Rita Wiley
Unit Plan
Topic: News Writing and Headlines
Grade level: 9th grade
Class Size: 20
Class time and day: Meets daily from 10-10:50a.m.
Unit Materials: Textbook, Handouts from teacher’s manual, style guide and
computers for writing and research
Unit Objectives: Students should understand the basic concepts of:
 News Writing
o Leads
o Inverted Pyramid
 Avoiding passive voice
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Analyze and evaluate news stories and features found in student-generated publications and
media by using criteria that includes: appropriateness, audience and purpose, information
provided or story quality of work or presentation, rhetorical strategies (language that focuses a
message, such as persuasive words, logical consistency, humor, satire, or other intent signals),
and type of impact.
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Use of nondiscriminatory in writing
News Values
Types of Headlines
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Anticipated Indiana Teacher Standards ( 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10)
Indiana Journalism Content Standards
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Standard 3- Media Analysis
Standard 4- Journalistic Writing Processes
Standard 5- Writing for Media
INTASC Principles
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INTASC 1- The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry,
and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning
experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for
students.
INTASC 3- The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches
to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to
diverse learners.
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INTASC 4- The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional
strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem
solving, and performance skills.
INTASC 6- The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal and
media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and
supportive interaction in the classroom.
Day One
Daily Overview: To teach the students the proper ways to construct and write a
lead for a variety of print and broadcast publications.
Daily Objectives: The students will learn why a lead is the most important aspect of
journalistic writing. Students must be able to:
 Keep their leads to under 35 words
 Establish the 5 W’s and H
 Differentiate the different types of leads
 What they should avoid
Daily Materials:
 PowerPoint to lecture about leads
 Students may follow along in book if necessary
 Hand-out for students for activity
 Newspaper Examples
 Computers for students to do activity
 Paper/Notebooks
 Pens
 Printer
Daily Schedule:
 Opening Activity: Journal Activity (5 min)
o “In your opinion, how different is journalistic writing different than
composition writing?”
 The topic is to stimulate student’s minds about the differences
of writing. Critical thinking is used to help students formulate
their opinions and perceptions.
 Lecture (25 min)
o What is a lead?
 A lead is a simple, concise statement that makes up the first
paragraph of a news story that established relevance. It also
sometimes referred to a lede.
o Every story must answer 6 basic questions (5W’s and H)
 Who
 What
 When
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 Where
 Why
 How
o The lead should be concise, short. So it should be no longer than 35
words
o Different types of leads (4)
 Immediate Identification
 Focuses on whom the story is referring, often a
prominent figure
o Ex. President Obama was seen walking his dog
with his wife Michelle on Friday because the
weather was beautiful.
 Delayed ID
 Name does not necessarily come first; an occupation or
name title may appear first
 Ex. A doctor at Ball Memorial Hospital
helped save someone’s life.
 Summary
 Highlights a specific action due to other important facts
that may need to be shared.
 Multiple elements
 Two or more important elements need to be shared.
Rare due to amount of information
o Avoid
 Lots of numbers, use one number to clarify a difference
 Quotes in a lead because we do not know who is speaking yet
 Times dates or places unless it is most important.
Daily Activity (15 mins)
 Individually, students will be given a work sheet to work on for 10
minutes.
 The worksheet will have a list of leads on them and they will have to
identify the 5W’s and H. Additionally, the worksheet will also have a
number of clustered words which students will have to string together to
create an effective lead.
 For three minutes, students will collaborate in a small group to compare
answers.
 For the remaining two minutes, the class will review answers together
and students will receive answers to worksheet
 Rubric:
 8-10 points for following all directions and incorporating all
requirements
 5-7 points for missing elements, but still have and
understanding for assignment
 2-4 points for missing multiple key elements and fail to
complete assignment properly
 3assignment.
o 3
Fergueson, Susan. "Thinking through Leads or Ledes?" ASNE High School Journalism.
2001. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.
<http://www.hsj.org/Students/Ask_A_Pro/Article.cfm?articleId=159>.
Day Two
Daily Overview: To teach the students the proper ways to construct and write
news stories using the inverted pyramid for a variety of print and broadcast
publications.
Daily Objectives: The students will learn the inverted pyramid and how to organize
news stories based on the most important information given.
Daily Materials:
 PowerPoint to lecture about the inverted pyramid
 Students may follow along in book if necessary
 Hand-out for students for activity
 Newspaper Examples
 Computers for students to do activity
 Printer
 Paper/Notebooks
 Pens
Daily Schedule:
 Opening Activity: Journal Activity (5 min)
o Yesterday, you learned about leads. What are the most important
aspects to a good lead and why does it matter?
 The purpose of this question is to review the previous day, so
they become more familiar with the changes from composition
writing to journalistic writing.
