Chapter 8 Teaching With Current Events

"Journalism Revived" By: Sarah Stuteville

"Of course, when educators do bring news and current events issues into the classroom, it may or may not make a difference. When done poorly, current events discussions can be just another reading comprehension activity. In many schools, news and journalism is often treated simply for its value in developing vocabulary skills."


I felt that the aforementioned quote was such an appropriate thought to open up with. How many times have you been subjected to or simply witnessed this taking place? Sometimes journalism isn't revered as the powerful discipline with unlimited potential that it is--and in some schools it is sadly diluted for remedial learning purposes.

While viewing the TED talk, I could really equate what the speaker was feeling when she was down in the dumps in NY City to what a lot a kids feel now in the public schools.

They are afraid.

They are apprehensive about career choices.

And they are frightened of what their future entails.

And because of all of these impending fears and uncertain emotions, we as educators must ask ourselves, "What would we do if we could do anything?"

The answer is to teach relevant and meaningful content in ways that promote authentic connections. I wholeheartedly believe that implementing digital and media learning across the curriculum holds the key to success. Upon reading this week's text, I fully understood the ways in which technology can harness the power of motivation amongst learners.

Just as the TED talk referenced following stories of value and writing journalism that created a bond with the reader, using digital media in the classroom can inspire students to create a similar product. In doing so, digital media and journalism techniques have the potential to inspire young people to engage in civic participation and and promote reflective thinking. 

"Reflective thinking like this suggests that when young people recognize their power and their social responsibilities as communicators, they can experience significant personal growth."

But, what is news-worthy???

In this day and age of saturated media, students seem to be so turned off by the very idea of news. I remember thinking myself how I didn't care to watch the news or be informed as an adolescent, mainly because I considered the news stories to be so consistently negative, and at that age I also didn't feel like I had a voice in the matter. 

By digging deep to the source I think that we as educators need to implement digital media and learning strategies that do not teach students to merely digest information, but teach them to embrace their sense of agency.

I was most compelled to think about the excerpt from our text that briefed us on the documentary No Child, which was about the No Child Left Behind Act and the fact that schools are required to release information about students for military recruitment purposes. The youth producers interviewed antimilitary activists as well as military recruiters to gain a sense of thinking from both sides. This type of school activity is a perfect example of harnessing the power of digital media to create relevant and authentic learning in students' lives. 

"There's a natural egocentrism to adolescence. What that means is that some aspects of reflective thinking, empathy, and consideration of other people's points of view may be new and unfamiliar."

The above quote made me think of the cognitive dissonance that students might encounter through learning with digital media--when they encounter something that conflicts with what they assume to be true it's very intriguing. They must wrestle with their beliefs and convictions, and oftentimes this will lead to further motivation to uncover the truth.