journalism assignments middle school

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Journalism Activities For Middle School: Videos, Role Play, Worksheets, And More

February 4, 2024 //  by  Josilyn Markel

These days, it seems anyone with a smartphone can be a journalist! It's true for your middle school students, as well. Whether they are already interested in journalism, or they are brand new to the subject, they will be quick to recognize the importance of the media in their young lives. Learning more about journalism in middle school can help improve their media literacy, and it gives them a chance to express themselves to the world around them.

Here are our top twenty journalism activities to help your middle schoolers thrive in a media-driven world.

1. Current Events Scavenger Hunt

With this fun activity, middle school students look for different news stories and news articles that fit certain descriptions. Their goal is to teach students about journalism while also exposing them to many different types of publishing methods and stories throughout today's news media.

Learn more:  Teachers Pay Teachers

2. Intro to Teaching Journalism

This video is a great introduction for teachers and student journalists who are new to the game. It goes over some of the most important points related to journalism, and it introduces different keys to writing an excellent journalism curriculum.

Learn more:  Migratory Birds

3. News Presenter Role Play

Pretending to be a newscaster is one of the best ways to introduce the roles and importance of different features of broadcast news. It also explores the different personalities that we see in news coverage, and how the human element impacts the overall quality of journalism.

Learn more:  Twinkl

4. What is Community Journalism?

This video is a great introduction to community journalism. It highlights the concepts and vocabulary that are connected to journalism, and it looks at different ways that middle school students are already journalists in their own way. It's a great first step towards more formal journalism training.

Learn more:  Asociatia Go Free

5. Benefits of Studying Journalism in Middle School

You can assign this article as a way of exploring the benefits of journalism classes with your students. It touches on way more than just the writing and academic components of journalism: it also explores the social and psychological benefits of getting involved in journalism courses from a young age.

Learn more:  Washington Journalism Education Association

6. Listicles and Psychology

This video explores an emerging trend in today's feature stories: the listicle. It is a great way for journalism students to look at the changing ways that media impacts our psychology, and how layout, formatting, and organization play a huge role in the effectiveness of journalism.

Learn more:  TED-Ed

7. The Importance of Community Journalism

This TED Talk highlights all of the benefits of community and citizen journalism. It's a great way to inspire kids to make the most of their experiences and to share what they see, hear, and feel with the world. It also touches on the importance of journalism moving into the future.

Learn more:  TEDx Talks

8. Basics of News Gathering

This video introduces the most basic and straightforward methods of gathering information to report on. It's all about finding the facts to make a compelling and informative news article. The video is level appropriate for middle school students, too!

Learn more:  NBCU Academy

9. Journalism Lesson Plans Database

This website hosts over 200 weeks' worth of journalism lesson plans. It covers the technical skills, organizational skills, and oral communication skills that students need to thrive in journalism. It also helps to inspire students with many timeless feature ideas sprinkled throughout each unit.

Learn more:  JEA Curriculum Initiative

10. Analyzing News Trends Worksheet

If you want students to read the news more carefully, this worksheet can be a great help to you. It encourages students to look at stories from print or television news and analyze the message of these stories. Of course, in journalism, there's always more than what meets the eye!

Learn more:  Worksheet Place

11. Journalism Lesson Plans, Unit by Unit

This introduction to journalism bundle includes lots of high-quality lesson plans from the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs. These lesson plans offer insights into how journalism impacts daily life, and how stories about school life can inspire change in the wider society as well.

Learn more:  Student Reporting Labs

12. Misleading Graphs and Journalism Ethics

For an eye-opening look at how graphics can impact the veracity of journalism, take a look at this video. It shows how charts and graphs can play a huge role in the message of a piece. It also teaches students how to make ethical and appropriate graphs that will help them convey truthful and clear information.

13. Podcast Journalism in the Classroom

This is a great resource for teachers who want to incorporate real-life podcast examples into their journalism curriculum. It touches on the best tips and tricks for making podcasts relevant to young learners, and how to highlight the main ideas and messages in news and journalism podcasts.

