Printed Media

•Guidelines for Using Textbooks

A textbook is effective if it follows some guidelines on how it can be best used by both of the
students and the teachers.

1. Textbooks should meet student's needs. A textbooks should be in the student's level of
understanding so that they will be comfortable in using them.

2. Direct student's reading by using objectives and/or questions. To help the students read
through the lines of text, teachers must provide questions that directs the students to where
they will read.

3. Emphasize the use of visuals in textbooks. Visuals enhance student's interest and
comprehension. Teachers must teach their students to read and understand visuals.

4. Refer to the teacher's guide for supplementary materials and activities. Most textbooks
nowadays have an accompanying CD-ROM's as add-ons. Teachers can use these to aid them in
teaching and in using the textbook.

5. Supplement the textbook with other media. Textbooks can be used together with other
media such as audio and visual media.

" Books of proven literary worth should be the backbone of the curriculum" ( Beckert,
1992 ). As such, teachers and students should intentionally make books part of their everyday
teaching and learning. Though we have e-books nowadays that we can access via our mobile
computers and mobile devices such as smartphones, teachers can always ask the students to
refer to books for additional information.

The following are the suggested approaches that will help teachers meet the diverse needs of
the students and will help ensure that the books are used interestingly to be able to sustain the
interest of the students: These approches are most useful in an elementary class. ( Bringing
Books to Life, 2011)

1. Reading Aloud

- Reading aloud to students provides an enjoyable and shared experience. When teachers read
aloud, books should be read expressively and interestingly.

2. Shared Reading
- Shared reading is an approach where the teacher and the class read the books together. In the
preschool class, the "big book" is used using shared reading where students should see the
book and its writing clearly. These are four parts ton a successful shared reading session:
introducing the book, reading the book, talking about what you're reading, and reflecting on the
session.

3. Guided Reading

- Guided reading involves helping students to read themselves. The goal of guided reading is to
teach students to use reading strategies independently so that they can read new material
successfully and be able to discuss them critically.

4. Group Reading

- Group reading involves one student reading out loud to other students in a small group. Books
can be shared or each student can have a copy of the book. The reader should read loudly so
that everyone in the group can hear. If the reader encounters a difficult word, students can help
each other at the end of reading, students discuss among themselves what they have read.

5. Independent Reading

- Independent reading involves supporting students choosing to read, selecting what they want
to read and then being able to share what they have read.

• NEWSPAPER

Newspapers are popular form of print media. It is published daily or weekly and it covers a
variety of topics from local and international news. Newspapers serve the community by
providing information as well as entertainment.

Newspapers function in many ways:

1. As information provider.

A newspaper provides information to students about various national and international

events and issues.

2. As opinion builder.

Through its editorials and column sections, students are helped to express their own opinion
as well.
3. As entertainment provider.

Newspapers do not only provide current events and issues but also provide readers special
features about lifestyle, sports, etc.

4. As advertising vehicle.

A newspaper is a vehicle in promoting goals and services.

Newspaper

- as a printed media can be used in many ways inside the classroom. In choosing suitable
newspaper materials to use in the classroom, the teacher may use some pre-activities and while
activities that can be used in combination with one another.

Before, newspapers are used only for a specific subject like Social Studies for current events,
however, now, newspapers are used in every learning area. Some of them are listed below
( Sanderson, 2002):

1. Give the students the material before the lesson, ask them to look for vocabulary as
home work.

2. Explain key vocabulary in the materials.

3. Summarize the newspaper item.

4. Ask the students to brainstorm what they know about the newspaper item.

5. Let your students read a newspaper report.

6. Tell the students the headline and show any accompanying photograph.

7. Before reading, write on the board and explain key vocabulary, then ask the students to use a
dictionary during the activity.

8. Encourage your students to go for the overall meaning of the text, rather than understand
every word.

9. Encourage your students to bring to their reading their own world knowledge.
10. Try to help the students in understanding the grammatical complexity of the text, facilitate
to assimilate the density of information, guess the low-frequency vocabulary, etc.

•NEWSLETTERS

Newsletters are used to provide information to selected readers, like the student body, group
of students of a particular organization or parents. A newsletter keeps the readers informed og
what is happening or what has happened in the school.

Newsletter functions in many ways:

1. As information provider.

Newsletter can be used to provide news about the school and the students information and
achievements. Thus, creating pride.

2. As community builder.

Newsletter delivers information about the students, the school and the community at large.

Newsletters

- are a great way to strengthen parent and teacher communication. Newsletters can be for a
classroom or for a school. Studies show that students do better in schools when students are
well-informed, when teachers keep parents' informed and there is a communication between
home and school. When it comes to parents communication, the best and easy way to do this is
by sending the parents a newsletter, through email or hardcopy.

Here's how to do this:

1. Have a pre-defined template or make your own template.

2. Use permanent headings and subtitles per section.

3. Create a space/section where you can easily see information such as the dates to remember,
birthday or activities for the upcoming weeks. A graphic can be used to enhance the selection.
Be creative.
4. Have a section for parents that tell them what transpired over the week and what will happen
in the next weeks.

5. Another section is a Curriculum Update. Parents can be provided with information about
what happened in the past weeks in all areas of the curriculum and what the students will be
studying the following week.

• MAGAZINES

Magazines are printed materials that provide information in various fields. Usually a magazine
comes periodically, either weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually.

Magazine functions in many ways:

1. Provides information.

Magazines provide supplementary information to what is being given by books and other
printed materials. Some magazines specialize in a particular subject area to cover topics in
Health, Sports, etc.

2. Provides entertainment.

Some magazines provide entertaining content where students can solve puzzles or answer
riddles. Sometimes jokes are included to give a little twist to the readers.

3. Facilitates advertising.

Magazines also function to market goods and services.

Magazines

- have a rich source of materials that can be very motivating and that can inspire a wide range
of activities. Since magazines cover a variety of subject, teachers can use the magazines to class
to stimulate interest or to introduce a certain topic.

Here are some ways on how we can apply and create activities using magazines in the
classroom. Here are some tips:

For the cover image:

1. Use the cover image to brainstorm works associated with the pictures.
2. Based from the cover image, you can ask probable topics students can form out of the cover
image or topics that can be found inside the magazine.

For the headlines on the cover and topics:

1. Predict what are the inside topics based on the headlines.

2. Let the students skim through the whole magazine, then the students will choose topics that
interest them. Students can share to the class their choice and give their own comments
regarding the topic.

For other subject areas:

1. You can use specific subject magazines, for example, Health, Sports or Science magazines, and
ask the students to read the magazines and find out what they learned from the topics.

2. Students can be paired or can be in groups to discuss specific article that they found inside
the magazine.

•HANDOUTS

Teachers create handouts so that lessons can be remembered by students after the
discussions and presentations. Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience, shows that people generally
forgot 80% of what people hear. Handouts will help your studenta remember and at the same
time apply the information they receive.

Handout is an important part of a presentation. An effective handout must be well prepared

and well-designed.

A good handout:

1. Ensures that the audience can get the key ideas as intended.

2. Serves as an addition to what the audience has heard and seen. Sometimes handout can
present more information than what is covered in the presentation.

3. Serves as a reference material when the audience needs it at a later date. It can also be used
as guide to be used to perform specific tasks.

4. Summarizes the information presented.

5. Keeps the audience focused only on a particular topic or subject.