 Daily Lecture: (15 min)
o The main body of a news story contains quotes and transitions that
alternate to add more information to a story that will help the reader
identify with the situation.
o We use the inverted pyramid to help us distinguish what facts are
most important form least important.
o Show individual examples from newspapers for each section
o
 Activity: (25 min)
o Individually, students will be given a short sample story to read off
handout with too much information.
o Students will have to pick the most important information and
rewrite the story using those facts to create a lead and use the
inverted pyramid.
The body and less important
material go here. Transitions
and quotes should start to
appear.
Least important material goes
here and writer should starting
wrapping up.

The lead and most
important facts
go here.
Less important material goes
here. Quotes and transitions
should be evident
Rubric:
10 points
for having a lead,
following the inverted
pyramid by using the most
pertinent information
first and adding quotes and
transitions
 6-9 points for providing a lead and adding information to
the story but in the right order
 3-5 points for not providing an adequate lead, missing
important information
 0-2 points for missing lead, do not follow inverted pyramid
and do not provide quotes and transitions.
Clean-up (5 minutes)
o Print off paper and turn in assignment
o Pick up and throw away any trash
o Pack bag and sit quietly until bell rings or dismissal from teacher.
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Day Three
Daily Overview: To teach the students the proper ways to construct and write
headlines using different styles so that they properly convey the meaning of the
article for print and broadcast publications.
Daily Objectives: The students will learn different styles of headlines so they can
effectively summarize a story.
Daily Materials:
 PowerPoint to lecture about headlines
 Students may follow along in book if necessary
 Newspaper Examples
 Computers for students to do activity if needed for research
 Handouts
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Paper/Notebooks
Pens
Printer
Daily Schedule:
 Opening Activity: Journal Activity (5 min)
o Yesterday, you learned about the inverted pyramid. Using a story
from the paper you brought to class, pick a story and identify the lead
as well as three main points of the story that uses the inverted
pyramid.
 The purpose of this assignment is refresh the students memory
about leads and the inverted pyramid with repetition to
actively recognize the main points.
 Lecture (20 mins)
o Different Styles
 One-Line (Deck headlines)
 Two-Lines (Decks)
 Read-In
 Adds interest, attention to rest of headline
 Wicket
 Adds quote to information
 Kicker
 Smaller headline accompanied by a larger headline
 Read-out
 One large headline accompanied by smaller headline
that adds additional information
 Hammer
 Smaller headline accompanied by a larger headline that
is shaped like a hammer
 Tripod
 Large headlines that uses a colon to connect a two-line
headline.
o Effective Headlines
 Articles like a, an are left out
 Written in present tense
 Use infinitives
 Use comma, quotation marks, semicolon—never a period
 Do not end a headline with prepositions or split infinitives
 Avoid the verb- to be
 Use alliteration sparingly
 Avoid repeating words
 Only proper nouns are capitalized
 Activity (20 minutes)
o In groups, students must take a newspaper and analyze types of
headlines. They must look for:

 All types of headlines
 Does it follow guidelines?
 Does it effectively summarize the story?
o The students will then group the headlines that they think are good
and bad.
o Rubric:
 8-10 points for following all directions and incorporating all
requirements
 5-7 points for missing elements, but still have and
understanding for assignment
 2-4 points for missing multiple key elements and fail to
complete assignment properly
 0-1 points for disregarding directions and fail to do the
assignment.
o
Clean-up (5 minutes)
o Turn in assignment.
o Pick up and throw away any trash.
o Pack bag and sit quietly until bell rings or dismissal from teacher.
Day Four
Daily Overview: To teach the students the importance of the main six news values
while writing, and have students be able to recognize them in print and broadcast
publications.
Daily Objectives: The students should learn the six different news values:
 Prominence
 Impact
 Conflict
 Timeliness
 Novelty/ Unusualness
 Proximity
Daily Materials:
 PowerPoint to lecture about the seven news values
 Students may follow along in book if necessary
 Newspaper Examples
 Computers for students to do activity if needed for research
 Paper/Notebooks
 Pens
 Previous Assignments to refer to
 Printer
Daily Schedule:
 Opening Activity: Journal Activity (5 min)
 Why is the headline a significant part to any news story.
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The purpose of this question is to have students
remember why headlines are so important to a news
story.
Lecture (15 mins)
o News Values: use the acronym PICTUP
 Prominence
 Separates us from people who are important. It matters
because we want to know more about a person in seen
in the public eye.
 Impact
 How many are affected?
 What was the amount/consequence involved
 Conflict
 Information that involves some kind of disagreement
between two or more people.
