English III—October 20, 2015

• Daily Warm-up: Read the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and answer the questions.– Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

– The First Amendment includes four basic rights or freedoms. What are they? Why is it important that these rights are protected?

• Homework:– Study for Lesson 11/Unit 4 Vocabulary Quiz– Reading Plus due Sunday at 11:59.– Newspaper Reading Log due 11/6.

Making Connections• If you have ever listened to talk radio, watched cable “news” shows, or

browsed the Web for blogs, you may see many different versions of the same information. Some news is presented with a biased point of view, and when it comes to the expression of editorial opinions, sources often rely heavily on language and evidence that attempt to persuade by manipulating. So when you come into contact with the news, you should ask where that information came from, and whether the purveyor of the news might have an agenda.

• In this unit, you will learn more about how to identify bias and how language is sometimes used as a substitute for logic. Good writers use evidence and reasoning to support their claims; the failure to do so can result in fallacies.

Unit 3 Embedded Assessment 1• Working in groups, your assignment is to plan, develop, write,

revise, and present an informational article on a timely and debatable issue of significance to your school community, local community, or national audience. After your group completes its article, you will individually develop a variety of editorial products that reflect your point of view (agreement, alternative, or opposing) on the topic. Be creative with your editorial products and include at least two or three different pieces, such as cartoons, editorials, letters, posters, photos, and so on.

Newspaper Jargon

• Byline: tells who wrote the story and may include the writer’s title.

• Column: vertical division of the page that helps to give it structure.

• Cutline/caption: explains what is happening in a photograph or illustration. This may include a photo credit.

• Dateline: location where an event took place and sometimes the date, usually at the very start of a story.

• Jumpline: line that tells the reader on which page a story is continued.

Newspaper Jargon• Editorial: a column featured on the editorial page that expresses an opinion

of the newspaper and encourages the reader to take action. • Fact: statement that can be proven (not an opinion). • Feature story: one in which the basic purpose is something other than news. • Five Ws and H: information always included in a news story and answering

the questions who, what, when, where, why and how. • Flag/logo: name of the newspaper as it appears atop page one. • Graphic: use of lines, screens, boxes and large first letters to break up areas of

space on the page. • Gutter: margin between facing pages in the vertical fold. • Headline: large type written and designed to summarize a story and attract

the reader’s attention. • Index: tells the reader where regularly featured pages, such as sports,

weather and local news, can be found.

Newspaper Jargon• Lead: first paragraph of the story that summarizes it and/or grabs the

reader’s attention. • News: information provided about an event shortly after it occurs. • Masthead: formal statement of the newspaper’s name, officers,

management and place of publication, usually on the editorial page. • Quotation: statement made by another person. A direct quotation is

exactly what the person said and is placed in quotation marks. An indirect quote paraphrases what the person said and is not in quotation marks.

• Sidebar: brief story with a special angle that goes with the main story.

• Wire story: one written by a reporter working for a news service.

Rights and the American Dream• While the American Dream is central to our shared sense of identity,

another of our defining beliefs is in the importance of free speech. As Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously observed in 1919, “the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.” Viewed in this way, the expression of contrasting and even conflicting ideas and opinions provides information that is crucial to our ability to make informed decisions about everything from personal beliefs to public policy. Indeed, the ways in which these ideas and voices interact with each other help us to shape, test, and revise our own perspectives on the issues that dominate our lives. This unit, with its focus on the media, begins with an in-depth examination of the Amendment guaranteeing us our freedom of speech and of the press.

Discussion Questions

• What is the balance between the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment and the responsibility of the individual in our society?

• Why is it important that the government is not involved in the media?

The Role of Newspapers in a Democratic Society

• Write a brief essay on one of the six principles upon which the First Amendment is based. Tell why you chose it and why it is important to you and to society.