Journalism Lesson Plan

Overview: After several years of discussion, the Department of Education finally announced plans to make it easier for schools of have same-sex classes. Research doesn’t clearly show an advantage, but proponents say communities should have more choices and be able to use this approach if they think it will work for them. Not everyone agrees.

Suggested time allotment: v

Objectives

Students will:

1. Find out about same-sex education research. Find facts and figures (see below).
2. Interview administrators and school board members to see if this has ever been considered in the district and if there is any talk to return to the discussion with the Federal announcement.
3. Interview education experts at an area college who may have background or research on this topic. What do they think about the news?
4. Attempt to find an area school that has same-sex classes. How to the students, teachers, administrators and parents feel about the results?
5. Write a news feature about same-sex classes or schools.
6. Write an editorial (staff opinion) or commentary (writer’s opinion) if they/he or she believes such classes should be implemented at the school.

Standards: National Council of Teachers of English and International Reading Association Standards for English Language Arts:

4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written and visual language (e.g.,conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
8. Students use a variety of technological and informational resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
12. Students use spoken, written and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion and the exchange of information).

Resources and materials:
Web sites with information:
• An overview article about the news event is on the student news portion of CNN.com. Posted Oct. 24, 2006, it’s headlined, “Federal officials ease limits on same-sex schools.”
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• The Christian Science Monitor has good background in a May 25, 2004 article: “Separating the sexes: a new direction for public education? Bush administration's plan coincides with rising popularity of such schools,” by Teresa Méndez. In addition, sidebar links go back to 1980 coverage.
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• The News Service at the University of North Texas has a Nov. 2, 2006 article from the dean of the College of Education and the head of the Women’s Studies Program who both have background on the matter. It’s headlined, “More research needed to prove same-sex schools are beneficial, educator says.”
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• The Kansas City Star reporters Joe Robertson and Dawn Bormann wrote, “Separating the sexes in the classroom gets a federal push; Supporters say that segregating boys from girls in school helps the learning process,” Oct. 26, 2006. This localizes the story and shows what has been happening in the Kansas City area.
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• The National Association for Single Sex Public Education explores the issue on its Web site. For one thing, the organization warns schools not to rush into this because of the new federal guidelines. Realize this is a group with a bias, but the site contains much information.
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