Learn more:  Erintegration

14. Introduction to Journalism

This is a pre-made journalism lesson, all ready to go! You can show the video directly to your middle school students, or you can use the video as an inspiration for your own lectures and lesson plans. Either way, it's a great resource for vocabulary and fundamental concepts.

Learn more:  TV47 Kenya

15. Comparing News Stories Worksheet

This worksheet helps students identify and talk about the different ways that people can explain the same event. It encourages kids to look at the nuance and underlying tone of two different descriptions of the same event or policy. Then, students will compare and contrast these two news stories.

16. Tips and Tricks for Teaching Journalism

This is an excellent resource for teachers who find themselves teaching journalism to middle school students. Whether you're the sponsor of the school newspaper or just doing a journalism unit in the language arts or social studies class, these tips and tricks will make all the difference!

Learn more:  Secondary English Coffee Shop

17. First Five Steps for a School Newspaper Sponsor

This article lays out the first five things that you should do if you should find yourself leading a school newspaper. It also gives great tips and tricks for how establishing sustainable systems and practices so that students can learn and grow.

Learn more:  Healthy Teaching Life

18. Conduct a News Interview Worksheet

This worksheet is a great form for students who are new to conducting news interviews. It includes all of the major questions and details that students should be looking out for, and it is a great reminder even for experienced interview givers.

19. News Determinants in Language Arts Class

This is a language arts and journalism lesson plan that looks at the different determinants -- or aspects, elements -- of news reporting. It helps students learn the differences between news stories and other forms of writing or reporting. It's also a great segue into specific reading tasks for standardized testing.

Learn more:  The Daring English Teacher

20. Journalism Crossword Puzzle Worksheet

This is a fun crossword puzzle that features the important and fundamental vocab words associated with middle school journalism. It's a great way to catch kids' attention at the beginning of a lesson, or it can be a nice way to end the first unit as a review activity. Either way, the words featured here are must-knows!

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20 Activities to Get Your Middle Schoolers Into Journalism

• Middle School Education

1.News Scavenger Hunt: Organize a scavenger hunt for your students to find and analyze news articles. They can bring in clippings, share online links, or even write their own summaries.

2.Interview Practice: Teach students the art of interviewing by having them partner up and practice asking each other open-ended questions.

3.Classroom Newsletters: Encourage students to contribute news stories or opinion pieces to a classroom newsletter, fostering their interest in journalism.

4.School Newspaper: If your school doesn’t already have one, start a school newspaper with your middle schoolers and enlist them as journalists to cover school events, news, sports, and other topics.

5.Guest Speakers: Invite local journalists to speak about their experiences and answer student questions about the field of journalism.

6.Blogger’s Club: Form an after-school club focusing on blogging where students can learn about journalistic writing styles in an online medium.

7.Digital Portfolio: Encourage your middle schoolers to create their digital portfolio of journalistic work that they can showcase later on.

8.Current Events Discussions: Lead regular in-class discussions about newsworthy events and have students consider possible angles for reporting on the story.

9.Collaborative Fictional Storytelling: Have students create a fictional news story collectively, where each student contributes a paragraph or two before passing it on.

10.Mock Press Conferences: Set up a mock press conference with your students acting as journalists and subject matter experts.

11.Journalistic Ethics Debate: Discuss real-life journalistic controversies relating to ethics and encourage students to engage in debates around these issues.

12.Field Trips to Local Media Outlets : Visit local newspapers, television stations, or radio stations with your class so they can see journalism in action.

13.Podcast Club: Create a club centered around creating podcasts where students learn the basics of storytelling through audio journalism.

14.Social Media Reporting: Have students create, curate, and share content through social media platforms using journalistic principles.

15.Op-Ed Writing: Assign students to write opinion pieces on timely events and issues, honing their persuasive writing skills.

16.Video Reporting: Teach students the basics of video reporting by having them film interviews and create their own news videos.

17.Book Review Column: Encourage students to write book reviews for your classroom or school newspaper, highlighting journalism-inspired books.

