Current Events in The Modern Classroom

History can be defined as “a chronological study that interprets and gives meaning to events and applies systematic methods to discover the truth”(Sunal, 2011, p. 333). This “truth” is found by interpreting evidence from sources left behind by people, events, and so on.  Learning about history and the way we interpret it is especially important for students because it helps “prepare [them] for ‘responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our modern economy”(Sunal, 2011, p. 333).  Despite the incredible impact learning about social studies has on students, it is a topic that does not receive the attention it deserves in education.  Most teachers simply lecture out of a textbook, spewing off a stream of facts with no value or meaning to students other than that they have to know it for a test.  Deep connections between people, events, and time periods are never made.  This needs to change! There are so many ways to create meaningful learning experiences in social studies, teachers just need to implement them.  It is time to modernize our teaching and a great way to do this is by incorporating current events into the classroom.

Throughout my years of schooling, current events were never a significant part of the curriculum.  Sure, we'd find a newspaper article every now and then and write a brief summary.  Teachers sometimes asked if we heard about an event on the news.  But other than these rare instances, current events did not have a place in my learning and that, loyal blog followers, is mind blowing.  Even more mind blowing is that only recently, as a college student, I have finally learned that current events can be taught and experienced in a way other than finding an article and summarizing it.  There are so many creative ways to have a current events lesson that makes it meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active/engaging.  I recently created a current events lesson with two peers, Jessica and Julie, that involved taking a foreign perspective.  This approach has become one of my favorites and it is certainly a way to get students thinking critically and deeply. 

My group and I found the foreign viewpoint approach on a website provided to us by Dr. Smirnova. It had a wealth of ideas for teaching current events, such as: Tech Talk, What’s It to You?, You Be The Editor, Fact or Opinion, Create a Historical Newspaper, etc.  All of the ideas listed get students involved and active in the task and allows them to show their creativity.  We tossed around a few ideas listed on the site, but ultimately chose the foreign viewpoint, which was described as follows:

                                                            Foreign View
"Have students imagine they live in a distant country and their only source of information about America is your newspaper.  What impressions so they get of teen life?  What roles do teens have?  How do they look, act and dress?"

We loved this idea because it would require students to think about our country with a viewpoint different than their own.  It requires deeper thinking and is more of a challenge than simply reading the articles and stating what it is about.  Students must also put aside their knowledge of American values and think about the situation with an unbiased mind.  How would this look to people who do not live in America? 

            After briefly reviewing what a current is and sharing the word cloud Jess made of topics, I modelled the upcoming task.  Upon reading the article “Celebrity A-List Backlash Against Abercrombie and Fitch Continues to Grow,” I shared what a foreign viewpoint of the article could be:  

We believe that some people, especially those in business, think there is a “perfect image” of an American person.  Anyone that doesn’t fit the ideal image of vanity faces discrimination.  But, many celebrities spoke out against Abercrombie & Fitch and are boycotting the company.  This shows that the true American spirit is still alive and diversity of all types is beautiful!

Once I completed the modelling, Julie introduced the task to the class as the following prompt was displayed on the SmartBoard:

Imagine you are a sixth-grade student in a foreign country.   You are social media friends with a student in America, who you message every day. Your friend has just sent you some news articles about current events in America.  What do you think you can learn/infer about American culture from these articles?

                The class was divided into three groups with each group receiving a different article about physical fitness, junk food, and high-speed internet. Students were then given a few minutes to read the articles with their group and discuss what foreigners may think about America if they had read this article.  Each group was then asked to present their responses.  My favorite part of this lesson was the discussion each presentation facilitated.  After hearing about the article on obesity, Susan made a great statement about a viewpoint that not only Americans, but many outsiders most likely have.  She stated how America will tell people that they can’t wear certain clothes if they are above a size ten (A&F article reference), yet a majority of the food provided in this country is junk!  Susan stated how this is hypocritical of our country.  This statement reinforced how powerful social studies lessons can be.  Approaching these articles with a different viewpoint facilitated great conversation and allowed students to make connections to their own lives, etc.  By choosing topics that students can relate to, we engage them and provide an opportunity to experience meaningful, powerful social studies.  Also, working in groups provides more chances to develop social skills.

 

            This lesson was designed for sixth graders.  If we were going to use this foreign view approach in the first grade, I would do it as whole-class instruction to begin.  There would be one article and I would read it aloud to the students as they followed along, pausing every now and then to check for understanding and discuss what was said.  Then, students would be divided into groups and would discuss what they would think if they lived in a foreign country that did not have as much money as America.  I would give details about the “foreign country” so that students had a basis of why the viewpoint would be different.  By thinking aloud with the students in a more specific way than I did in the actual lesson, they will be better able to understand the meaning of the article and create a viewpoint. 

            My group and I also got to experience other groups’ current events lessons.  It is great to see everyone’s own unique take on the topic, yet still see similarities.  One group discussed cubing, and it was extremely interactive and engaging.  The group connected the article they used back to various aspects of our own lives as well, which created a meaningful learning context.  Overall, it is important to carefully plan lessons in order to meet all five of the important elements.  Meeting each one can only make your lesson the best it can be.

           In my future classroom, I will strive to incorporate current events into each week.  I believe it is critical that students understand what is going on in the world and their own backyard.  It will not be a topic that gets pushed to the side week after week.  I will certainly approach the topic with various creative ideas.  One idea that I have thought of and like is creating a current events journal.  Students can find a current event article every week and write about it, whether it be what they think of it, how it makes them feel, etc.  They could even respond with a picture (depending on the grade) or with a poem or song.  Also, students that hear a story on the news can record themselves responding to it and make a video journal. The assignment each week would not consume more than a few minutes of time, and we could schedule days to share our work. 

Check out our presentation!

 Need ideas for incorporating current events into your classroom? Watch this brief video!

Sixth Grade Standards that Relate to Our Lesson

Comprehension and Collaboration:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.1.c
Pose and respond to specific questions with elaboration and detail by making comments that contribute to the topic, text, or issue under discussion.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.4
Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.

Craft and Structure

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.6
Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).

Lesson Sources:

Current Events. (n.d.). Current Events. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from   http://www.ncwiseowl.org/ss/Current/activities/default.htm

Scott Foresman Social Studies. (2014, January 1). Scott Foresman Social Studies. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from http://www.sfsocialstudies.com/index2.html

Sunal, C. S. (2011). Social studies for the elementary and middle grades: A constructivist approach. (4th ed.). Pearson.

Read closely.Think critically.Be worldly. (2014). Newsela. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from https://www.newsela.com/pages/about-newsela/

**A great resource listed above for current events is the Scott Foresman textbook. You can find a variety of current events activities and also find current events from past years!  Everyone should check it out!