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JUMP TO: Free student memberships / Free teacher memberships / Student stories / Educator resources
Lookout in the Classroom (LOIC) is a media literacy and civic engagement program for local high school and college students. In today’s fast-paced media landscape, critical thinking and media literacy are essential skills. LOIC provides students with access to reliable local journalism and the tools they need to navigate and analyze the modern media environment with confidence.
LOIC is proudly sponsored by Emerald Broadband.
Interested in supporting this program? Make a tax-deductible gift securely on Givebutter through Lookout’s fiscal sponsor here. Or email Lookout CEO Ken Doctor, ken@lookoutlocal.com.
LOOKOUT FOR TEACHERS
Activate your free teacher membership
Thanks to generous community support from Emerald Broadband and local philanthropic partners — including the Chambers Family Foundation, the Mehlum Family Foundation, the Baker Family, and Dan and Peggy Neal — Lookout Eugene-Springfield is offering 510 free high school teacher memberships in the first wave of the Lookout for Teachers program.
As part of Lookout for Teachers, you’ll receive:
- Unlimited access to all of Lookout Eugene-Springfield’s journalism on our website and app
- A weekly Educator Newsletter with classroom-ready articles, curriculum ideas, and local opportunities for students
- Invites to educator roundtables and events to help shape how Lookout supports media literacy in Lane County
And by joining, you’ll help us grow this program by sharing your feedback — what works, what could be better, and how you’re using Lookout in your classroom.
How to get started
- Click here to set up your free teacher account – be sure to use your .edu email address.
- Check your inbox for a welcome email that includes a brief survey to tell us more about you and your classes. The survey is a critical step in activating your access.
- Watch for your first Educator Newsletter in December, featuring weekly local news stories, classroom resources, and opportunities for your students to get involved.
Join the first cohort today — space is limited to the first 510 teachers!
Questions? Email eugene-springfield@lookoutlocal.com.
Sign up for our Educator Newsletter
A free weekly newsletter designed for local educators with handpicked stories for your classroom, featured resources, and discussion questions.
Introducing Lookout for Teachers
Lookout in the Classroom works to connect students with current events, develop media literacy skills, and help them engage meaningfully with their community. Through this work, one thing has become clear: teacher engagement is the key to successfully using local news in the classroom. At the heart of the next phase of Lookout in the Classroom (LOIC) is a simple, powerful idea: support teachers first, and the impact ripples outward—to students, classrooms, and entire communities.
This teacher-forward initiative gives every middle and high school educator full access to Lookout Local’s trusted local journalism, plus a robust weekly stream of curriculum-aligned, classroom-ready tools—quizzes, guides, lesson plans, and media literacy activities. Donors cover the cost—$150 per teacher per year—recognizing the vital role educators play in developing informed, civically engaged students.
In every community, teachers do the hard work of educating our kids and imparting life skills. Their jobs are often challenging, and that’s more true today than in the past. Let’s reward teachers with the gift of local connection – and see them pay it forward every day with their students.
The result? Students gain critical media skills. Teachers gain trusted tools. Lookout gains loyal new readers. Everyone wins.
We are now seeking philanthropic sponsors to underwrite this community-building initiative. We have early interest from Lookout’s Founders Circle members and aim to start a public campaign after establishing an early (perhaps matching) grant. We’d like that grant to equal one-half of the needed total, or $90,000, which would then lead to a public launch in Eugene-Springfield.
Contact Ken Doctor, Lookout Local Founder at ken@lookoutlocal.com for more details.
EDUCATOR RESOURCES
Welcome! Here you’ll find free classroom materials curated by Lookout staff to help teachers bring local news, media literacy, and civic engagement into their classrooms.
JUMP TO: Media Literacy Guide / Current Event Discussion Guide / News Quizzes / In-Class Opportunities / Additional Resources
Are you a local high school teacher? We’d love to hear how you’re using Lookout in your classroom — and provide you with free educator access. Contact us at eugene-springfield@lookoutlocal.com to get started.
Media Literacy Guide
In today’s media-driven world—whether through television, online platforms, or social media—the ability to access and analyze information is essential for a healthy democracy. Media literacy empowers students to create, reflect, and take action, using information and communication to make a difference. Lookout’s media literacy lesson plan offers a simple guide on key considerations when reading information, along with a vocabulary guide to help students interpret and analyze news stories.
