The first sentence of an article (often printed in bold, or capitals, or a larger font) is called the topic sentence, as it introduces the main topic/subject of the article. It aims to give you the whole story in one go – who, what, where, why and when. Explain that it’s imperative that a writer is clear, concise and correct in their topic sentence. Issue Topic Sentences to pairs of students. Ask them to write down the five Ws and see how many their topic sentence answers. Students will see how concise the topic sentence is, and what questions have been left unanswered. After 5 minutes, ask students to swap their topic sentence with another pair and do the same. Discuss: How well were the topic sentences written? How could they have been improved? (PW) Display PowerPoint. Ask students to use the facts displayed to have a go at writing their own topic sentence. Show students the sentence written in the Daily Mail article (slide 3). Discuss how they’ve focused on the mother at the start of the sentence. Students to swap their topic sentences with a partner to see whether it answers the 5 Ws. This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.

This SOW focuses on persuasive techniques, language techniques, non-language devices and presentational features used in advertising to have an effect on the reader. Students develop their analytical skills before creating their own advert with commentary for their assessment. Although this may sound dull, students had real fun with this scheme and found it genuinely interesting. They thoroughly enjoyed the 'speed dating' to learn about different advertising techniques. The SOW uses the following learning objectives in its lessons: LESSON 1 To understand how images are composed, and how to read figure signs. LESSON 2 To understand how images use colour, texture and viewpoint. LESSON 3 To understand how persuasive language techniques as used in adverts. LESSON 4: To describe the effect of persuasive (language) techniques used in adverts. LESSON 5 To analyse language techniques and presentational features in an advert. LESSON 6 To create own advert using knowledge and skills gained from analysis. LESSON 7 To create own advert using knowledge and skills gained from analysis. INDEPENDENT TASK TIME LESSON 8 To create own advert using knowledge and skills gained from analysis. INDEPENDENT TASK TIME

This resource offers a comprehensive list of techniques used by the media to influence consumers. This list can be used in a variety of ways. Students could use it to identify techniques used in adverts or they could use it to create their own advert. There are 15 different techniques listed: Association Bandwagon Beautiful People Bribery Celebrities Experts Explicit Claims Fear Humour Intensity Maybe Plain Folks Repetition Testimonials Warm & Fuzzy

Place the photographs around the room before the start of the lesson. Tell students that placed around the room are some of the most iconic photographs ever captured. Ask students to walk around the room, view the pictures, read the information and decide which one the most powerful impact. Why? Ask: How important are photographs in newspapers? Do you think it would be possible to run a front page which did not have a photograph with it? Why/why not? Ask: Are there times when using photographs is not justified? Ask students to look at the list and decide what they think. - Pictures taken of celebrities without their permission - Brutal pictures of people hurt or killed in war or violence (The Falling Man 9/11 and Death in Africa caused controversy) - Page 3 semi-naked shots Students to write a short response in their books, giving reasons for their answers. This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Using the PowerPoint, explain to students the three main types of newspaper writing – news stories, features and opinion pieces. Students should make notes in their books as you explain to them. Quick test (slide 6): Ask students to decide whether the headlines are for news, features or opinion pieces. They should explain what clues helped them, e.g. the use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ Issue the three Articles to pairs. Students are to decide which one is the news story, the feature article and the opinion piece. Students are to read the articles closely. Under the headings of ‘news stories’ ‘features’ and ‘opinion pieces’ in their book, students are to identify word level features in the different types of writing. Display slide 7 on the PowerPoint to assist students. But encourage students to be open-minded about what the find. Differentiation: some features will need explaining. For lower ability groups, delete tricky features as appropriate. After activity, ask students to explain what language features they're likely to find in a features article/news story/opinion piece? This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.

How to use resources: Ask students: What do you already know about the structure of newspaper stories? You may need to establish the term ‘structure’ – I find asking them how a Big Mac burger is structured helps (two bread buns, burger, relish etc.) Display PowerPoint. Discuss with students. Issue Article students. Read through and discuss the structure. Go to slide 2 on PowerPoint. Students are to answer the questions in their books. Issue the Card Sort to pairs of students. Display slide 3 on PowerPoint to assist students. Ask students to write a short paragraph in their books explaining how they approached the task. What did they find easy or difficult? What language clues helped them to unscramble the text? Remind students that they were presented with a pyramid diagram at the start of the lesson to illustrate a news story structure. Ask students to draw a new diagram in their books which will help them remember the structure of a news story. Compare with a partner. This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Readers want to consume the news as quickly as possible; they don’t want to excavate nuggets of meaning from mountains of words. The news needs to be written clearly, concisely and correctly – THE 3 BIG C’s. Illustrate with the following: Write on the board ‘FRESH FISH SOLD HERE’ The fishmonger had a sign which said ‘FRESH FISH SOLD HERE’. The fishmonger had a friend who persuaded him to rub out the word FRESH – because naturally he wouldn’t expect to sell fish that wasn’t fresh; to rub out the word HERE – because naturally he’s selling it here, in the shop; to rub out the word SOLD – because naturally he isn’t giving it away. And finally to rub out the word FRESH – because you can smell it a mile off. Using the same principle, you can ask students which words they could remove and why. Explain that vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a machine has no unnecessary parts. This doesn’t mean that the writer should make every sentence short, or avoid all detail. It just means that every word should TELL. Issue Wasteful Words sheet. Discuss the example; check understanding. Students to complete the sheet by giving the sentences a good butchering. Students to to try to make the sentences crisper, shorter and more to the point. The underlined words indicate where wasteful words are being used. After activity, ask students to complete the following sentence in their book. Writers have to be economical with language when writing the news because… This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.