This just in! A free journalism lesson will turn your classroom into a transformative student experience. As a teacher, you are tasked with a big responsibility. You are responsible for shaping students into responsible citizens who are leaders within their communities. Where do you start?

One great way to instill these values in your students is through journalism. Journalism is more than just reporting on a story – this skill teaches your students to be curious, find answers, and approach their work with ethics and integrity. 

Luckily, a free character-building lesson is available that can be easily integrated into a journalism curriculum. Portrait of a Service Member can turn your classroom into a newsroom and your students into active citizens who deeply understand what it means to serve a cause bigger than themselves. 

How to Introduce Journalism to Your Students

Journalism isn’t just about reporting the news; it’s about empowering young minds to become critical thinkers, effective communicators, and engaged citizens. 

You can inspire the next generation of journalists, writers, storytellers, leaders, and heroes. But to have this impact, you must ensure your lessons resonate with students. 

You know better than anyone that competing with abounding distractions and making lessons engaging is easier said than done. But don’t worry! There are some strategies that can help. Here’s how to make journalism engaging in your classroom:

• Use real-world examples: Discuss recent news events that are relevant and have had a significant impact on society, break down different news outlets that cover the same story, and highlight biases and perspectives.
• Use hands-on activities: Simulate a newsroom and have your students report on a relevant issue, encourage your students to write articles and conduct interviews, and facilitate debates and discussions on events and social issues.
• Incorporate field trips: Give your students a firsthand look at how news is produced and have them go out to actually conduct their own interviews.
• Integrate technology: Teach your students how to effectively use different platforms to share news and engage with audiences while incorporating innovative tools to create an immersive, riveting experience.

Still, providing a classroom experience that includes these tactics requires time and resources you may not have. CDP is here to help with a ready-made free journalism lesson so you can witness a true transformation with minimal work and no stress. 

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Heroes Behind the Headlines: Free Journalism Lesson

In the Portrait of a Service Member lesson, your students will learn how to develop insightful questions for a service member that they cannot easily research using online resources and conduct interviews. 

In doing so, they will gain invaluable skills that will empower them to succeed in and outside the classroom. This kind of journalism teaches students:

• Critical thinking skills by analyzing information, evaluating sources, and forming their own opinions.
• Strong writing skills and the ability to be clear and concise.
• Research skills by thoroughly gathering information from diverse sources.
• Communication and interpersonal skills, both written and verbal.
• Problem-solving skills by identifying problems, doing research, and creating solutions.
• Ethical decision-making skills and the importance of a strong sense of ethics and integrity in their work and personal lives. 

Interviewing a service member adds another dimension of meaning for your students.  This activity provides your classroom with:

• Crucial historical perspective: Veterans and service members have firsthand experiences of significant historical events and can provide valuable insights into the past to better understand the present. 
• A deep cultural understanding: Interviewing service members with diverse backgrounds broadens their understanding of different cultures, perspectives, and experiences. 
• Personal growth: Interviewing service members requires careful planning, research, and analysis, as well as important interpersonal skills, such as active listening, empathy, and respect. By developing these skills, students will become future leaders their communities need.  
• The power of storytelling: Interviewing veterans and service members provides ample opportunities to gather compelling stories, convey them, and communicate them with others to inspire their peers. 

Let’s get into how our free journalism lesson works to understand how Portrait of a Service Member packs an extra punch for you and your students! 

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How Does CDP’s Free Journalism Lesson Work?

During this lesson, students will analyze the challenges service members face and learn the inspiring stories of how they overcame them. This free journalism lesson includes:

• 3 days worth of activities.
• A ready-made downloadable lesson plan for teachers.
• The Medal of Honor focus.
• A guide for how to connect with service members. 
• Daily introductory activities. 
• Daily small group activities. 
• Daily whole group activities. 
• Daily discussion and free-writing prompts.
• Daily concluding activities. 
• An assessment. 
• Modifications for distance learning.

With the Portrait of a Service Member, your students will create an engaging experience through inspiring real-world examples, hands-on activities, actual field trips to service members and veterans, and an immersive online student portal.

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Are You Looking for an Engaging Way to Inspire Your Students? Register Today for a FREE Journalism Lesson! 

Are you ready to create a classroom experience fit for a front-page news story about the transformative power of education? Teaching your students journalism can be a life-changing experience that equips them with a full arsenal of skills to succeed in life, inspire their communities, and become active leaders. Our free journalism lesson is ready-made and easily adaptable to any curriculum. 

Register for CDP today for countless lessons you can seamlessly integrate into any existing curriculum, no matter the subject.