Teaching With Current Events

What is Noteworthy?

There are three purposes for writing news:  to inform, to persuade, and to entertain.  Most of the time, reporters chose what to report based on their position and what will gather an audience.  Tabloid reporters talk about the unbelievable things that celebrities do because it gets them more views on their blogs and sell more magazines. No one wants to believe their favorite celebrity went to rehab, so they buy the magazine to see if it could really be true.  And then, when the star who is known for being a walking disaster cleans up their act, everyone has to read about it.  Local newspapers might report differently on an event then the national media, because they're part of what's going on and understand the situation better, whereas the national media might just want a news story.  Point of view has a lot to do with how and why stories are chosen and reported.

Student Motivation

While students take an active interest in the stories that entertain, they can also be very opinionated on the other things that take place.  Kids are capable of media literacy when given the chance and the instruction, and they take an active role in it.  It's especially motivating when kids are asked what they think about a topic.  One of the lessons I taught that I feel the most proud of was a digital literacy lesson.  It didn't start out that way, but eventually that's the role it took.  Students were engaged and interested, and brought things about what they saw and what they wanted to know that even I didn't.  Interest and motivation can be achieved just by getting them involved.

Authentic Learning

I love how literature can be used to teach about media.  Later books in the Harry Potter series show a lot about how the media can twist the truth to it's own means or to just make an entertaining story.  The Hunger Games is another good example of this, which is a great novel for an area like West Virginia, which is rural and dependent on it's industry.  I liked the point made in this chapter that talked about how younger people have a distrust of the media.  People are becoming much more knowledgable about what the media does and how it might twist a story.

Place-based Education

Sarah Stuteville talked about making stories that connect and inspire.  She also mentioned coming back to her home of Seattle to get support for her and her friend's project, and all of the educational opportunities that are now taking place because of it.  It's easy to create interest and motivation when bringing the place a student knows into the lesson.  It's something familiar, and when they can comment on it and display their own knowledge, it's exciting.