This activity supports Common Core in English Language Arts — CCR Anchor Standards for Reading — CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1 and CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.2
Grade level: Appropriate for grades 4-12 with teacher modifications
Duration: One class period (may be combined with the Pull Quotes activity).
- Use Recollection Wisconsin to find historical newspaper articles. To locate historical newspapers through Recollection Wisconsin, head to the Browse Collections by Category interface and choose “Newspaper clippings” from the Materials list to see all available collections containing newspapers, or head directly to the following digital collections:
- Carroll University Student Newspaper Collection
- Novitiate Takeover Collection, Shawano City-County Library
- Door County Library Newspaper Archive
- Cover or otherwise hide the article’s headline while you have students read the text of the article.
- When students are finished reading, have them work independently or in small groups to identify key ideas or themes in the article and list some words that capture these themes and ideas.
- Then ask each student or group to use those word lists to create three different headlines for the article. How does the reader’s expectation change with a different headline?
