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Lesson 2

Communication
Recommended age group - 3rd and 4th grade
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OBJECTIVE: The student will understand the effectiveness both positive and negative of print media.

SET: Yesterday we talked about 2 groups in print media. Remember the white newpaper reporters ignored the black citizens except when someone black committed a bad deed. Then they wrote about it and said that all black people were that way. The black citizens were upset and decided to start their own papers.

Would you say the people were fighting against each other?
Well the black newspaper writers felt they were fighting to get the truth out.
They named themselves 'Soldiers Without Swords'.

Model: Let's read a copy of one of the white newspapers and one of the black newspapers from the days of the 'Soldiers Without Swords'.

Guided Practice Let's review our daily newspaper and the type of information we find in it. First let's list what we expect to find. 1. articles about all types of people. 2. good and bad articles about all kinds of people. 3. articles that provide information that helps people

Instruction: Todays' newspapers provide information about a variety of subjects; just like the newspapers of the 1800's and early 1900's. There are however, many differences. Today many ethnic groups are written about. People who contribute great things are written about regardless of their ethnicity. Some people feel that newspaper reporters still tell people to feel that certain groups are not as good as other groups. We are going to see what you think.

Today we will divide into groups and each group will have a copy of a major newspaper, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, etc. Each group needs to find 2 articles that about an ethnic group. Tell whether the article is negative or positive about the groups. List the reasons you find it to be negative or positive. We will return together and share our findings.

Independent study:
Write an essay about your findings. compare todays' newspaper with the old newspapers. Do you feel the today's reporters write fairly about all groups? Do you thing readers get better feelings about some groups more than others? Why? What words were used?

In you summary write your opinion about the name 'Soldiers Without Swords' picked by the black reporters? What do you think of it? If you were a reporter what name would you choose to tell people about your writing.

Lesson 1: History of Print Media