CURRENT EVENTS EVERY DAY
Daily opportunities for students of all ages to learn and respond to current events from multiple news sources are crucial to creating and sustaining a well-informed, socially just, participatory democracy.
“Much has been said and written on the utility of newspapers; but one principal advantage which might be derived from these publications has been neglected; we mean that of reading them in schools.”
-Portland Eastern Herald, June 8, 1795
Daily opportunities for students of all ages to learn and respond to current events from multiple news sources are crucial to creating and sustaining a well-informed, socially just, participatory democracy.
“Much has been said and written on the utility of newspapers; but one principal advantage which might be derived from these publications has been neglected; we mean that of reading them in schools.”
-Portland Eastern Herald, June 8, 1795
For guidance on how to explore current events, please visit my LETS ACT page.
Benefits of teaching current events on a daily basis:
- build language, vocabulary, reading comprehension, critical thinking, problem solving, oral expression, and listening skills.
- develop informed citizens and lifelong newsreaders. Studying current events helps students understand the importance of people, events, and issues in the news; it stimulates students to explore and learn more about the news, and to pay attention to the news they see and hear outside of school.
- provide a "writing model." Students can learn by imitating the clear, concise style of news writing.
- help teachers teach media literacy skills, as important today as any of the three Rs.
- can open up communications between students and parents. Students are often eager to emulate their parents' newsreading behaviors, and talking about the news is one way for parents to engage students in adult conversation.
- offer ideal opportunities for cooperative-group instruction, classroom discussions and debates, purposeful follow-up writing, and much more.-
A large body of research supports the use of newspapers and current events as teaching tools:
- Students who use newspapers tend to score higher on standardized achievement tests -- particularly in reading, math, and social studies -- than those who don't use them.
- Newspapers help teach students to be effective readers.
- Newspapers can help develop and improve student vocabulary, word recognition skills, and comprehension.
- Newspapers are effective tools for teaching many math concepts, particularly fractions, decimals, currency, and averages.
- In surveys, students overwhelmingly support the use of newspapers in the classroom and have a positive attitude toward reading newspapers.
- Newpapers increase awareness of and interest in current events.
- Students who read newspapers in school tend to continue reading them when they become adults.
Students who study news or watch TV news in school are more interested in current events than those who do not, according to a large body of research cited in a 1997 report (Student Interest in National News and Its Relation to School Courses) from the National Center for Education Statistics. Studies indicate that elementary and high school students are not intrinsically interested in current events, least of all in foreign news and U.S. politics. But evidence suggests that including current events in the school curriculum can increase interest. In a recent survey, 135 inner-city schoolteachers who used a program designed to incorporate current events into lesson plans said the program was effective in increasing student interest in current events. Another study of 798 students in grades 9 to 12 showed that students who study news or watch TV news in school "are more likely to engage in news-seeking behavior outside of school."
The NCES study also reported results of the 1996 National Household Education Survey (NHES), which revealed that students who take classes that require them to pay attention to government, politics, or national issues report increased interest in those issues outside of school. About two-thirds of students in grades 6 to 12 reported in the survey that they had taken such a course in one of the last two years; about half of the students surveyed had taken such a course in both of the last two years. Overall, 65 percent of students who took at least one course during the last two years reported their interest in politics and national issues increase "some" or "a good deal" as a result. Among students who had taken such a course in both of the last two years, 71 percent responded that their interest had increased.
In another NHES measure, students who reported taking a course that generated at least some increase in interest in politics or national issues also reported outside news-seeking behaviors. They were more likely than others to discuss the news or watch or listen to the national news with parents.
-http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr084.shtml
