Personal and Social Responsibility
ASSIGNMENT 1: Newspaper Layout
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Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):
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Advertisements, commercials, brochures, cartoons, charts, graphs, magazines, websites, and newspapers - the ability to view critically is an important skill to master in today's fast-paced visual world. You combine reading skills with viewing skills all the time, whether reading a bus schedule, Googling, or looking for a poem in your textbook. The way in which information is presented can be crucial in delivering a message effectively. This section will walk you through some critical viewing skills, including how to view a textbook, newspaper, website, and charts and graphs.
You interact with informational text on a daily basis - when you log onto a website, glance at the front page of a newspaper, or flip through a magazine. Finding information in these media involves sharp viewing and reading skills. In this lesson, you will learn about effectively locating information in informational texts, such as newspapers and websites.
News Story Structure
Understanding how a newspaper is laid out helps you easily locate the information you're looking for. Understanding the structure of news stories helps you quickly get the amount of information you need.
Writing news stories is different from typical paragraph writing. News stories answer the 5 Ws + How (who, what, where, when, why, and how) first broadly and then in more detail. The first few sentences of a news story, called the lead, quickly inform the reader of who, what, where, and when and sometimes even why and how. If readers want to know more, they'll read on for the details.
This type of writing is known as the inverted pyramid approach. Think of an upside down triangle: the widest part is at the top and the narrow point at the bottom. In the wide part, the basic details of the story are provided. As you move down the triangle, or news story, specific details are given and the story is more fully developed. You'll get a better understanding of the story if you read the whole piece, but you'll know the simple facts by just reading the lead.
Knowing how a news story is organized helps you to be an efficient reader. You can focus your attention on the first paragraph of a news story to glean the most pertinent information. Then, if the topic captures your attention, you can read the rest of the article for deeper understanding. If the topic isn't of interest, you'll still know the facts, but can move on to a story whose details do interest you.
Task:
Using the front page of the newspaper mockup provided, identify the labelled items in the layout.
1. Click on the .pdf icon; download the newspaper layout that you will use for the assignment.
2. Click on the .pdf or .docx to complete the three Front Page Challenge Activities. Don't forget to attach and submit when finished.
| Front Page Challenge Activities | |
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Completing Your Assignment
You can complete your assignment by
- printing out the .pdf version, completing it, scanning the completed .pdf and submitting it to your teacher, or
- downloading the .docx version, completing it and submitting the completed .docx file to your teacher.
Assessment: Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.
Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective. There is a clear connection and engagement with the topic and all parts are complete and accurate.
Written Expression: Exemplary (6/6): Sentence structure and vocabulary are varied, skillfully written, and carefully chosen. Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections with logical organization.
Submission:
Use the "4.1 Newspaper Layout" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.