News-O-Matic, an educational resource for students in grades K-8, is an online daily news portal that teaches 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, media literacy and global awareness. With interactive daily articles, lessons and units for ELA, science, social studies and SEL, News-O-Matic is used by thousands of schools worldwide.
Use these lesson ideas to teach your class about news writing, editing and analysis.
The headline of a newspaper is very important and needs to be catchy, emotion-evoking and create curiosity in the reader. It also must be concise and convey the main points of the story. Using an eye-catching image as the headline can help make the story stand out among the competition.
Look for metaphors, alliterations and allegories that help you determine the author’s true opinion. This will help you to understand the story better and write a more accurate and thoughtful paper.
Consider the tone of the article and whether it is critical, angry, passionate or satirical. If you are looking to be creative, try a different tone and see how it reflects the story.
Use critical analysis to identify the value of the article and explain why it is relevant and valuable for you. This can include determining the article’s purpose, identifying if it is factual or fictional, and evaluating the author’s style of writing.
A news writer must sift through information and select the most important points to convey to the reader. This can be difficult and time consuming, especially if the information is complex.
This is why many reporters rely on their sources and ask them to do a lot of research in order to produce a well-written and accurate piece of journalism. They also rely on editors to help them craft the story and get it in front of the right people at the correct time.