Script and Present Television News Broadcasts

Social Studies

Students will script and present television news stories about the survival of voyagers who faced harrowing situations.

What You Need

• Writing paper and pencils
• Large cards to serve as cue cards
• Black markers

What To Do

1. Remind students that the people aboard both the Mayflower and the Endurance survived great odds during their voyages. Then tell the class that you would like them, in small groups, to prepare and present television news stories about the survival of the people who embarked on one of these journeys.
2. Divide the class into groups of three. Ask each group to choose a survival story—either that of the Mayflower's crew and passengers or of the crew of the Endurance—and to write the script of a news broadcast about the survivors' difficult voyage. Explain that scripts should include text for an anchorperson or reporter who tells the basic facts of the story and interviews a survivor, as well as text for the survivor to be interviewed. Also tell students that they should create two sets of cue cards: one for the anchorperson/reporter and one for the survivor.
3. When the groups' scripts are ready, ask each one to choose members to play these roles: anchor/reporter, survivor, and production person (to manage the cue cards). Have the groups take turns presenting their newscasts.
4. You may want to have the groups vote on the broadcast they think is best, and then present an award to the winning news team.