18.Current Events Quiz: Test your students’ knowledge of recent national and global news by holding weekly current events quizzes.

19.Peer Editing Workshops: Develop peer editing workshops where middle schoolers can critique each other’s journalistic work and foster teamwork and collaboration.

20.Reporter Roleplaying: Provide scenarios where your students pretend they are a field reporter covering a breaking news story, helping them practice their reporting skills.

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Middle School Journalism Activities

Sample Newsletter Ideas for School

Middle school journalism students can unravel the mysteries of their school while also paying more attention to the world and rapidly changing technology. They'll gain social, research, English and organizational skills too, along with potential career choices.

Do the Groundwork

To help students understand gathering the news, have them find online, television and print stories, such as news of a crime, a feature on a local food pantry or an editorial critical of the mayor, and have them decide what’s information, opinion or even untrue. A historical example, such as news coverage of the Watergate scandal, or recent news like coverage of a local trial will teach them that reporting informs people and helps keep government honest. Have them target their local audience -- a report about changes in the school dress code will find readers, because it’s relevant to classmates.

Embrace the Times

Good middle school journalism activities help students become better consumers of news, especially important today as young people spend much of their time online. Producing news and feature stories will teach them to decide what information they should trust and believe, rather than taking everything at face value. Help them take news photos, record and edit footage for stories and post their work online or in print so they see the process from start to end. Cutting-edge mass media instruction teaches students the basics of news gathering, along with use of online sources, blogging, social media and other changes in the technological world.

Get The Facts

Kids become reporters by interviewing their peers, maybe uncovering a feature story about a classmate who competes in elite gymnastics or differing opinions on the school’s detention policy. Whether for digital, broadcast or print -- driven by interest and the school budget -- student reporters should ask the key questions of who, what, when, where, why and how. They can then move on to interviewing a principal, coach, teacher or other school official, and begin building the facts and gathering quotes for a story.

Search Out Stories

Send the students on a mission to compile a list of possible news or feature stories. They should know that a news story is happening now -- such as a recent change in the grading scale, plans for a pep rally or even a school board meeting. Schools contain endless and timeless feature ideas: Try finding out what students keep in their lockers, film the dance team preparing for a competition or investigate why the meatloaf at lunch tastes better this semester, perhaps running an online poll to confirm what students think about the lunches.

Make It Happen

Armed with information and new skills, students can start writing stories for an online publication, newspaper, webcast or school broadcast, with the adviser or teacher helping them see their surroundings in a new way and better appreciate the day’s news. Some may later choose to work in online or television news, or at one of the thousands of community newspapers that produce online and printed news.

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The Importance of Media in the Classroom

• Scholastic: Journalism 101; Jeff Young
• ThreeSixty: Journalism in Junior High--From Reacting to Reporting; Laura Lee
• The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University: Teaching Journalism in the Digital Age

Since 1988, Mary Thomsen has been working on the "Valders Journal," a Wisconsin weekly newspaper. Thomsen has won several awards from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. She studied print journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

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Some of the best, award-winning journalism teachers and professors from across the country have contributed their lessons and curriculum to SchoolJournalism.org.

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Lesson Plan November 17, 2017

The Paradise Papers: A Lesson in Investigative Journalism

Printable PDFs/Word Documents for this Lesson:

• Full lesson for students [PDF] [Word]
• Project Description for the Paradise Papers [PDF]

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

• Describe the process, identify the purpose, and evaluate the impact of investigative journalism
• Evaluate the use of different types of media in acheiving particular aims
• Create a resource that clearly and engagingly conveys information about the Paradise Papers

BREAKING NEWS! On your desk, you will find an envelope with a number written on it and a note card inside. On that note card, there is a tip —a piece of news about your school, neighborhood, or community that someone powerful doesn't want you to know. Your source (the person who left the envelope for you) has chosen to remain anonymous, meaning you don't know who they are. Your source's information might be true or untrue.

