March 3-7 was Newspaper in Education Week, and the following activity is one of the many ways reading teachers can use newspapers to involve students in reading, writing, and connecting school curriculum to students’ lives.

      As a culminating activity to a novel unit, the ninth grade reading teachers at South Wayne Junior High used newspapers in a performance-based assessment.  We asked our students to create a newspaper with articles based on the events of the novel, A Sudden Silence by Eve Bunting.  Students were to write news articles, editorials, and feature stories.  They could also include any number of extras, e.g., sports, weather, and comics.  Before students could write, however, they had to read.

      They read news articles and we discussed the “inverted pyramid” style of writing.  They identified the who, what, when, where, why, and how.  We analyzed headlines.  We discussed the importance of interviewing and using direct quotes.  As we read editorials, students learned about persuasive techniques.  Using a Venn diagram, we compared editorials to news articles.  Many types of feature articles were also read and analyzed.  Students noted the differences between informational articles, human-interest stories, and other specialty columns.

      It’s easy to see the advantages of using newspapers in a reading class.  Our students enjoyed reading current, interesting articles; the activities encouraged them to be active learners; and they were able to apply important reading strategies.

      Our examples have barely scratched the surface of the many ways newspapers can be used meaningfully in the reading classroom.  So put down those catalogs and stop fretting about lack of funds.  Newspapers are inexpensive and plentiful, and best of all, kids will enjoy reading them.