Woman of the World: The Story of Nellie Bly

How To Use This Guide

This guide is intended for teachers and families to use as a supplement as students read the NewsBook. The Nellie Bly NewsBook meets as many as 27 of the educational goals established by the New Jersey Department of Education.

The NewsBook can be read any time during the 2005-2006 school year; it will be delivered to teachers the first week of October 2005.

Although content and lessons offered in this guide are not exhaustive, they do offer a comprehensive range of learning.

The content of the NewsBook allows students to examine historical perspectives representative of the time period of Nellie Bly's life. Through the adventures of Nellie Bly students will learn about events that helped shape the world as we know it. Students will examine the genre of biographical material and the use of primary resources and document.

The NewsBook also serves as a vehicle of information about many aspects of the newspaper, such as occupations, terminology, the writing process, the role of print media, and production.

We urge teachers, students and families to retrieve and use the First Amendment Curriculum Guide, which illustrates the importance of our nation's basic Constitutional right. This curriculum guide can be helpful to social studies teachers as they address several of the required New Jersey curriculum standards, especially Social Studies Standard 6.2 B - Civics: American Values and Principles.

The First Amendment guarantees all Americans the freedom to worship any religion, to speak their mind without fear of punishment, to freely publish anything they have created, to peacefully assemble in public, and to petition the government for any reason. The content of Chapter 3 of this Guide for Teachers, Students and Families illustrates how important the First Amendment is and always has been in the United States.

The suggested activities are designed to encourage critical analysis and synthesis of information. Critical thinking skills are promoted and expressed through extensive writing exercises allowing opportunities to assess and evaluate student-centered work.

The recommended activities can be modified, adapted, and individualized by educators to serve their curricular needs and student interests. A list of New Jersey curriculum standards illustrates how this NewsBook meets the statewide educational objectives established by the New Jersey Department of Education.

Each chapter of this guide includes a "Questions for Students ..." section and a section on "Exercises and Extended Activities." For a list of the chapters of this guide, click here.

At the top of each chapter you will find two sets of questions for students. One set ("About the Story") asks for specific factual information and literal meaning, and another ("Beyond the Story") asks for reading comprehension skills and interpretative meaning.

The "Reporter's Notebook" offers students some space to create their own notes about information retrieved from outside sources such as a newspaper or the Internet. Information the students gather would serve as a factual basis for them to write a news story or an editorial about the general themes covered in each chapter. Click here to read a list of some of the general themes covered in each chapter.

As you scroll down the page you will find questions, information and recommended activities designed to help the teacher and parent to go deeper into the student's critical thinking work and creative efforts. We particularly call your attention to the "Daily Editorial Briefing," which provides writing exercises related to the challenges Nellie is facing in each chapter. The exercises begin with the easy tasks a cub reporter might face and become increasingly demanding, just as Nellie's own work became demanding throughout her career.

The importance of connecting textual material with the real world is a critical part of learning, and we hope students will enjoy this way to bring the classwork into your community, and vice-versa!

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