1. Brainstorm on your own:

• What steps could you take to determine whether this information is true and what the fuller story behind it is?
• What would be the benefits and drawbacks of keeping this information secret while you investigated it further?
• If you shared this information, who would be affected and how?

2. Find a partner who has an envelope with the same number as your own. Take 3 minutes to merge the steps you brainstormed into a single action plan, and discuss how you can most effectively work together. Then, take another two minutes to discuss what you will do with the information once you have thoroughly investigated it.

3. Discuss as a class:

• What advantages and disadvantages can you see to working with a partner on your investigation?

A few students should share their tip, plan for investigation, and plan for distributing information. The class can then discuss the potential impact of that story.

Introducing the Lesson:

UNESCO defines investigative journalism as "the unveiling of matters that are concealed either deliberately by someone in a position of power, or accidentally, behind a chaotic mass of facts and circumstances - and the analysis and exposure of all relevant facts to the public."

Investigative reporting projects can begin in many ways. Sometimes, a journalist notices a problem or something suspicious themselves and decides to research it some more. Other times, they receive a tip from a source and work to determine whether it is true and what the full story is. In still other cases, a source might provide a leak (send secret information), supplying all the necessary documentation, but requiring the journalist to piece together a narrative from the information and find a way to present it to the public.

• Are you familiar with any investigative journalism stories?
• What do you think is the difference between investigative journalism and other types of journalism?

Today, we are going to learn more about investigative journalists and their work by examining the Paradise Papers, a project from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). This project exposes how political leaders, businesspeople, and the wealthy elite around the world use offshore entities to avoid taxes and cover up wrongdoing. With about 400 journalists working on 6 continents and in 30 languages to examine 13.4 million files for nearly an entire year, it is one of the largest investigative journalism projects in history.

Following this lesson, you will create a resource to clearly and engagingly convey information you have learned from the Paradise Papers to a lay audience, a vital part of investigative journalism.

Introducing Resource 1: " The True Story Behind the Secret Nine-Month Paradise Papers Investigation "

1. After watching the video, work individually or with a partner to create a short summary of what the Paradise Papers are and why they matter.

2. In the video,  ICIJ Deputy Director Marina Walker says, "At ICIJ, the mission is to uncover those urgent stories of public interest that go beyond what any particular journalist or media organization can accomplish on his or her own." Consider:

• What is the ICIJ? How does it differ from other news outlets/organizations you are familiar with?
• How would you define a "story of public interest"?
• Why does the ICIJ work with journalists based all over the world?

3. This video introduces many reporters and shows them doing the behind-the-scenes work of investigative journalism. Discuss as a class:

• How would you describe the day-to-day work of an investigative journalist, based on what the video showed? What are their workplaces like? Did anything surprise you?
• What skills do you think are essential for an investigative journalist to have, and why?
• How does the job differ for journalists in different countries?
• What are some of the dangers of investigative journalism, and how do journalists cope with them?
• Investigative journalist Will Fitzgibbon mentions ICIJ's emphasis on releasing all information simultaneously as a team. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages to reporting this way?

Introducing Resource 2: Paradise Papers

1. Read the project description of the Paradise Papers on the Pulitzer Center website. Discuss: how do the summary and statement of import you wrote with your partner compare?

2. Next, explore the interactive within the project, " Paradise Papers: The Influencers ."

• What is your initial reaction to the interactive? How does it make you feel?
• Click through to read the stories about Wilbur Ross. What sections are included in the story, and what purpose do they serve? Do you find the information convincing? Easy to understand? Interesting?
• Take a look at one of the supporting documents . What is your initial reaction? How does it make you feel?
• What do you think the purpose of this interactive is? How effective is it in serving this purpose?

Activity and Discussion:

1. Summarize each of the following political cartoons in your own words:

It's unlikely that any private citizen is going to sit down and read 13.4 million files, no matter how significant their value. As such, it is the job of the investigative reporters involved to mine that data for digestible, engaging stories that the public needs and wants to hear.

2. Explore the Paradise Papers investigation on the Pulitzer Center and ICIJ websites. Make a list of the different ways the ICIJ has found to tell this story.

