How Do You Use Your Newspapers/e-editions?
NIE would like to know how you use the news! Your comments help our program by allowing others to see how it is used! Please send an e-mail to the NIE Coordinator.
Here's what Julie Davis from Tecumseh High School said:
Dear Michelle,
I want to thank you for allowing me to participate in Newspapers in Education. I teach 2 units of Developmental Reading, grades 9-12. Some students are placed in my class due to low reading skill level, others need OGT prep work, and others chose it as an elective and may already be reading at level or above, so I've got quite a difference of ability throughout both classrooms.
The first lesson I chose to do was to introduce students to the newspaper as a quick show of hands indicated that all but 2-3 had never read a paper. We talked about the 4 purposes of a paper -
inform, entertain, interpret, and serve - and we made four posters
(each class) using articles, cartoons, advertisements, obituaries,
etc. cut from throughout the paper and glued to the appropriate poster. This ran 2 days as I had to teach students how papers were
organized - the sections A,B, C, and D (or Life). The next week was
spring break, but to emphasize organization and purpose after a week break, we did a similar activity the week we returned. This time,
students had to record headline, section, and page on a 4-section
grid, with each grid representing purpose. They were catching on to
organization and using the "table of contents" found at the bottom of
A1. Other activities have included dissecting information in a news
article (who/what/why...) and summarizing. Another activity I used was
predicting information from headlines. Students picked a headline from
main news section, created 5 questions that they expected to be
answered, and then wrote those answers as they found them. They also
reflected why the headline encouraged them to read the whole article
and what they would have missed information-wise had they only read the headline. Another week, we connected to literature by finding society. This week, I wrote of summary of many of the lessons we have learned in class, then I had them go on a scavenger hunt to find an
article that made a connection to something we've read about in
class. For example, we did a small unit on polio, and the following week, there was the article of the son of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells
were used to help find a cure for polio. I also shared an old
Springfield News article I had saved about the New Carlisle Rotary
Club donating an iron lung to Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute. As we
have read about blizzards, the dust bowl, an avalanche, and the 1996
Mt. Everest tragedy, many students found connections to natural disasters. Students made many other interesting connections like women
in the workplace and in sports, the Syrian rebellion and the Jewish
oppression of WWII, heart surgeons and other great scientists were
have studied! It's amazing to see how at ease they are now with the
paper. They immediately begin to pick it apart and go to their areas
of interest when they get it in their hands. I always allow them a
few minutes to browse it to see what they discover. One young lady
was surprised to see a picture of an aunt and cousin on the front page
one day! They enjoyed the article about our very own Bianca
Quisenberry. When I remind students that they can take the papers
with them, more and more are doing so. What is not taken is collected
by our MH unit for recycling.
I feel this has been a valuable asset for these students. Thank you
for making this possible.
Julie Davis
English Teacher
Tecumseh HIgh School
NIE Book Sale!
August 27 and 28 at the West Carrollton YMCA. Donations accepted through July 31.
Donate your books to 10 Greater Dayton YMCA locations including:
