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Teaching History of Journalism in America

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  • Activities: 6
  • Quiz Questions: 22

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After the megaphone craze died down, the news only used to be available in tangible, printed forms like newspapers and magazines. So did teaching guides…but we're in a new era. Our teaching guides are paper free, easily navigable, and good for the environment.

In this guide you will find

  • questions about ethics in journalism (if they exist).
  • assignments asking students to think of the current state of print journalism (if there is one).
  • essay questions for students to objectively analyze objectivity in the media (if there is any).

Our teaching guide has all the news that's fit to print (on the Internet).

What's Inside Shmoop's History Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring history to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

  • 3-5 Common Core-aligned activities (including quotation, image, and document analysis) to complete in class with your students, with detailed instructions for you and your students. 
  • Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students.
  • Reading quizzes to be sure students are looking at the material through various lenses.
  • Resources to help make the topic feel more relevant to your 21st-century students.
  • A note from Shmoop’s teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the topic and how you can overcome the hurdles.

Want more help teaching Teaching History of Journalism in America?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.



Instructions for You

Objective: You could write a few paragraphs describing Steph Curry's shooting patterns: where he takes the most shots, where he makes the most, where he misses, etc. 

Or you could create a spreadsheet listing every shot he's taken over the course of a season and let your students try to make sense of that. 

But isn't it nicer when data is presented in a compelling and informative chart? Like, say, this one, by Kirk Goldsberry? 

Much nicer. Right?

Today your students are going to try their hands at organizing some data. You'll give them a bunch of stats related the history of american journalism, and their job will be to find an effective—and informative—way to present it. 

Length of Lesson: One class period and possibly some homework, depending upon how sophisticated your students get with their graphics. 

Materials Needed: 

Step One: Take a look at a couple of good examples of visual data with your students, and talk through the data that is presented. Give them a chance to see how both simple and complex stats can be presented in compelling and accessible formats. Here are a couple of good examples: 

  1. State Gun Laws Enacted in the Year After Newtown: This New York Times graphic shows state by state (and category by category) the laws that were enacted following the shooting in at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Connecticut in 2013. Nearly every state enacted one new gun law in that year. Using color coded arrows, this graphic shows how long it took and whether the law tightened or loosened restrictions on gun ownership and handling.
  2. Most Targeted Books: This infographic shows the books that have been challenged most often over the years (as of 2009) and why. 

Step Two: Let your students know it's their turn to create some visuals. Direct them to Shmoop's History of American Journalism Statistics page and instruct them to construct a graphic (pie chart, bar graph, etc.) for each set of statistics. The goal of the graphic should be to present it clearly while making the significance of the data more readily apparent.

Step Three: When students have completed their graphics, give them a chance to share them. 

TEKS Standards: §113.47. Special Topics in Social Studies b1, c1A, 3A

Instructions for Your Students

We could write a few paragraphs describing Steph Curry's shooting patterns: where he takes the most shots, where he makes the most, where he misses, etc. 

Or we could create a spreadsheet listing every shot he's taken over the course of a season and let you try to make sense of that. 

But isn't it nicer when data is presented in a compelling and informative chart? Like, say, this one, by Kirk Goldsberry? 

Much nicer. Right?

Today you're going to try your hand at organizing some data. We'll give you a bunch of stats related the history of american journalism, and your job will be to find an effective—and informative—way to present it. 

Step One: Take a look at a couple of good examples of visual data with your teacher and class mates, and talk through the data that is presented. Try to get a feel for how both simple and complex stats can be presented in compelling and accessible formats. Here are a couple of good examples: 

  1. State Gun Laws Enacted in the Year After Newtown: This New York Times graphic shows state by state (and category by category) the laws that were enacted following the shooting in at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Connecticut in 2013. Nearly every state enacted one new gun law in that year. Using color coded arrows, this graphic shows how long it took and whether the law tightened or loosened restrictions on gun ownership and handling.
  2. Most Targeted Books: This infographic shows the books that have been challenged most often over the years (as of 2009) and why. 

Step Two: Now it's your turn to create some visuals. Head over to Shmoop's History of American Journalism Statistics page and construct a graphic (pie chart, bar graph, etc.) for each set of statistics. The goal of the graphic should be to present it clearly while making the significance of the data more readily apparent.

Step Three: When everyone is done with their graphics, take some time to share yours and see what others came up with.