3. In small groups, compare your lists. Consider:

• For each item on your list, who do you think the target audience is?
• What do you think are the most effective ways in which the stories of the Paradise Papers have been told thus far?
• Can you identify any audience(s) these stories are unlikely to reach as a result of the ways it is currently being told?
• What additional ways would it be possible to tell these stories?
• What impacts have the Paradise Papers had already, and what further impact can you foresee?

4. Each group should share their main takeaway(s) from their conversation with the class.

Extension Activity:

1. Building on your final discussion, identify a target audience that you think should know about the Paradise Papers investigation. Create a resource that summarizes the following in a way that will resonate with your target audience:

• What are the Paradise Papers?
• Why are they important?
• How did journalists investigate the story?

You can create a video, infographic, lesson plan, or any other resource. You may alternatively plan a large-scale resource (for example, a museum installation or a play) that you describe in detail but do not execute.

2. Present your resource to the class. Following your presentation, discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and possible impact of such a resource.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7

Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

Examples of tips you can write in students’ envelopes include:

• The company that supplies your school cafeteria with vegetables has continued selling spinach that might be contaminated with E. coli bacteria despite a recent recall.
• The recycling at the biggest company in your town does not actually get recycled at all; instead, the company sends it off to the landfill while claiming state tax benefits on the recycling equipment and process costs they don’t, in reality, have.
• Maintenance staff at your school is being paid less than minimum wage.

Ensure that students know these are hypothetical examples and not real tips.

To better understand the purpose/impact of this type of reporting and to contextualize the Paradise Papers, it may be useful for students to have some background in U.S. investigative journalism history. To assign as homework or review as a class, this list of noteworthy moments for investigative reporting in the U.S. from the Brookings Institution is one starting place.

Introducing Resource 1: “The True Story Behind the Secret Nine-Month Paradise Papers Investigation”

Depending on time constraints, students can be assigned to watch this video before class, or an excerpt (i.e. 0:00-12:50) can be screened.

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REPORTING FEATURED IN THIS LESSON PLAN

Snax Haven – How to Hide the Secret Sauce Recipe and Save Millions

Paradise Papers

ICIJ's global investigation that reveals the offshore activities of some of the world’s most...

Paradise Papers: The Influencers

Teaching Journalism: 10 Tips for New Journalism Advisers

Welcome to the amazing world of teaching journalism and advising the school newspaper! Whether you’ve signed up to teach journalism or were assigned the class, teaching students journalism and advising the school newspaper can be a gratifying aspect of your career. In this post, I will share my top tips for new journalism advisers.

High school journalism holds a special place in my heart. I was on the newspaper staff all four years of my high school career, eventually serving as my school paper’s editor-in-chief and studying journalism in college. And now, I continue my work in scholastic journalism by teaching journalism at my school.

Coming in as a new or first-time journalism adviser can be daunting, especially if you have no prior journalism experience. If you are looking for a great teaching resource to get you started, my journalism teaching unit has enough materials to get you started.

Here are ten tips for new journalism advisers.

1. tips for new journalism advisers: join scholastic journalism organizations.

One of the best ways to become more acquainted with scholastic journalism is by joining professional organizations. My favorite professional organization is JEA , the Journalism Education Association. Another good organization is the Columbia Scholastic Press Association . These organizations help advisers by sharing curricula, ideas, and contests.

2. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Become familiar with the inverted pyramid

One of the biggest struggles I see new student journalists face is trying to write an eloquent, English essay-style introduction for their news stories. Instead, students should keep it simple and report the straight facts. In my classroom, I use this News Lead lesson plan and these journalism graphic organizers to help my students become more familiar with the inverted pyramid.

3. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Start with the basics (5W and H)

Once my students have their assignments, I have them begin working on their story packages. Since we publish both online and in print (not all stories make it to print, though), a story package contains everything that the editors will need to be able to publish the story. One of the elements of the story package is the 5Ws and H.

