NewsLiteracyPlaybook - Flipbook - Page 24
Lessons Learned
integrated news literacy into existing coursework
or when the class was discussing compatible
topics. As an example, individual educators in the
U.S. could fit in our lessons about free expression
and the watchdog role of a free press when their
classes were studying the Bill of Rights (the first 10
amendments to the U.S. Constitution) or examining
the press and politics.
We told our partner teachers that our goal was
to help them do what they were already doing —
including teaching critical thinking — while at the
same time bringing NLP’s focus and the journalists’
expertise and experience into their classrooms. We
also underscored where our lessons could help them
meet required teaching standards.
Right from the start, we refined our lessons, based
on what students and teachers told us and what
our assessments showed in terms of student
learning outcomes. Along the way, we learned
that opportunities to integrate news literacy into
learning, either during school hours or in after-school
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programs, are plentiful, but teachers must be trained
to recognize these opportunities and supported with
resources to capitalize on them.
After-school programs
We partnered with several established after-school
programs in the cities where we had classroom
programs (New York City, the Washington, D.C.,
area and Chicago). For all of them, it was vital that
the program find a way to engage the same group
of students on an ongoing basis and hold to a
predictable schedule for the news literacy classes
(once a week on the same day, for example).
Another possibility is offering news literacy classes
as a kind of “camp” that students attend during
school breaks or holidays. If these sessions can
also offer students a lunchtime meal or a snack,
this may entice parents to enroll their children, who
might otherwise have unstructured time during
school breaks.
Politico’s Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, Matt Wuerker, gives impromptu drawing lessons to students from Thurgood
Marshall Academy Public Charter High School in Washington, D.C., during their visit to the publication’s office in 2014.