Tried-and-true curriculum and teaching tools
Why News Matters (WNM) programs across Chicago have tested lesson plans and made their curriculum available to help you integrate news and current events into existing curriculum—from English to history courses—to stand-alone units and after school programs.
With the assistance of the Education Development Center, WNM programs are building a suite of tools to enhance news literacy education in Chicago and to provide teachers from elementary school through college and educators with lesson plans, curriculum and evaluation guides.
Fresh Voices
Why teach news literacy?
News literacy helps students develop critical thinking and analytic skills. Plus, there’s ways to work it in with Common Core Standards.
Help! I don’t have time to develop curriculum!
Find a wealth of teaching tools and lesson plans, including news content themes matter to urban youth.
What are other teachers doing?
Browse in-school and out-of-school programming ideas that incorporate a number of different disciplines.
How do I know this will work?
Why News Matters grantees have developed specific and varied tools for measuring/evaluating indicators. Access tools and templates now!
Featured Programs for Educators
News Feed
- Tuesday, Oct. 7 is National News Engagement Day!
- Erie House pilots a community news literacy program
- Westside Writing Project offers digital media workshops this fall
- New Digital Resource Center to provide news literacy resources and curriculum
- Day One Recap: Because News Matters News Literacy Summit
- Day Two Recap: Because News Matters: News Literacy Summit
Latest Resources
- The American Society of News Editors' Youth Journalism Initiative offers a comprehensive list of news literacy resources for teachers at SchoolJournalism.org.
- Evaluation in Context: Reflections on How to Measure Success of Your “WNM” Program
- The LAMPlit - Check out the news: A guide to understanding the news and making good choices
- Face-to-Face with Journalists: A program connecting students with professional reporters.
- Mapping approaches to news literacy curriculum development: A navigation aid by the Berkman Center.
- Collect Baseline Data for Assessment: EDC’s news literacy baseline survey template.
