In this lesson, students will engage in station activities to learn about Benjamin Franklin’s experience as a master printer and wordsmith. Specifically, students will learn about Franklin’s apprenticeship at the New-England Courant, the inception and growth of the Pennsylvania Gazette, and the invention of Poor Richard’s Almanack. Students will interact with excerpts from the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard’s Almanack, comparing and contrasting these foundational pieces to modern day newspaper and media examples.

In the course of these activities, students will strengthen their media literacy skills to better understand the power of words and how language and imagery in the media can be used to empower, benefit, and manipulate. Students will grow their critical reading, writing, and communication skills as they compare and contrast texts from different time periods and develop their own voices as global citizens by crafting original visual media.