayor, and have them decide what’s information, opinion or even untrue. A historical example, such as news coverage of the Watergate scandal, or recent news like coverage of a local trial will teach them that reporting informs people and helps keep government honest. Have them target their local audience -- a report about changes in the school dress code will find readers, because it’s relevant to classmates.

Embrace the Times

Good middle school journalism activities help students become better consumers of news, especially important today as young people spend much of their time online. Producing news and feature stories will teach them to decide what information they should trust and believe, rather than taking everything at face value. Help them take news photos, record and edit footage for stories and post their work online or in print so they see the process from start to end. Cutting-edge mass media instruction teaches students the basics of news gathering, along with use of online sources, blogging, social media and other changes in the technological world.

Get The Facts

Kids become reporters by interviewing their peers, maybe uncovering a feature story about a classmate who competes in elite gymnastics or differing opinions on the school’s detention policy. Whether for digital, broadcast or print -- driven by interest and the school budget -- student reporters should ask the key questions of who, what, when, where, why and how. They can then move on to interviewing a principal, coach, teacher or other school official, and begin building the facts and gathering quotes for a story.

Search Out Stories

Send the students on a mission to compile a list of possible news or feature stories. They should know that a news story is happening now -- such as a recent change in the grading scale, plans for a pep rally or even a school board meeting. Schools contain endless and timeless feature ideas: Try finding out what students keep in their lockers, film the dance team preparing for a competition or investigate why the meatloaf at lunch tastes better this semester, perhaps running an online poll to confirm what students think about the lunches.

Make It Happen

Armed with information and new skills, students can start writing stories for an online publication, newspaper, webcast or school broadcast, with the adviser or teacher helping them see their surroundings in a new way and better appreciate the day’s news. Some may later choose to work in online or television news, or at one of the thousands of community newspapers that produce online and printed news.

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What Helped Radio Survive When TV Came Along?

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What Are the Dangers of Censorship?

The Importance of Media in the Classroom

• Scholastic: Journalism 101; Jeff Young
• ThreeSixty: Journalism in Junior High--From Reacting to Reporting; Laura Lee
• The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University: Teaching Journalism in the Digital Age

Since 1988, Mary Thomsen has been working on the "Valders Journal," a Wisconsin weekly newspaper. Thomsen has won several awards from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. She studied print journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Journalism Unit: Lessons, Activities, Assignments for Middle and High School

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Elevate your journalism curriculum with our comprehensive teaching bundle! This Journalism Teaching Bundle includes essential lessons, engaging PowerPoint presentations, and creative assignments, providing everything needed to kickstart your students' journalistic journey, whether it be for a stand-alone unit, elective class, or school newspaper or yearbook program.

This journalism teaching resource bundle includes the following resources:

• Four editable PowerPoint presentations covering key topics like "The Anatomy of a Newspaper," "The News Lead," "News Determinants," and "How to Write a Personal Profile Story."
• Two thought-provoking story assignments, including a feature story and a personal profile story, designed to enhance writing skills and journalistic techniques, while also helping students and budding journalists grow as writers.
• Multiple dynamic classroom activities strategically curated to remain relevant and useful throughout the academic year.

Tailored for middle school and high school journalism and yearbook classes, this introduction to journalism bundle ensures a solid foundation for your students' journalistic pursuits. Ignite their passion for storytelling and news reporting with this all-inclusive resource!

Save money and receive ALL of my journalism curriculum resources!

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Individual downloads included with this bundle:

The Anatomy of a Newspaper: Journalism and Informational Text Lesson

The News Lead: Journalism and Informational Text Lesson

Journalism: What makes a story newsworthy?

Journalism Feature Story Assignment

Journalism Personal Profile Lesson and Story Assignment

NOT INCLUDED - Other journalism resources that might interest you:

Associated Press (AP) Style Writing: An Introduction to Journalistic Writing

Associated Press (AP) Style Writing Foldable Student Reference Guide

Editable Journalism Documents: Syllabus, Editorial Positions and Application

End of the Year Journalism Award Certificates (Semi-Editable)

Journalism Beat Reporting

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Lesson Plan November 17, 2017

The Paradise Papers: A Lesson in Investigative Journalism

Printable PDFs/Word Documents for this Lesson:

• Full lesson for students [PDF] [Word]
• Project Description for the Paradise Papers [PDF]

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

• Describe the process, identify the purpose, and evaluate the impact of investigative journalism
• Evaluate the use of different types of media in acheiving particular aims
• Create a resource that clearly and engagingly conveys information about the Paradise Papers

BREAKING NEWS! On your desk, you will find an envelope with a number written on it and a note card inside. On that note card, there is a tip —a piece of news about your school, neighborhood, or community that someone powerful doesn't want you to know. Your source (the person who left the envelope for you) has chosen to remain anonymous, meaning you don't know who they are. Your source's information might be true or untrue.

