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Lesson 5E Lesson
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The K20 Chronicle, Lesson 1

What Makes a Good Article?

Margaret Salesky, Lindsey Link, Ryan Rahhal | Published: November 10th, 2022 by K20 Center

Summary

In this introductory lesson, students will explore the different parts of a journalistic article to determine what makes a good newspaper or magazine story. Students will begin by brainstorming a list of elements that make an article visually, textually, and emotionally engaging. Students then will use that list to examine multiple articles about the activism of NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom. After analyzing statements about journalistic writing, students will create a headline mock-up about Enes Kanter Freedom's activism to demonstrate how an author uses informational text structures to support their purpose. Finally, students will evaluate an article to determine whether it has all the elements covered in the lesson. This is the first of four lessons in "The K20 Chronicle" journalism unit.

Essential Question(s)

What are the components of a journalistic article? What makes a good article? How do you create an engaging story?

Snapshot

Engage

Students brainstorm a list of elements that make an article visually, textually, and emotionally engaging.

Explore

Students examine multiple articles about the activism of NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom. Students determine if the articles have any of the qualities they listed at the start of the lesson.

Explain

Students use the Always, Sometimes, or Never True strategy to analyze statements about journalistic writing.

Extend

Students create a mock-up, top-of-the-fold headline about Enes Kanter Freedom's activism to demonstrate how an author uses informational text structures to support their purpose.

Evaluate

Students evaluate an article about the 2022 Winter Olympics boycott. Students use a rubric to determine whether the article has all the elements covered in the lesson.

Materials

Engage

Introduce the lesson using the attached Lesson Slides and explain to students that this is the start of a unit on journalism. Display slide 3 to share the essential questions and slide 4 to go over the lesson’s learning objectives.

Go to slide 5 and ask students to think about the best newspaper or magazine articles they’ve read before, either in print or online. Ask students the following questions:

  • What does a good article look like?

  • What does a good article sound like?

  • How does a good article make you feel?

As students share out, write their responses on the chart paper. Keep this class list posted for use in the next section of the lesson.

Explore

Display slide 6. Ask students if they know who Enes Kanter Freedom is, what information they already know or might want to know about him, and whether there’s anything interesting or surprising about him.

Go to slide 7. Pass out the linked articles about Enes Kanter Freedom and explain the Categorical Highlighting strategy to students. As students read their articles, have them refer to the class list they created in the last activity and highlight any elements of a "good" article as follows:

  • Looks Like: Highlight pink.

  • Sounds Like: Highlight blue.

  • Feels Like: Highlight yellow.

Once students have finished reading and highlighting, have students each turn to an elbow partner and share some of the elements they highlighted in their articles. Then, have a whole-class discussion centered on the following questions:

  • Were there any similarities in what you and your partner highlighted?

  • Were there any major differences?

  • What stood out to you the most?

After the discussion, ask students if there is anything they want to add to their class list of what makes a "good" article. Invite students to share out while you write the additional elements on the chart paper.

Transition through slides 8–11 to show students pictures of some of Enes Kanter Freedom’s shoes.

Explain

Display slide 12. Pass out the attached Always Sometimes, or Never True handout to students and explain the Always, Sometimes, or Never True strategy. Ask students to read each statement carefully and decide if it is always true, sometimes true, or never true. Once they decide, they need to write a justification for why they made that selection.

If students struggle to provide justification right away, that’s okay! You may give them the opportunity to work in pairs to fill out the handout. Alternatively, you may invite students to work through the statements as a class while you facilitate their discussion.

Transition through slides 13–22 to reveal the most accurate choice for each question. If you would like to provide students with further explanation of certain statements, see the note below.

Extend

Display slide 23 and pass out the attached Front Page handout or have students open the document on their computers. Inform students they are going to use the information they’ve learned so far to create their own start to an article based on what they’ve read about Enes Kanter Freedom’s activism.

Evaluate

Display slide 24. Pass out the attached Article Rubric and one of the linked Winter Olympics boycott articles to each student. Let students know it’s their turn to score an article and determine whether it’s "good" based on the rubric.

Before concluding the lesson, inform students that this same rubric will be used at the end of the journalism unit to score their final projects.

Resources

Publisher

K20 Center

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Downloads

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Standards

Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts (Grade 11)
11.3.R.5: Students will evaluate how authors writing on the same issue reached different conclusions because of differences in assumptions, evidence, reasoning, and viewpoints.
11.3.R.6: Students will comparatively analyze the structures of texts (e.g., compare/contrast, problem/solution, cause/effect, claims/counterclaims/evidence) and content by inferring connections among multiple texts and providing textual evidence to support their conclusions.
11.3.R.7: Students will make connections (e.g., thematic links, literary analysis, authors' style) between and across multiple texts and provide textual evidence to support their inferences.

Facilitator Resources

Click on a file type icon to download an attachment.

  • Example of Front Page—What Makes a Good Article
  • Lesson Slides—What Makes a Good Article

Learner Handouts

Click on a file type icon to download an attachment.

  • Always, Sometimes, or Never True—What Makes a Good Article
  • Article Rubric—What Makes a Good Article
  • Front Page—What Makes a Good Article

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