On their document, students write out WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW, and then they complete each item with information from the story. This brainstorming activity is especially helpful for new journalists because it helps them stick to the inverted pyramid.

4. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Review AP style

I also use this AP Style Writing Unit which covers the essential elements of AP style that students need. I also ensure that my editors are well-versed in AP Style and help out the newer staff members as they learn to write like journalists.

5. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Know your students’ rights

As decided in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” This landmark ruling is beneficial for student journalists.

One of the best things you can do as a new adviser is to learn your students’ rights. The Student Press Law Center is an excellent resource for this.

6. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Focus on instruction before worrying about publication

One of the biggest mistakes I made as a new journalism adviser was jumping right into publication before the students were ready. I took journalism all four years of high school and majored in it in college. I knew how to write journalistically, but my students did not.

Since I rushed to publish content that first year, I spent so much time helping students revise their stories to fit journalistic standards. In the long run, it took more time than starting with the curriculum at the start of the year.

Now, I use the lessons in my Journalism Curriculum to help my students learn how to write like journalists before we press publish.

Teaching Journalism: An All-in-One Journalism Curriculum

My journalism curriculum has everything you need to get your journalism students started on the right foot and working on a successful newspaper -whether you publish in print or digitally!

From learning basic journalism terminology to news writing to the inverted pyramid to AP Style writing, this curriculum has everything you need to get your student journalists writing and publishing high-quality news stories. This journalism curriculum works for both middle school journalism and high school journalism.

This is the curriculum that I use in my classroom with my students.

JOURNALISM ADVISERS LIKE YOU SAID…

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Midwestern Miss says, “Omgoodness!  As a teacher who hasn’t taught journalism in 8 years, this saved me! I was able to print and go.  The kids loved being able to create their own AP mini books and were laughing at each other’s crafting abilities. Bringing some artistic time into the room before we start the yearbook!”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Geneva W. says, “Thank you for this amazing resource! I am teaching a journalism class for the second time this year. Last year I bought a few of your lessons, but this year I splurged on the whole package, and I am so thankful that I did!  It really has been an essential part of building my journalism class. Pretty much everything is taken care of for me, and I feel confident in presenting the materials even though journalism is not my strength. ”

7. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Utilize student editors

The ultimate goal of any student-run publication should be to have the students choose the content, write the stories, edit the stories, design the print issues, and publish the online content. However, when you are just starting, especially if it is a newer program on your campus, that can be challenging. Try to build the program each year while utilizing student editors to help the publication run.

I have my section editors (news editor, sports editor, etc.) assign stories to new students, check-in on the stories, and edit the stories before I even see them. Not only does this help alleviate the workload, but it also gives students more ownership of the publication.

8. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Start small

When you are just starting, all of the tasks might seem too much. If you are starting from scratch, have a relatively new staff, or don’t have much of a clue as to what you are doing right away, start small: decide on print or online. From there, focus on what is realistic for you and your staff to accomplish.

I had to bring the program back during my first year advising the newspaper. The school where I started teaching didn’t have a newspaper, and I knew I wanted to change that. I recruited enough students to get the class on the schedule and was essentially starting from scratch. We started publishing online-only first. In the second year, we incorporated print issues but only completed two eight-page issues a year.

As a new journalism adviser, it is okay to start small. If you are a new adviser for an established program, lean on those student editors. They will be your biggest asset.

9. Tips for New Journalism Advisers: Keep accuracy and fairness above all

The most important thing is to strive for accuracy and fairness in everything you publish. From day one, all of your students should know just how important accuracy and fairness are, and in every single story, students need to reflect journalistic integrity. Writing stories free from bias will help your program gain credibility and respect, especially with your coworkers and admin.

10. T ips for New Journalism Advisers: Celebrate your students

When it comes to advising student publications, comparison is the thief of joy. It is always so easy to look at other student publications and feel inadequate, like an imposter. As a new adviser, it is essential to avoid that pitfall. Instead, celebrate your students. Celebrate the first published story of the year.