1. Brainstorm on your own:

• What steps could you take to determine whether this information is true and what the fuller story behind it is?
• What would be the benefits and drawbacks of keeping this information secret while you investigated it further?
• If you shared this information, who would be affected and how?

2. Find a partner who has an envelope with the same number as your own. Take 3 minutes to merge the steps you brainstormed into a single action plan, and discuss how you can most effectively work together. Then, take another two minutes to discuss what you will do with the information once you have thoroughly investigated it.

3. Discuss as a class:

• What advantages and disadvantages can you see to working with a partner on your investigation?

A few students should share their tip, plan for investigation, and plan for distributing information. The class can then discuss the potential impact of that story.

Introducing the Lesson:

UNESCO defines investigative journalism as "the unveiling of matters that are concealed either deliberately by someone in a position of power, or accidentally, behind a chaotic mass of facts and circumstances - and the analysis and exposure of all relevant facts to the public."

Investigative reporting projects can begin in many ways. Sometimes, a journalist notices a problem or something suspicious themselves and decides to research it some more. Other times, they receive a tip from a source and work to determine whether it is true and what the full story is. In still other cases, a source might provide a leak (send secret information), supplying all the necessary documentation, but requiring the journalist to piece together a narrative from the information and find a way to present it to the public.

• Are you familiar with any investigative journalism stories?
• What do you think is the difference between investigative journalism and other types of journalism?

Today, we are going to learn more about investigative journalists and their work by examining the Paradise Papers, a project from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). This project exposes how political leaders, businesspeople, and the wealthy elite around the world use offshore entities to avoid taxes and cover up wrongdoing. With about 400 journalists working on 6 continents and in 30 languages to examine 13.4 million files for nearly an entire year, it is one of the largest investigative journalism projects in history.

Following this lesson, you will create a resource to clearly and engagingly convey information you have learned from the Paradise Papers to a lay audience, a vital part of investigative journalism.

Introducing Resource 1: " The True Story Behind the Secret Nine-Month Paradise Papers Investigation "

1. After watching the video, work individually or with a partner to create a short summary of what the Paradise Papers are and why they matter.

2. In the video,  ICIJ Deputy Director Marina Walker says, "At ICIJ, the mission is to uncover those urgent stories of public interest that go beyond what any particular journalist or media organization can accomplish on his or her own." Consider:

• What is the ICIJ? How does it differ from other news outlets/organizations you are familiar with?
• How would you define a "story of public interest"?
• Why does the ICIJ work with journalists based all over the world?

3. This video introduces many reporters and shows them doing the behind-the-scenes work of investigative journalism. Discuss as a class:

• How would you describe the day-to-day work of an investigative journalist, based on what the video showed? What are their workplaces like? Did anything surprise you?
• What skills do you think are essential for an investigative journalist to have, and why?
• How does the job differ for journalists in different countries?
• What are some of the dangers of investigative journalism, and how do journalists cope with them?
• Investigative journalist Will Fitzgibbon mentions ICIJ's emphasis on releasing all information simultaneously as a team. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages to reporting this way?

Introducing Resource 2: Paradise Papers

1. Read the project description of the Paradise Papers on the Pulitzer Center website. Discuss: how do the summary and statement of import you wrote with your partner compare?

2. Next, explore the interactive within the project, " Paradise Papers: The Influencers ."

• What is your initial reaction to the interactive? How does it make you feel?
• Click through to read the stories about Wilbur Ross. What sections are included in the story, and what purpose do they serve? Do you find the information convincing? Easy to understand? Interesting?
• Take a look at one of the supporting documents . What is your initial reaction? How does it make you feel?
• What do you think the purpose of this interactive is? How effective is it in serving this purpose?

