This Week’s Anton Lesson Plan
With Inauguration Day happening this week and a changing of the guard at the presidential level, media will be going into overdrive in covering what’s going on in the American political world. The following are exercises students can do to experience the different facets of the interaction between journalism and politics on every level of government that make up the content of a newspaper.
• Choose an editorial that interests you and read it carefully. Decide which statement or parts of statements are facts and which are opinions. Do you think the tone of the editorial is liberal or conservative? Watch the newspaper for the coming weeks to see if any letters to the editor address this issue.
• Is freedom of the press important? After reading your newspaper for several weeks write a report on whether or not you feel freedom of the press is a vital need in our society. Look at a copy of this week’s newspaper and use a marker to blacken out any articles you think would not appear if we did not have freedom of the press.
• Create a bulletin board for your classroom concerned with the men and women holding positions in your local government. Clip newspaper pictures of school board members, city, town or village leaders and any others you feel should be included.
