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7 Reasons to Include Current Events in Your Lesson

 cSearching for informational text or the perfect short passage for your next lesson? Integrating current events into your lessons is a powerful way to reach multiple educational goals. I’m a big fan of a current events lesson that introduce students to big ideas about the world while setting a purpose for learning.
One of my favorite tools for giving students access to high-quality news articles is News-O-Matic. You may have also heard me mention this tool in the past and there are many reasons why I’m a fan. It’s essential to include current events in your lessons. This is true no matter what age of students you teach or which subject area you cover in your class.

Include Current Events in Your Lesson

Empower active and informed global citizenship. Give your students a call to action or simply open their eyes to a world different than their own through engaging news stories.

current events lessonConnect across curricula regardless of subject area. From science and technology to arts, history, and literature, news stories help students understand real world applications for their schoolwork including careers that connect to their learning.

Build academic and domain-specific vocabulary. Students will certainly learn new words in context as they explore informational text independently and as a class.

Teach critical media literacy skills. Current events articles can spark conversations related to evaluating sources and bias.

Create dialogue between students and parents. Exposure to current events can bridge the gap between home and school.

Initiate debate and classroom discussion. Some news articles are perfect for pro/con discussions and also for promoting a discussion based on textual evidence.

Prepare students for 21st century global world. Students need to have experience navigating both digital and print text as they grow up in a world where news stories increasingly come from digital sources.

Learn more about News-O-Matic by visiting their website!

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Blog Author and EdTech Consultant Dr. Monica Burns

Monica Burns

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, Author, Speaker, and Curriculum & EdTech Consultant. Visit her site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher.

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