Activity and Discussion:

1. Summarize each of the following political cartoons in your own words:

It's unlikely that any private citizen is going to sit down and read 13.4 million files, no matter how significant their value. As such, it is the job of the investigative reporters involved to mine that data for digestible, engaging stories that the public needs and wants to hear.

2. Explore the Paradise Papers investigation on the Pulitzer Center and ICIJ websites. Make a list of the different ways the ICIJ has found to tell this story.

3. In small groups, compare your lists. Consider:

• For each item on your list, who do you think the target audience is?
• What do you think are the most effective ways in which the stories of the Paradise Papers have been told thus far?
• Can you identify any audience(s) these stories are unlikely to reach as a result of the ways it is currently being told?
• What additional ways would it be possible to tell these stories?
• What impacts have the Paradise Papers had already, and what further impact can you foresee?

4. Each group should share their main takeaway(s) from their conversation with the class.

Extension Activity:

1. Building on your final discussion, identify a target audience that you think should know about the Paradise Papers investigation. Create a resource that summarizes the following in a way that will resonate with your target audience:

• What are the Paradise Papers?
• Why are they important?
• How did journalists investigate the story?

You can create a video, infographic, lesson plan, or any other resource. You may alternatively plan a large-scale resource (for example, a museum installation or a play) that you describe in detail but do not execute.

2. Present your resource to the class. Following your presentation, discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and possible impact of such a resource.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7

Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

Examples of tips you can write in students’ envelopes include:

• The company that supplies your school cafeteria with vegetables has continued selling spinach that might be contaminated with E. coli bacteria despite a recent recall.
• The recycling at the biggest company in your town does not actually get recycled at all; instead, the company sends it off to the landfill while claiming state tax benefits on the recycling equipment and process costs they don’t, in reality, have.
• Maintenance staff at your school is being paid less than minimum wage.

Ensure that students know these are hypothetical examples and not real tips.

To better understand the purpose/impact of this type of reporting and to contextualize the Paradise Papers, it may be useful for students to have some background in U.S. investigative journalism history. To assign as homework or review as a class, this list of noteworthy moments for investigative reporting in the U.S. from the Brookings Institution is one starting place.

Introducing Resource 1: “The True Story Behind the Secret Nine-Month Paradise Papers Investigation”

Depending on time constraints, students can be assigned to watch this video before class, or an excerpt (i.e. 0:00-12:50) can be screened.

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REPORTING FEATURED IN THIS LESSON PLAN

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Paradise Papers

ICIJ's global investigation that reveals the offshore activities of some of the world’s most...

Paradise Papers: The Influencers

Teaching Journalism: 10 Tips for New Journalism Advisers

Welcome to the amazing world of teaching journalism and advising the school newspaper! Whether you’ve signed up to teach journalism or were assigned the class, teaching students journalism and advising the school newspaper can be a gratifying aspect of your career. In this post, I will share my top tips for new journalism advisers.

High school journalism holds a special place in my heart. I was on the newspaper staff all four years of my high school career, eventually serving as my school paper’s editor-in-chief and studying journalism in college. And now, I continue my work in scholastic journalism by teaching journalism at my school.

Coming in as a new or first-time journalism adviser can be daunting, especially if you have no prior journalism experience. If you are looking for a great teaching resource to get you started, my journalism teaching unit has enough materials to get you started.

Here are ten tips for new journalism advisers.

1. tips for new journalism advisers: join scholastic journalism organizations.

One of the best ways to become more acquainted with scholastic journalism is by joining professional organizations. My favorite professional organization is JEA , the Journalism Education Association. Another good organization is the Columbia Scholastic Press Association . These organizations help advisers by sharing curricula, ideas, and contests.

2. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Become familiar with the inverted pyramid

One of the biggest struggles I see new student journalists face is trying to write an eloquent, English essay-style introduction for their news stories. Instead, students should keep it simple and report the straight facts. In my classroom, I use this News Lead lesson plan and these journalism graphic organizers to help my students become more familiar with the inverted pyramid.

3. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Start with the basics (5W and H)

Once my students have their assignments, I have them begin working on their story packages. Since we publish both online and in print (not all stories make it to print, though), a story package contains everything that the editors will need to be able to publish the story. One of the elements of the story package is the 5Ws and H.

