The Key to Current Events
Reflection By: Meaghan Brenna Foley
December 5, 2014
Current events are something that I believe to be of much importance. Social studies teaching and learning supports the 5 elements of powerful learning. Earlier this semester, I became immersed in the subject of current events. In my opinion, current events are those considered to be "what's going on in the world around you" (socialstudiesforkids.com). These events may include local, national, and global matters. Social studies is a primary area of study that teachers must place special emphasis upon in the classroom. My current events project this semester was on the 5 W's (i.e., Who? What? Where? When? Why?). I worked on this project with my classmate, Joanne Nikci. Joanne and I taught our college peers about the 5 W's through the popular current events site, Newsela. We chose two popular news articles for the students to read. Modeling is an important strategy when introducing a new subject. Therefore, we modeled identifying the 5 W's by showing the students an example chart (1st article). According to Sunal and Haas (2011), "modeling encourages students to integrate higher-order thought processes with social studies content" (p. 78). After we presented the first article, the students were told to identify the 5 W elements in the second article.
December 5, 2014
Current events are something that I believe to be of much importance. Social studies teaching and learning supports the 5 elements of powerful learning. Earlier this semester, I became immersed in the subject of current events. In my opinion, current events are those considered to be "what's going on in the world around you" (socialstudiesforkids.com). These events may include local, national, and global matters. Social studies is a primary area of study that teachers must place special emphasis upon in the classroom. My current events project this semester was on the 5 W's (i.e., Who? What? Where? When? Why?). I worked on this project with my classmate, Joanne Nikci. Joanne and I taught our college peers about the 5 W's through the popular current events site, Newsela. We chose two popular news articles for the students to read. Modeling is an important strategy when introducing a new subject. Therefore, we modeled identifying the 5 W's by showing the students an example chart (1st article). According to Sunal and Haas (2011), "modeling encourages students to integrate higher-order thought processes with social studies content" (p. 78). After we presented the first article, the students were told to identify the 5 W elements in the second article.
MY CURRENT EVENTS EXPERIENCE
(This is the link to my blog post on my current events project, with Joanne Nikci)
NEWSELA: OPENING THE WORLD TO CURRENT EVENTS
(This is the link to my blog post on the Newsela site and how it may be utilized in the classroom).
(This is the link to my blog post on my current events project, with Joanne Nikci)
NEWSELA: OPENING THE WORLD TO CURRENT EVENTS
(This is the link to my blog post on the Newsela site and how it may be utilized in the classroom).
Based on my experiences, I have now learned a lot about the use of current events in the social studies classroom. For starters, I have learned that there are multiple ways in which students may learn about current events. For younger children, these ways may include hands-on activities (i.e., scavenger hunts). Scavenger hunts for news article titles and pictures will teach students about social studies, while also teaching them about concentration. For older children, these ways may include listening for details during a read-aloud of a news article and news mapping. In my opinion, news mapping would be incredibly beneficial for older students. For example, a sixth grade teacher teaching about China may post a map of China on the classroom bulletin board. The students would then be instructed to "post stories around the map and string yarn from each story to the location on the map where the story takes place" (ncwiseowl.org). This will provide students with both an oral and visual representation of current events stories that are occurring in China.
Tompkins, G. (2013). Language arts: Patterns of practice (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.
White, D. (2014). Current Events. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
Current events are all about investigation and making inquiries about modern-day events that occur all around the world. In my opinion, the subject of current events is the epitome of social studies teaching and learning.
This is a map of China with icons of key landmarks and destinations located all across the country. This would be a great resource to use in the sixth grade news mapping activity regarding the subject of current events.
Freetech4teachers.com is a wonderful resource for teachers to use when teaching their students about the subject of current events. In my opinion, this site would contribute to the development of the students' independence and critical thinking skills. Oftentimes, students find it difficult to research news stories; however, I believe that this tool will drastically change that mindset. One site that would interest visual learners is entitled, Ten by Ten. This site is truly unique because "every hour the top 100 news stories from around the world are linked to images on a ten by ten grid" (freetech4teachers.com).
I would utilize the Ten by Ten site during a cooperative learning lesson for grades 1-6. I think that this tool would help my students "reach consensus and conclude that they've finished sharing ideas, explored all dimensions of a question, or completed a project" (Tompkins, 2013, p. 127). At an early age, students should start to be motivated by a number of catalyst to help accomplish their goals (i.e., current events research). I believe that the use of technology is extremely important because it helps both students and teachers keep up with the times. The world is becoming more and more futuristic. In the future, there may no longer be any printed newspapers or books. Therefore, I think students should be introduced to age appropriate online news resources and taught how to navigate them as soon as possible.
STANDARDS
Below is a list of the following Common Core (NYS Learning Standards) that I believe best fit the Current Events Activity:
Social Studies
- Standard 3: Geography
"Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface" (p12.nysed.gov).
Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education
- Standard 5: Technology
"Students will apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs" (p12.nysed.gov).
My Suggestions for Next Semester's SS Methods Class
I would suggest maybe utilizing other news resource sites (along with Newsela). I think the students next semester would benefit from using sources like the New York Times or another online newspaper site to research about the day's current events. :)
References
C&I: Curriculum and Instruction. (2013, June 11). Retrieved December 5, 2014.
Current Events. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2014.
Byrne, R. (2011, August 15). Free Technology for Teachers: 5 Ways Students Can Visually Explore
the News. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
Newsela | Nonfiction Literacy and Current Events. (2014). Retrieved December 5, 2014.
Sunal, C., & Haas, M.
(2011). Social studies for the elementary and middle grades:
A constructivist approach (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Tompkins, G. (2013). Language arts: Patterns of practice (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.
White, D. (2014). Current Events. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
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