Sign In
Sign In
Register for Free
SecondaryEnglish

Newspaper layout KS3 – Boost understanding of non-fiction writing

What's included?

Lesson plan PDF with activity ideas

Key Stage

KS3

Age

Years 7-9

Subjects

Encouraging students to analyse the presentation of newspaper articles can help them make leaps of understanding about non-fiction writing. I used this newspaper layout KS3 lesson with a mixed-ability Year 7 class studying the non fiction unit in preparation for the summer reading exam.

Teaching non-fiction can be tricky. Students easily slip into description rather than analysis. Developing a range of activities for this lesson allowed me to engage and stretch students of all abilities.

It involves a lot of independent thinking, combined with paired and group work. This makes learning dynamic and less teacher-led.

Students need to take ownership of the task. This leads to structured discussions, enabling the more able ones to formulate detailed analysis with technical accuracy. At the same time, lower ability students can engage with the task and work collaboratively. This boosts their confidence overall.

Newspaper layout KS3 lesson

Students find studying language in media interesting. The focus of this lesson is not to simply identify, but to infer and deduce from the text to show how the target audience is addressed.

Young people tend to be familiar with the technical terms but not always able to understand fully how they affect meaning, so they tend to describe generally, hence the aim of this lesson is to explore meaning.

The lesson aims to look closely at a newspaper article. Ask students to identify language and presentational features that support meaning in non-fiction text. Learning strategies include visual, auditory, paired, class discussion and individual written tasks.

This unit is cross-curricular – you’ll teach students technicalities of media language, which makes a direct link to media studies and advertising. Equally, this could be useful for design when focusing on page layout using software such as InDesign.

Priya Rudhun-Imrith is head of English at All Saints Secondary School, Dagenham. She has many years of teaching experience in English and Media Studies. Browse more free KS3 English reading and writing lesson plans and KS2 newspaper report resources.

Newspaper layout KS3 lesson plan
DOWNLOAD A FREE RESOURCE!
Newspaper layout KS3 – Boost understanding of non-fiction writing
SecondaryEnglish

You'll also receive regular updates from Teachwire with free lesson plans, great new teaching ideas, offers and more. (You can unsubscribe at any time.)

Which sectors are you interested in?

By signing up you agree to our Terms & Conditions and privacy policy

Explore teaching packs

Pie Corbett Ultimate KS2 Fiction Collection
Pie Corbett Ultimate KS2 Fiction Collection
Fire up KS2 pupils' imagination with this collection of 20+ fictional stories, written by literacy expert Pie Corbett. Each ... more
20 x resources
Pie Corbett KS2 Non-Fiction Collection
Use Pie Corbett’s non-fiction texts to inspire your KS2 pupils to get writing. Each resource contains an original text in ... more
6 x resources
Pie Corbett KS2 Poetry Collection
Inspire KS2 pupils to be creative and express themselves with this pack of Pie Corbett poetry. Each of these Pie Corbett Tal... more
7 x resources
WAGOLL classroom resources
WAGOLL Packs from Real Authors
Peer inside the mind of award-winning children's authors and help pupils understand how to create engaging characters, capti... more
7 x resources
Art KS2 inspiring medium term plans
Art KS2 Inspiring Medium Term Plans
Get pupils' creative juices flowing with these expert medium-term art plans for KS2. Each resource consists of a full half-t... more
6 x resources
Magical Harry Potter Teaching Ideas
Magical Harry Potter Teaching Ideas
Spark pupils' imaginations with these inventive and exciting teaching ideas, all themed around the wonderful world of Harry ... more
11 x resources