Celebrate each print issue. Celebrate your students’ work, and share it with colleagues. When colleagues send praises your way, relay those messages to your students. After each print issue (we only do 3-4 a year because our main focus is online – again, it is okay to go small), we celebrate with a staff potluck.

The students work so hard during deadlines and in the days leading up to sending the paper off to print that the class celebration is a very welcomed class tradition.

And once you are ready to move on to more journalistic features, check out this blog post about five journalism assignments and activities to assign!

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Schools Are Competing With Cell Phones. Here's How They Think They Could Win

Isabella Pires first noticed what she calls the “gradual apathy pandemic” in eighth grade. Only a handful of classmates registered for service projects she helped organize at her Massachusetts school. Even fewer actually showed up.

When she got to high school last fall, Isabella found the problem was even worse: a lackluster Spirit Week and classes where students seldom spoke.

In some ways, it’s as if students “just care less and less about what people think, but also somehow care more ,” said Isabella, 14. Some teens, she said, no longer care about appearing disengaged, while others are so afraid of ridicule they keep to themselves. She blames social media and the lingering isolation of the post-COVID era.

Educators say their tried and true lesson plans are no longer enough to keep students engaged at a time of struggling mental health , shortened attention spans, reduced attendance and worsening academic performance . At the crux of these challenges? Addiction to cell phones. Now, adults are trying new strategies to reverse the malaise.

Cell phone bans are gaining traction, but many say they’re not enough. They argue for alternative stimulation: steering students outdoors or toward extracurriculars to fill time they might otherwise spend alone online. And students need outlets, they say, to speak about taboo topics without fear of being “ canceled ” on social media.

“To get students engaged now, you have to be very, very creative,” said Wilbur Higgins, lead English teacher at Dartmouth High School, where Isabella will be a sophomore this fall.

Cell phone pouches, lockers and bins have grown in popularity to help enforce device bans .

John Nguyen, a chemistry teacher in California, invented a pouch system because he was so distressed by bullying and fights on phones during class, often without adults interfering. Many teachers are afraid to confront students using phones during lessons, Nguyen said, and others have given up trying to stop it.

At Nguyen’s school, students lock their phones in neoprene pouches during classes or even all day. A teacher or principal’s magnetic key unlocks the pouches.

It doesn’t matter how dynamic the lesson, said Nguyen, who teaches at Marina Valley High School and now markets the pouches to other schools. “There’s nothing that can compete with the cell phone.”

Some schools are locking up smartwatches and wireless headphones, too. But the pouches don’t work once the final bell rings.

So in Spokane, Washington, schools are ramping up extracurriculars to compete with phones after hours.

An initiative launching this month, “ Engage IRL ” — in real life — aims to give every student something to look forward to after the school-day grind, whether it’s a sport, performing arts or a club.

“Isolating in your home every day after school for hours on end on a personal device has become normalized,” Superintendent Adam Swinyard said.

Students can create clubs around interests like board games and knitting or partake in neighborhood basketball leagues. Teachers will help students make a plan to get involved during back-to-school conferences, the district says.

“From 3 to 5:30 you are in a club, you’re in a sport, you’re at an activity,” instead of on a phone, Swinyard said. (The district has a new ban on phones during class, but will allow them after school.)

At a time of high absenteeism , he also hopes the activities will be the extra push some students need to attend school. In a Gallup poll conducted last November, only 48% of middle or high school students said they felt motivated to go to school, and only 52% felt they did something interesting every day. The poll was funded by the Walton Family Foundation, which also supports environmental journalism at AP.

Vivian Mead, a rising senior in Spokane, said having more after-school activities helps but won’t work for everyone. “There’s definitely still some people who just want to be alone, listen to their music, do their own thing, or, like, be on their phone,” said Vivian, 17.

Her 15-year-old sister, Alexandra, said morning advisory sessions have improved participation in the drama club that keeps the sisters busy. “It forces everyone, even if they don’t want to get involved, to have to try something, and maybe that clicks,” she said.

Thirteen middle schools in Maine adopted a similar approach, bringing students outdoors for 35,000 total hours during a chosen week in May.

