Family Newscast
Submitted by: Thomas E. Collins
School or Affiliation: Hulett High School, Hulett, WY
Endorsed by: These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have
attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher
from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural,
western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC
uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the
participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met
at the Workshops.
Date: May 1994
Grade Level: Appropriate for grades 10-12.
Overview: Members of our society are exposed to various
sources of information, TV, videos, movies, newspapers and magazines. These sources of
information can influence public opinion, ideas and attitudes of a large number of people.
Television and videos appear to be the most influential sources of information for
children growing up in today's society.
By using TV/video in the classroom we can excite the student to learn about its
influence, as well as allowing us to focus on specific issues relating to the family in
our society.
Purpose: The purpose of the activity is to allow the
students to experience what takes place in the production of a newscast or newsmagazine on
a specific issue. It also will allow for and encourage students' creativity in the
production of commercials or skits pertaining to the issue you desire to cover in any
social studies area.
Objectives: Students will be able to:
- List six functions of the family, (reproduction, socialization, social control,
providing status, passing on private property, and providing companionship and affection),
and identify which are primary and which are secondary.
- Describe five trends that characterize the American family today, (first marriage at an
older age, increase in divorce rate, more single-parent families, smaller families, and an
increase in both spouses working).
- Identify various ways of selecting marriage partners, and discuss dating in our society
by comparing dating practices of your parents generation with your own.
Activities:
- Divide the class into three equal groups to cover each of the above three goals. Have
each group research information pertaining to a different goal ,and report its findings to
the remainder of the class as news information.
- Additional responsibilities for each group;
Group #1 - reporting - also act as final editors, and put the program together for
taping.
Group #2 - reporting - responsible for writing and production of one commercial skit
relating to goal - max. 5 min.
Group #3 - reporting - responsible for writing and production of one commercial skit
relating to goal - max. 5 min.
- There will be two co-anchor persons (male and female) to do the final broadcast.
Preferably chosen by the instructor or by audition.
- Technical crew taken from the 3 groups will be in charge of the camera, video equipment
and sets for the program.
- Each group doing skits will provide the actors, and work with the technical crew in
order to complete any additional sets.
- Suggested time for the program is one week for a 35 minute program. If possible, check
with a local TV station for a tour, or have a local personality come to your class to talk
about what goes into a program. You may wish to have the students compile some questions
beforehand about TV's influence on the family. You may also wish to ask who controls the
media and what we see on TV.
Resources/Materials Needed: Textbook on the
American Family
Tying It All Together: To make this project complete you
may wish to show the program to other classes or contact your local TV station again and
see if they would be interested in doing a story about your program!
It is important for the students to understand that facts are necessary when reporting
information. They will also part of this the Family in our society is changing and maybe
part of this change is being influenced by the tool they have used to learn about it.
Useful Internet Resources:
Useful Internet Resources:
ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education
http://www.indiana.edu/~ssdc/eric_chess.htm
ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education
http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu/
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