Current Event Discussion Guide
Lookout’s Current Event Discussion Guides provide reading comprehension and allows high school students to have conversations around a variety of topics that directly affect them and the place they live. Another aspect of the guides is to provide a way for students to think critically about how and what information they absorb, learning media literacy in the process of these discussions. Read the lesson plan and print or share the questions and choose from the list of current events below.
LATEST NEWS we recommend for your classroom
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In-Class Opportunities
Our interactive workshops bring real-world relevance into the classroom, helping students connect what they’re learning to what’s happening in their communities.
Contact us at eugene-springfield@lookoutlocal.com to learn more and sign up your class/es for one of the following workshops:
- Intro to Journalism & Storytelling: Students hear from a journalist and learn how to ask meaningful interview questions. Then, they create a mini-magazine (zine) featuring classmate interviews and work on using that interview for a story.
- The Role of the Press in Elections: A journalist leads a discussion with students about the importance of local news in a healthy democracy. The workshop covers the state of journalism today and helps students build critical thinking skills to better understand and evaluate the news they see.
Additional Resources
Using local news to supplement your curriculum is a great way for lessons to connect directly to students’ lives. Here are other trusted website for additional resources surrounding media literacy.
Common Sense Education
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization providing research-backed entertainment and technology recommendations for families and schools. They work with policymakers, industry leaders, and global media organizations to help create a digital world that benefits all kids, their families, and communities.
- Recommended resources:
PBS Storymaker
StoryMaker is a free learning platform from PBS News Student Reporting Labs designed to develop the next generation of media creators. Lesson plans and activities teach storytelling and journalism skills, helping students build confidence, find their voice, and discover their place in the world.
- Recommended resources:
News Literacy Project
The News Literacy Project offers a range of valuable resources for educators, including an online learning platform, a free weekly newsletter, professional development opportunities, classroom materials, and more.
- Recommended resources:
KQED Learn
KQED is a nonprofit, public media station and NPR/PBS member that provides award-winning educational resources and services free to educators nationwide. KQED Teach offers professional development courses to help educators teach media literacy and lead media-making projects with K-12 students.
- Recommended resources:
UO Libraries
University of Oregon Journalism and Communication Librarian, Talia Paz, offers a free guide titled “Misinformation, Bias and Fact Checking: Mastering Media Literacy.” The guide is not tailored to high school students but has helpful visuals, videos, and additional resources.
- Recommended resources:
FOR STUDENTS
JUMP TO: Student memberships / Student stories / Journalism scholarship / Internships
Activate your free student membership
Students get FREE unlimited access to Lookout Eugene-Springfield content on both our website and app. Click the links below to activate your account and set a password.
- Lane County high school students: Sign up here
- University of Oregon students: Sign up here
- Lane Community College students: Sign up here
Submit a Student Story
Student Stories is a space for students to share their voices with the community and all of Lane County. From personal perspectives to campus events, clubs, and creative projects — this platform highlights stories by students, for the community.
- Here’s what we are looking for:
- Types of stories: opinions, events, clubs, organizations, informational pieces
- Word count of 500 – 950 words (flexible)
- Share one quote from someone else
- 1-2 horizontal images, with credit of who took the photo
Submit your story by emailing us eugene-springfield@lookoutlocal.com.
2026 Journalism Scholarship Challenge: Unsung Heroes
Now accepting applications through Sunday, March 22, 2026.
Lookout Eugene-Springfield invites Lane County high school students to participate in the 2026 Journalism Scholarship Challenge, which asks students to identify and profile a local person who is making a positive difference as an unsung hero in our community.
Students are asked to conduct interviews and write a compelling story that brings their subject’s impact to life, alongside supporting images and quotes. Our editing team will read and review all entries, and the top 10 strongest stories submitted will be published on Lookout. Authors of the top 3 will earn a $500 scholarship to support their education!
Showcase your writing skills and uncover the unsung heroes in your community. Apply now to take the first step towards a scholarship and a brighter future.
Internships
We’re looking for smart, curious, and digitally savvy interns to help us build the future of local news — one that’s rooted in and responsive to the community we serve. We offer year-round internship opportunities in two key departments:
- Editorial: For those interested in journalism, this internship offers hands-on experience in reporting, writing, and storytelling. Strong writing skills and a passion for local news are essential.
- Community & Commerce: This internship focuses on the business side of Lookout — including marketing, events, membership, and communications. Interns will get an inside look at how we power a modern news organization and engage with the community we serve.
Look for open internship opportunities here.