Finding Current Events in Newspaper articles

Reflection on Current Events Project- Wed, November 13, 2013
-Google Presentation
-Phrases

For the current events project, I worked with Laura and Rachel. Our process started by looking at some newspaper articles on Newsela and TweenTribune. Dr.Smirnova suggested other materials for us to look at. Among these resources were: New York times and Times Herald Record. Dr.Smirnova suggested that we pick out articles that can relate to the topic we were learning in class, which was geography. She also suggested that we can use a treasure hunt for the activity.
      We researched some articles on New York Times. We picked 4 very interesting articles that related to local, national, and international news. These were our articles (with links): 

"Robbery Attempt Preceded Ice Rink Shooting, Police Say",  A Powerful "Typhoon Speeds Across the Philippines", "Spanish Message With One Word That Needs No Translation",  Army Suspends R.O.T.C. Closings at 13 Universities

     We decided that we would split the class into four groups. Each group would be given an article to present and talk about, but they had to find it first. We told the class to read all 4 articles before class for homework. Then we chose 3-4 phrases in each article. We then printed out the phrases on pieces of paper. In class, we handed each group their phrases. They had to search all four articles to find their phrases that fit one of the articles, and then they would find their article. Once they found their article, they had to follow the guidelines we provided for their presentation. 

       Rachel, Laura, and I presented this to the class on Wed. November 13,2013. I began the presentation by pre-assessing the students' knowledge about different types of news. I asked the class if they knew what global news meant. They gave me various answers, and I supported their answers and added the definition I had- "Global news is news that takes place in different countries and places around the world. examples- China, Europe, Philippines . Next, I asked if they knew what state news was. I received their answers and supported them by telling them: "state news is news that takes place in a certain state. examples- New York, Texas, Florida". The next type of news I asked about was local news. The students told me what state news consisted of, and I supported their answers by saying: "Local- news is news that takes place in a local area or region. example- Manhattan, Newburgh. Then, I pre-assessed students' knowledge about maps. I first showed the students what a global map looked like. I asked students if they knew what kind of news this would fall under, and they said global or international. Then I asked students if they knew what the next map was, which was a map of the United Stated. Then I asked the class if they knew what kind of news it would be categorized as. Then I showed students a map of New York, they had a little bit of a struggle with this one. I told the students that it was a map of New York and it would be categorized as state or local news.
Laura then told the class the directions to the assignment and split the students in the groups we put them in before hand to save time. We also prepared a checklist for the groups to look at so they knew what they needed to cover in their presentation. Rachel told the groups that the criteria included: The name of the article and author, Tell if it is World/Global, State, Local news (local, national, international, etc), Say the phrases assigned to your group, and Give a summary of the article. We gave the groups 10 minutes to do their research.
As students were doing their research, we walked around the room and provided guided practice to each of the groups. We answered any questions the groups had, and we also provided positive feedback to the groups as they were working. When time was up, each group presented their findings. We also had one person from each group come to the board and point out which map they would use based on where the location of their article was. Each group hit the criteria points we were looking for. For homework, we told the groups to summarize their articles and experiences on e-class. Rachel also showed the class a resource, TweenTribune, that provided articles and lesson plans based on the common core standards.

Reflection on this experience:
I really enjoyed this experience on this project overall. At first, it was a struggle because we did not know what resource or method of teaching to use. With Dr.Smirnova's recommendations, we were able to have a more clearer perception of what was expected. What I learned from doing this current events project is that it is important to have students look at different types of news for current event assignments. I think that it is good for students to understand not only what is happening in the community around them, but what is happening in communities far away from them. It is important for children to see news that is happening in nationally and internationally. Students get a perspective of what is happening to other people in different countries, and how it is different from life in the United States. I am glad that we gave one of the groups an article about the Typhoon that hit the Philippines. It is important to bring about awareness of how severe the situation in the country was. I think that using New York times is good for older grades to read (4th-6th). For younger grades, I would use Newsela or TweenTribune because they are more kid-friendly and understandable for that grade level. I am glad that we incorporated the topic that we were learning in class: geography. For reading our textbook I learned that the 5 themes of geography are: Location, Place, Relationships, Movement, and Regions. These 5 themes are found when reading newspaper articles. When I am going to teach social studies to my students, I will have them point out the 5 themes that they found in their articles and how they relate to each other. I think it is also important to make students aware of the different maps there are. I was glad that we did this as a pre-assessment activity with the class. I would want my students to be able to identify what kind of map they would use when reading newspaper articles, because it gives them a sense of the location that the news is taking place in. I liked our method of teaching/learning that we chose: research. Research is very important for students. For our activity, students had to research what was in their article. By doing this, students gain more information and learn various facts. By doing research, students just do not just find the answers right away, they have to take time and look in-depth to what they need to achieve. I also enjoyed working collaboratively with my other 2 teachers, we were able to execute our ideas clearly.