 Timeliness/ Immediacy
 Is it fresh, news we just learned about
 Is it interesting that it is happening now
 Unusualness/Novelty
 Information that involves something unusual or strange
 Proximity
 How close does this story hit home?
o Examples are seen on PowerPoint
Activity (25 mins)
o Make sure students have all assignments from the past three days
(leads, inverted pyramid and headlines.) (2mins)
o Allow five minutes for students to go over their prior work and find
some of the news values that they were just taught. (5mins)
o After that mini activity, have students find two news stories online
about the same topic. Students must not only have to find the lead,
and the three most important facts using the inverted pyramid, but
also now recognize the news values within the article. Then, they
must compare and contrast between to see what values they
highlighted.
o Rubric:
 8-10 points for following all directions and incorporating all
requirements
 5-7 points for missing elements, but still have and
understanding for assignment
 2-4 points for missing multiple key elements and fail to
complete assignment properly
 0-1 points for disregarding directions and fail to do the
assignment.
o
Clean-up (5 minutes)
o
o
o
o
Turn in assignment.
Ask any questions
Pick up and throw away any trash.
Pack bag and sit quietly until bell rings or dismissal from teacher.
Day Five
Daily Overview: To teach the students about avoiding passive voice (past tense)
and nondiscriminatory language while writing articles for print and broadcast.
Daily Objectives: The students should learn the importance of trying to write in the
present, as news is often fresh and current. Students will also learn how to write so
they do not use gender specific words like businessman or saleswoman.
Daily Materials:
 PowerPoint to lecture about the rules of passive voice and nondiscriminatory
writing
 Students may follow along in book if necessary
 Newspaper Examples
 Handouts
 Computers for students to do activity if needed for research
 Paper/Notebooks
 Pens
Daily Schedule:
 Opening Activity: Journal Activity (5 min)
 Identify the six values and define them in your own words.
 The purpose of this question is to have students
remember the six news values.
 Lecture (20 minutes)
o What is Passive Voice
 The past tense
 Passive voice is when the subject is acted upon, the object
receives an action by the verb
 Try to use action verbs because they are stronger.
 Ex. The boy was hit by the ball at practice.
o The ball is acting upon (hit) the subject (the
boy); using passive voice
 Active Voice ex.
o The ball hit the boy at practice
 The subject performing the action
becomes before the verb.
o How to avoid discriminatory writing
 Society has many gender-specific words such as congressman,
mankind, housewife etc.
Articles try to avoid these words so they are unbiased and not
discriminate. There are other words that could be used in their
place.
Activity (20 mins)
o Students will be given two separate handouts (one about passive
voice and one about avoiding gender-specific words.)
o The first handout will require students to reformat a series or
sentences that are written in passive voice. They must identify the
verb and what the object is that is being acted upon
o The second handout will require students to go through a list of
common English words that are gender-specific and try to make them
more appropriate for an article. It also has another activity where
they will have to read through a short article and rewrite it by
eliminating gender-specific words.
o Rubric:
 8-10 points for following all directions and incorporating all
requirements
 5-7 points for missing elements, but still have and
understanding for assignment
 2-4 points for missing multiple key elements and fail to
complete assignment properly
 0-1 points for disregarding directions and fail to do the
assignment.
Clean-up (5 minutes)
o Turn in assignment.
o Ask any questions
o Pick up and throw away any trash.
o Pack bag and sit quietly until bell rings or dismissal from teacher.
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Day Six
Daily Overview: The students will be assigned their final paper and will have class
time to complete most of the assignment. There will also be review for the test to
complete the unit.
Daily Objectives: Students will have time complete final assignment that
incorporates all the topics covered in unit. Paper must include:
 A lead
o That is eye-catching
o 35 words or less
 Use the inverted pyramid
 Add a headline that summarizes the story effectively
 Incorporate PICTUP
 Avoid passive voice and discriminatory writing
Daily Materials:
 Book
 Newspaper Examples
 Computers
 Notebooks/Notes
 Pens
 Printer
 Handouts
Daily Schedule:
 Opening Activity: Journal Activity (5 min)
o What has been the most important thing you have learned during this
unit?
 Will help students develop critical thinking and evaluate their
learning process.
 Review for test (25 min)
o Students will receive study guide
o Students are able to ask questions
 Work on final assignment (15 min)
 Clean-up
o Ask any questions
o Pick up and throw away any trash.
o Pack bag and sit quietly until bell rings or dismissal from teacher.
Day Seven
Daily Overview: The students will be assessed based on the material from the five
days of lecture.
Daily Objectives: Students will have the class time to answer questions and apply
their knowledge about:
 Leads
 Use the inverted pyramid
 Headlines
 PICTUP
 Avoiding passive voice and discriminatory writing
Daily Materials:
 Test
 Scantron
 Pencil
Daily Schedule:
 Study time (5 mins)
 Test time (45 mins)