Using News Sources in the Classroom

A great teacher of civics is always ready to discuss current events with the students, even in grades K-5. According to a 1995 report from Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press (now called the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press), young Americans know less and care less today about what’s going on than young Americans of previous generations. It is believed that very few youth are aware of what is going on at the local, national, or international level. It is important that teachers recognize the importance of teaching current events as it helps students become more cognizant of world events and the impact on them as citizens. Students also become acquainted with effectively reading the newspaper, which boosts reading competence. Education World cites several benefits of teaching current events in the classroom:

• build language vocabulary and comprehension skills
• develop informed citizens and lifelong newspaper readers
• provide a “writing model”
• help teacher teach media literacy skills create useful communication between students, teachers, and parents
• offer opportunities for cooperative learning, class debates, and role play

In the book, The Newspaper: A Reference for Teachers and Librarians, Edward DeRoche, supports the use of newspapers and current events as a teaching tool because students develop a positive attitude about reading from non-fictional material and those who read newspapers tend to score higher on standardized tests.

This section is to provide ideas and resources to help elementary teachers engage students effectively in using current news events.