Please login in top right corner to view post.
Lesson Number
7
Time to Teach
45-60 minutes
Tech Needs
Some Computer Access
Covering the school board is an important part of the high school journalism experience. School board meetings are an excellent way to get story ideas and understand how the school district is governed and the current issues your school district may be navigating. This lesson introduces students to viewing school board meetings and interpreting school board minutes. Understanding how the school board governs the district offers insight into local politics and provides a treasure trove of story ideas for a news cycle.
Objectives
- Students will research the local school board.
- Students will utilize minutes from previous meetings to understand current meetings and agenda items.
- Students will practice note-taking and create follow-up questions for school board members.
- Students will share story ideas and follow-up questions for an assessment grade.
Common Core Standards
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3 | Analyze a complex set of ideas or a sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. |
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7 | Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. |
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.3 | Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence. |
Materials
- Access to a video recording of the latest school board meeting
- Handout: School board research and coverage (at left)
Lesson Step-By-Step
1. Lesson Preparation
Make sure that you have access to a recording of a recent school board meeting that can be shown to the class. You may want to add information on obtaining school board minutes from your district to the handout if your district’s process happens to be complicated.
2. Warm-up (5 minutes)
Ask students what they know about school board meetings. Remind students that school board meetings are public and that they can attend. You might want to see if anyone can name a member of the school board for a piece of candy or something (optional).
3. Research and analysis (20 minutes)
Give students the “School Board Research and Coverage” handout with guided questions (at left). You may want to show students how to access school board information for your district online, but question one also asks this. Students should work through the first two sections of the guided questions alone or with a partner. When most students seem finished, have a few share questions they came up with from reviewing the minutes.
4. Viewing (10 to 15 minutes)
Watch part of a school board meeting together. You may choose to pause and identify the president, secretary, etc., with the class. Have students answer the “Viewing” question on the viewing guide.
5. Generate story ideas (20 to 25 minutes)
Students should come up with two story ideas on the guided questions handout, along with ideas for possible sources for an interview and follow-up questions. Collect the handout at the end of class and assess with points for completion or grade as you choose. If some of the ideas are strong, you may choose to share some in the next class or add them to the news cycle budget along with your EIC.