News of the World Movie Lesson Plan

News of the World Movie Lesson Plan helps teachers show their students the importance of love and relationships in our lives even when they do not line up with how we think our lives should unfold.

After completing News of the World Movie Lesson Plan, students will gain an understanding of growing character skills, leading by serving, and focusing on fulfillment.

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is a Civil War veteran who travels across Texas bringing stories and the news to the people who are living under Reconstruction. Kidd discovers a young girl who had been a captive of the Kiowa people and begrudgingly agrees to take her 400 miles to her only known family.

Along the way, the unlikely pair must avoid both natural and human obstacles in order to survive and they form a bond through their struggles. However, Captain Kidd has several demons that he must wrestle before his eyes can be opened to the possibility of opening himself up again to love and human connection.

News of the World Movie Lesson Plan teaches us that if we just put our heads down and barrel through life, we will miss out on the people who come into our lives for a reason…and lose the opportunity to share our gifts and abilities with the world.

In order to complete these activities, students will need to watch the movie News of the World, which has a rating of PG-13 (violence, language) and a run time of 1 hour and 59 minutes.

Each of our Leadership at the Movies lesson plans includes the following activities:

✅ Reflection: allows students to journal about one of the movie’s themes prior to watching.

✅ Analysis: questions and prompts to analyze the characters, plot, and climax of the movie.

✅ Practice & Discussion: a partner/group activity that takes the principles of the movie and asks students to take action and grow in their own lives.

✅ Extension: a RAFT (Role-Audience-Format-Topic) writing prompt to help students apply their new knowledge.

✅ Lead for Impact: challenges students to pinpoint how the hero of the story exhibited The 12 Fundamentals of Impact and then synthesize how they can apply the lessons to writing their own story.

WARNING: This is a DEEP LEARNING lesson plan to help students employ a LEADERSHIP approach to SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL LEARNING.

These activities are designed to help students meet the following Social & Emotional Learning Competencies as outlined by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL):

⭐ Develop SELF-AWARENESS and SELF-MANAGEMENT skills to achieve school and life success.

⭐ Use SOCIAL-AWARENESS and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS.

⭐ Demonstrate DECISION-MAKING skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school, and community contexts.

The activities in News of the World Movie Lesson Plan will challenge students to move closer to mastery in the following skills: leadership, cooperation with others, creativity, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, problem solving, and judgment and decision making.