Date: May 10, 1996

Grade Level(s): 9, 10, 11

Subject(s):

• Language Arts/Journalism

Description:

This exercise is used to introduce journalism writing to student through their observation of the events within the novel. The exercise is also effective in checking for reading comprehension on the part of the student.

Background Information:

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton can be taught on many levels. The incidents are still contemporary in today's society as arson, gang hostility, and police-induced murders. These incidents can be spotted on local news programming as well as in local newspapers and students will respond easily to things they are familiar with.

Concepts Covered in Lesson:

This lesson discusses contemporary problems facing the youth of today. It allows the student to connect affectively to the novel as they can relate their own experiences to those of the characters. It is an excellent way to check for student comprehension of the material presented through the novel itself as it covers the who, what, where, why, and how of the book.

Materials:

• The students will require the novel, paper, pens, brads, hole punchers and colored paper to collect the information into newspapers.

• The students will need a copy of the local newspaper to use as a visual example.

Activities and Procedures:

1. A short journal-writing assignment asking the student to describe any similar event they may share with the characters of the novel.

2. A short presentation by the instructor that includes examples and definitions of the parts of a newspaper: the headline, the lead, and the body.

3. Have the students choose one of the following topics and write their own news story describing the incidents using the information presented through the novel.

a) the murder of Bob

b) the rescue of the children from the burning church

c) the police murder of Dallas Winston

Evaluation: Have students read their article aloud to class and later gather the stories into short newspapers. Each newspaper will contain one of each of the three stories. Student responses are welcome after each article is read.