Current Events - Different Views of the News

Adapted from a lesson Prepared by Dr. Fred Schouten at http://www.peotone.will.k12.il.us/fs/examples/news.html

Introduction - Flash !!! Can You believe what you read in the News?

Task

Research a Current News Event by reading several different newspapers nationally or internationally.

Process:

Students will be divided into several news gathering groups and given the designation of Groups A to Group F corresponding to the News sources as seen in the News Sources Table below.
Each group of experts will meet and decide what type of information is needed for a complete understanding of the current international event. Who are the major players and what are the major issues? What is the current status of the event?
Each group should not read any other Newspapers or watch TV broadcasts from any other news source except the source assigned to them for the duration of the project.
The group will meet again after carefully reading the news to come to a consensus as to the necessary information about the event. They will prepare a short 5 minute typed newscast which is to be read to the class by one member chosen from each group.

Resources

News Sources
Group A	Group B
Group C	Group D
Group E	Group F

Note: The news sources links should be changed according to the current event being studied.

Evaluation

1. Classmates will be asked to evaluate the news reports from each of the presenting groups A- F. according to the following rubric

Poor - 1 point	Fair- 2 Points	Good - 3 Points	Excellent -4 Points
insufficient preparation, weak organization, and poorly presented	Shows little detail and some unclear information, fairly presented	well organized, logical, and focused presentation with few errors	outstanding work rich in-depth and precise detail with a consistent, powerful presentation

2. Each member of the group will be asked to fill in the following rubric about their involvement in the group as well as other members of their group.

Poor - 0 Point Good - 2 Points Excellent - 4 Points Total Points

Content and Research did not find very relevant information on the questions assigned by the group found some useful information on the questions assigned by the group found excellent to the point information and organized it well for the group

Participation and Cooperation Did not attend meetings or attempt to find out assigned tasks contributed ideas to group and helped with final report contributed valuable insight and helped the group to come to a concensus about their findings - helped draft final report

Conclusion

At the end of the project, the class will discuss and attempt to synthesize the information that has been presented by the groups. The class will try to determine what the real truth is and whether or not they were able to determine the truth of the particular current event item.

Please report any corrections to:
Ruth MacKinnon at rjmackin@stfx.ca
St. Francis Xavier University
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by Ruth MacKinnon

	Poor - 0 Point	Good - 2 Points	Excellent - 4 Points	Total Points
Content and Research	did not find very relevant information on the questions assigned by the group	found some useful information on the questions assigned by the group	found excellent to the point information and organized it well for the group
Participation and Cooperation	Did not attend meetings or attempt to find out assigned tasks	contributed ideas to group and helped with final report	contributed valuable insight and helped the group to come to a concensus about their findings - helped draft final report