For additional information on various instructional strategies you could use in your classroom, please visit our Teaching Strategies page of the MNSU Instructional Design Services.  In order to implement a lesson in your classroom that incorporates the Wall Street Journal online resources, there are a few planning steps to consider.  Fill in the blanks with your lesson-specific information in order to plan your WSJ-based lesson.

1.  Develop clear and measurable learning objectives (including cognitive and behavioral objectives) – based on Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Students will be able to {verb} {noun}.
• Students will be able to {verb} {noun}.
• Students will be able to {verb} {noun}.

Ex: Students will be able to identify the important components of an investment portfolio.

2.  Identify the learning resources students will need to access at home before coming to class.  These resources are generally what you would normally do in a traditional lecture format class (lecture, videos, etc)

• Reading materials
• Watch instructional video xxx (name of the video) for xx minutes http://www…
• Exercise on worksheets, if any
• Suggest other learning resources

Ex:  Before class on Thursday, please watch instructional video #1.

Learning Resources my lesson will include:

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Technology Resources I will need to create the pre-class learning resources:

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3. Prepare the lesson that students will use to explore the content using resources from the Wall Street Journal.

• Pick an area of http://online.wsj.com/home-page
• What do you want your students to do with this area?
  • Read an article?
  • Summarize information?
  • Compare data?
  • Apply the content to information found in an article?
  • Use the information from WSJ to support discussions either in-class or online?
  • Build a list of resources?
  • Create a portfolio of article reviews?
• Other considerations
  • Do you want to use the WSJ Assessment Tool?
  • Do you want students to apply what they’ve read in the WSJ to what they are learning about in class?
    • Case mapping.
    • React to/bounce theory off real-world stories/examples.
    • Build a blog/journal (weekly, semi-weekly) bridging stories from the WSJ to what they have read about in class.
  • Do you want to have the students create something with the information they read?
    • Infographics or graphic organizers
    • Newscasts
    • Portfolios
    • Budgets, shareholder reports, market analyses
    • Debate points
  • Do you want the students to have fun with the information?
    • Scavenger hunts
    • “Write” an article/editorial piece for the WSJ
  • Can you ask the students to make real-world connections to the content through the WSJ?
    • Recognized/local companies
    • Career tools section
    • Create a stock or investment “portfolio” for themselves
    • Choose a company to “work” for based on articles and information in WSJ

Activities students will complete to connect the WSJ to the course content:

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Technology Resources my students will need to complete the activity:

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Ex: Explore any company mentioned in the financial section of the Wall Street Journal.  Create a Prezi that gives your classmates details on the company.  Why were they mentioned in WSJ?  How many articles have been about this company in the past?  What are the financial concerns/wins?  What impact does this company have on the financial world?  Would this be a good company to invest in?  Why or why not?

4.  Identify any activities that your students will be completing post-WSJ activity.

• Reflection
• Follow up discussion
• Quiz

Activities students will complete post-WSJ activity:

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Technology Resources my students will need to complete the post-WSJ activity:

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Ex: Write a review of an article posted in the financial section of the Wall Street Journal.  Discuss what information might be missing, if any.  Did the article give you sufficient information?  Are there any points the author didn’t consider? Support your review with facts from your textbook. 

5.  Create the assessments that you will use for determining students’ mastery of the learning objectives.

• Formative/Summative
• Challenging questions
• Interactive quizzes

Ex: Congratulations!  You just inherited $5000!  You want to invest the money for your future, so you turn to the Wall Street Journal to determine what the best investment would be.  Use the financial section to build an investment portfolio for yourself.  Create an infographic that displays the following information:

• The stocks you have chosen to purchase (minimum of 3)
• The percentage of your $5000 that went to each stock
• A justification for why you chose each stock
• A projection of growth for the next five years based on past stock performance
• When the stocks are expected to mature

Assessment(s) I will use in my WSJ-based lesson:

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Technology Resources my students will need to complete the assessment(s):

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7.  Verify that your assessments and activities align to the learning objectives.  Do they allow your students to demonstrate that they have achieved the learning objectives?