News Tools
How can
current events and news stories help students learn, read, and
understand?
Using the newspaper and news sources is a
unique way to get students interested in learning because it is
meaningful to people. Students will quickly find things that
interest them: sports, entertainment, weather, and human
interest stories. Current events allow students to use their
literacy skills to access real-world information. By using
actual news stories and current events, students are using their
skills to read, analyze, and discuss information that is pertinent
to their lives and the world at large. If students can
be taught using these resources they will begin to see the
importance of gathering information around them to help them
understand our world
Why are
information literacy skills so important for students to
learn?
Students must have the tools needed to deal with the immense
amount of information that is available today. Students need to be able to
access, read, analyze, and critically think about information. The
California Department of Education has identified the "thinking-meaning centered
curriculum" as the core of a quality educational program (From Library Skills to
Information Literacy, 1997). This means that the curriculum needs to be
adjusted to enable students to become independent thinkers, inventors,
discoverers, and users of information.
News Tools gives students one sample lesson
for nine of the newspaper sections. These are designed to be
completed within the form on the computer and printed out, or they
can be printed and then completed. The lesson is divided into
four different components: language/vocabulary development,
main idea, graphic organizing, and charts, pictures, and maps.
They are tied to California Standards. They give students a starting place for reading the news, and they
can be done independently without teacher instruction, in teams, or
with guided teacher instruction.
News Tools.
