Introduction

My students worked together to research current news sources in our school library. This is a great idea to engage students in the process of informative writing. It also provides students with opportunities to use research methods about a topic and use critical thinking to filter through topic material.

Here is a short video explaining our Breaking News Project:

Project Activities

Students worked on the following worksheet for our library visit so they could plan for their own news story:

Group Names:	Title:
Media 1 (2 Images):Please write down ideas about the images you want to use.	Supporting Idea 1:
Media 2 (Video Clip under 2 minutes):Please write down ideas about the video you want to use.	Supporting Idea 2:

For your PPT:

1. Organize your topic and supporting ideas in sequential order (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, etc.).
2. Insert your images.
3. Insert your video (not more than 2 minutes).
4. Check your slides and writing for sentence and grammar structure.

For your Media Speech:

1. The leader of your group for this project will present your project.
2. Choose the English statements you want to use:
   1. This just in….
   1. Breaking news….
   1. This story is developing….

Choose the tone of voice you want to use that matches how News Reporters talk.

Student Engagement

Students worked in groups of three to compile a written copy of their news story. We reviewed and evaluated their writing using a rubric to provide them with relevant and meaningful feedback. 

Once they completed their writing and had a final draft edited and revised for corrections and direction of their news story, they started working on the digital media to present their news.

Student Examples

Their creativity is astounding and I am overjoyed and impressed with the amount of work they put into this project. Here are two examples of Breaking News Stories from my grade 10 English class: