I teach at an alternative high school, 9th and 10 grade social studies. My students have both emotional and learning disabilities. I have been attempting to include current events in my classes without success. I plan on using Newsweek Magazine as a resource. Any ideas that would help make this an exciting lesson?
Don't expect them to read independently.
I would also emphasize including background knowledge. So if there’s news in another country or state, make sure they know where it is on a map.
There’s a real danger in these type assignments (but it can be a verted) in that they’re often *not* the same for the student as the teacher. The teacher can think the kid’s learning about stuff and the kid can be doing anything but. (I remember a “mock trial” in tenth grade… mockery was an important part of it as we stretched it out for weeks and weeks.)
Re: Current events
That is a great idea! We have a new Technology teacher who is experienced with video. He does the school newspaper (print version). Most of my students love to get in front of the camera. Thanks for the suggestion.
Re: Current events
You may want to look at getting a newspaper delivered to your school for your students. I live close to Atlanta and my class is sponsored by a company who supplies my students with the Atanta paper once a week. Also, our local paper donates unsold papers as well. You can do a lot of activities surrounding the paper and many major newspapers have lesson plans to go along with each paper. You might want to check out online newspapers as well. The Atlanta Journal/Constitution has some wonderful articles online for children. They also supply teacher with lesson plans. If interested the website is ajc.com. My kids are absolutely thrilled to get a paper and I am thrilled b/c they actually enjoy reading it, and I don’t care if it is the comics only. They are reading!!!!!! Hope this helps.
Laurie
www.alltheweb.com
http://www.alltheweb.com/?cat=news&cs=utf-8&l=any&q=
I found this a couple of days ago… just type in oh, dyslexia, and whang! little newspaper articles the latest news, or dyslexic female firefighters … could pick a topic of interest to your kids.
Re: Current events
I feel that you can successfully incorporate current events into your classroom. There are several ways to do this. You can watch local news if allowed in your classroom. You can then discuss topics that were seen during the broadcast. You shouldn’t use just newspaper. Your student, any student, may not be able to relate to the news in the paper you select. I would have a diverse selection of current magazine and locals papers. The students would be able to relate more to local news. They could also relate to a current article in one of the magazines. The students could find articles that interest them and then present them to the class. You could also make use of the school computer lab and look at places like the local news station. They have current issues on the web. What about a field trip to the nearest or local news station so the kids can see the news at work. It may not seem as real to them on television or paper. You could go to the newspaper office so they can see a real paper being put together. There are many things to do with the children. I would think it would be easier to start locally and move outward. Thanks, Bobbi
A suggestion would be to do a weekly newscast. You could get as creative as you waanted with this, depending on the technology available in your school.