On their document, students write out WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW, and then they complete each item with information from the story. This brainstorming activity is especially helpful for new journalists because it helps them stick to the inverted pyramid.

4. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Review AP style

I also use this AP Style Writing Unit which covers the essential elements of AP style that students need. I also ensure that my editors are well-versed in AP Style and help out the newer staff members as they learn to write like journalists.

5. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Know your students’ rights

As decided in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” This landmark ruling is beneficial for student journalists.

One of the best things you can do as a new adviser is to learn your students’ rights. The Student Press Law Center is an excellent resource for this.

6. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Focus on instruction before worrying about publication

One of the biggest mistakes I made as a new journalism adviser was jumping right into publication before the students were ready. I took journalism all four years of high school and majored in it in college. I knew how to write journalistically, but my students did not.

Since I rushed to publish content that first year, I spent so much time helping students revise their stories to fit journalistic standards. In the long run, it took more time than starting with the curriculum at the start of the year.

Now, I use the lessons in my Journalism Curriculum to help my students learn how to write like journalists before we press publish.

Teaching Journalism: An All-in-One Journalism Curriculum

My journalism curriculum has everything you need to get your journalism students started on the right foot and working on a successful newspaper -whether you publish in print or digitally!

From learning basic journalism terminology to news writing to the inverted pyramid to AP Style writing, this curriculum has everything you need to get your student journalists writing and publishing high-quality news stories. This journalism curriculum works for both middle school journalism and high school journalism.

This is the curriculum that I use in my classroom with my students.

JOURNALISM ADVISERS LIKE YOU SAID…

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7. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Utilize student editors

The ultimate goal of any student-run publication should be to have the students choose the content, write the stories, edit the stories, design the print issues, and publish the online content. However, when you are just starting, especially if it is a newer program on your campus, that can be challenging. Try to build the program each year while utilizing student editors to help the publication run.

I have my section editors (news editor, sports editor, etc.) assign stories to new students, check-in on the stories, and edit the stories before I even see them. Not only does this help alleviate the workload, but it also gives students more ownership of the publication.

8. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Start small

When you are just starting, all of the tasks might seem too much. If you are starting from scratch, have a relatively new staff, or don’t have much of a clue as to what you are doing right away, start small: decide on print or online. From there, focus on what is realistic for you and your staff to accomplish.

I had to bring the program back during my first year advising the newspaper. The school where I started teaching didn’t have a newspaper, and I knew I wanted to change that. I recruited enough students to get the class on the schedule and was essentially starting from scratch. We started publishing online-only first. In the second year, we incorporated print issues but only completed two eight-page issues a year.

As a new journalism adviser, it is okay to start small. If you are a new adviser for an established program, lean on those student editors. They will be your biggest asset.

9. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Keep accuracy and fairness above all

The most important thing is to strive for accuracy and fairness in everything you publish. From day one, all of your students should know just how important accuracy and fairness are, and in every single story, students need to reflect journalistic integrity. Writing stories free from bias will help your program gain credibility and respect, especially with your coworkers and admin.

10. T ips for New Journalism Advisers: Celebrate your students

When it comes to advising student publications, comparison is the thief of joy. It is always so easy to look at other student publications and feel inadequate, like an imposter. As a new adviser, it is essential to avoid that pitfall. Instead, celebrate your students. Celebrate the first published story of the year.

Celebrate each print issue. Celebrate your students’ work, and share it with colleagues. When colleagues send praises your way, relay those messages to your students. After each print issue (we only do 3-4 a year because our main focus is online – again, it is okay to go small), we celebrate with a staff potluck.

The students work so hard during deadlines and in the days leading up to sending the paper off to print that the class celebration is a very welcomed class tradition.

And once you are ready to move on to more journalistic features, check out this blog post about five journalism assignments and activities to assign!

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Family room

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Interior area

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Financial & listing details

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The Indigo Middle School is a small learning community which supports students in grades 6-8. Our Middle School embraces the same model and approach developed in the elementary program of teaching the whole child. In addition, the Middle School supports student learning through problem and project based learning, following the Common Core Standards, and by integrating 21st Century Skills into our teaching.

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What is the role of the parent in Middle School?

• Parents are facilitators
• Advise when needed
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Middle School students focus on:

• Reading and Writing
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