It’s empowering for students to connect with each other in nature, away from screens, said Tim Pearson, a physical education and health teacher. His students at Dedham School participated in the statewide “Life Happens Outside” challenge.

Teachers adapted their lessons to be taught outdoors, and students bonded in the open air during lunch and recess. At night, about half of Dedham’s students camped, incentivized by a pizza party. Several students told Pearson they camped out again after the challenge.

“Whether they had phones with them or not, they’re building fires, they’re putting up their tents,” Pearson said. “They’re doing things outside that obviously are not on social media or texting.”

Parents must also make changes to their family’s cell phone culture, some teachers say. At home, Ohio teacher Aaron Taylor bars cellular devices when his own children have friends over.

And when kids are at school, parents shouldn’t distract them with check-in texts throughout the day, he said.

“Students are so tied to their families,” said Taylor, who teaches at Westerville North High School, near Columbus. “There’s this anxiety of not being able to contact them, rather than appreciating the freedom of being alone for eight hours or with your friends.”

Some say other forces behind teen disengagement are only amplified by the cell phone. The divisive political climate often makes students unwilling to participate in class, when anything they say can rocket around the school in a messaging app.

Taylor’s high school English students tell him they don’t talk in class because they don’t want to be “ canceled ” — a term applied to public figures who are silenced or boycotted after offensive opinions or speech.

“I’m like, ‘Well, who’s canceling you? And why would you be canceled? We’re talking about `The Great Gatsby,’” not some controversial political topic, he said.

Students “get very, very quiet” when topics such as sexuality, gender or politics come up in novels, said Higgins, the Massachusetts English teacher. “Eight years ago, you had hands shooting up all over the place. Nobody wants to be labeled a certain way anymore or to be ridiculed or to be called out for politics.”

So Higgins uses websites such as Parlay that allow students to have online discussions anonymously. The services are expensive, but Higgins believes the class engagement is worth it.

“I can see who they are when they’re responding to questions and things, but other students can’t see,” Higgins said. “That can be very, very powerful.”

Alarmed at her peers' disengagement, Isabella, Higgins’ student, wrote an opinion piece in her school’s newspaper.

“Preventing future generations from joining this same downward cycle is up to us,” she wrote.

A comment on the post highlighted the challenge, and what’s at stake.

“All in all,” the commenter wrote, “why should we care?”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk – the view from above

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Cities , Travel

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is a city with a population of about 200 thousand people located in the southeastern part of Sakhalin Island in the Far East of Russia , the capital of Sakhalin Oblast .

It is the sixth largest city in the Russian Far East, in which Russian and Japanese cultures are closely intertwined. Here you can often see old Japanese buildings and monuments. The distance from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Moscow , if flying by plane, is 6,640 km and 9,280 km (by car). Photos by: Slava Stepanov .

Victory Square – one of the main squares of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

Cathedral of the Nativity.

About one third of the total population of Sakhalin Island lives in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

Lenin Square.

Sakhalin Regional Museum of Local Lore housed in a Japanese building constructed in the Imperial Crown Style in 1937. This is the only such building on Sakhalin and throughout Russia.

The climate in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is quite mild, there are no severe frosts in winter, and heat in summer. The coldest month is January with an average temperature of about minus 12 degrees Celsius. The warmest month is August (plus 17 degrees Celsius). Clear and dry weather sets in early September – the best time to visit Sakhalin.

House of Government of Sakhalin Oblast.

“Chekhov Center” – the only drama theater in Sakhalin Oblast.

Sakhalin residents often call the rest of Russia “the mainland.” You can get out of the island by plane, ferry, or other water transport.

Park named after Yuri Gagarin.

Roman Catholic Church “Parish of St. James”. In addition to divine services, organ and violin concerts are held here.

Museum of Railway Technology.

Church of the Resurrection.

Stadium “Cosmos” in Gagarin Park.

Stele “Cities of the Sakhalin Region”.

Tags:  Sakhalin oblast · Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city

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