Current Events

The world around us is changing each and every day and those decisions greatly affect our lives. It is important for us to be aware of the events that are going on around us locally and nationally. You are responsible this semester for completing nine (9) current event articles due on the dates listed below.

High School History and Social Sciences Standards:

Connections to Middle and High School History and Social Science

Students were introduced to concepts of media literacy in the grade 8 civics class. These high school standards are designed to inspire reflection on how current events are reported and to give students ways of determining the purpose, point of view, and accuracy of the reports they see, hear, and view on social media, online, and in print.

Guiding Principle 8

An effective history and social science education incorporates the study of current events and news/media literacy. When teaching history and social science, teachers have a unique responsibility to help students consider events – including current events – in a broad historical, geographical, social, or economic context.

The Framework’s News/Media Literacy standards for grade 8 and high school are designed to help students take a critical stance toward what they read, hear, and view in newspapers and on websites, television, and social media. Applying these standards, students learn to evaluate information, question and verify its source, distinguish fact from inference, and reasoned judgment supported by evidence from varying degrees of bias.

•Exploring what it means to be a good digital citizen

•Observing and describing how technology can influence people.

•Evaluating digital media bias and media messaging

•Developing research skills to create artifacts and attribute credit, including using advanced research, searches, digital source evaluation, and synthesis of information.

•Understanding databases and organizing and transforming data.

ISTE Tech Standards:

1.3 Knowledge Constructor

Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.

1.3.a

Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.

1.3.b

Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information, media, data or other resources.

1.3.c

Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.

1.3.d

Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

Due Dates for Current Event Articles:

2nd Friday in January---Article #1 Due

3rd. Friday in February ---Article #2 Due

4th Friday in March ---Article #3 Due

Last Friday in April ---Article #4 Due

1st Friday in June---Article #5 Due

Source Requirements:

You are restricted to articles that deal with politics, government, society, economics, etc. related to the United States.

You MAY NOT submit articles related to sports, entertainment, etc.

You may choose your article from a number of sources.

They may come from Newspapers (News and Observer, USA Today, etc.), weekly news magazines such as Time, History Magazines or professional news sources located on the internet.

If you have Internet access, I have listed a number of sites to assist you.

The article you choose must not have been published more than 2 weeks ago and be a minimum of seven paragraphs (35-40 sentences.)

* You may not use the same source that you used for the previous current event assignment.

Assignment Requirements:

Presentation Requirements:

To further develop your ability to verbally communicate information, you will be required to present your article to the class via one of the media listed below:

Podcast
FlipGrid Newscast
Narrated and Recorded Presentation

Written Requirements:

For the article you choose, you should type your summary:

using MLA format
12 pt Font Times New Roman

as well as using the following format:

Article Title (5): Write the title at the top of your page.

Summary(40): Write a summary paragraph, in your own words, about the article. It needs to be at least SIX to EIGHT SENTENCES LONG.

You can’t copy verbatim from the article. Doing so will result in a grade of “0.” Only two quotes may be used in your summary. This is called plagiarism.

Significance(40): Write at least 3-4 sentences discussing why you chose the article and how it is important to society. Think about who this event impacts and how. Explain why it is significant or you may provide your opinion about the topic.

Two Questions(10): You will need to write 2 relevant questions about the article that you can ask/discuss with the class.

Reference(5): Cite the article and include the following: Title article; author; source (where you got it from); date retrieved or published. Attach a copy of the article or a link to the article with your summary.

Resources

They may come from Newspapers (News and Observer, USA Today, etc.), weekly news magazines such as Time, History Magazines or professional news sources located on the internet. If you have Internet access, I have listed a number of sites to assist you. The article you choose must not have been published more than 2 weeks ago and be a minimum of seven paragraphs (35-40 sentences.)

ABC News CBS News CNN