In a class discussion tonight about current events, media literacy and teaching with and for newspapers in a history classroom, I was struck by how little this seemed to be occurring in an average classroom. This obviously led to a discussion of the challenges that using a newspaper in a classroom poses, for instance, it might require too much background information or context (the assumption being our students lacked this quality), where to and how to place it within the curriculum framework, the time it would take to implement this type of learning, how to choose and what to choose when it comes to newspaper articles, and how to teach about the media (just to name a few). However, when I personally sat down to think about this I was struck by an entirely different question, "why should I teach with and/or for newspapers in the first place?" I basically return again to my essential question in history, what are my goals?
There are multiple objectives to support the teaching with and for newspapers in the classroom: content, skills such as reading, and identifying bias. But I return to my current overarching goal for teaching history, the creation of an informed democratic citizen and I use this same goal to justify the use and teaching of newspapers in my own classroom. If I can begin with my students at a younger age, middle school say, and at least introduce them to newspapers on a routine basis then I am one step closer to achieving my ultimate goal in history education. Newspapers are a conduit of fact, opinion, and debate in this country; they inform decisions from a community level to a national level. A good citizen reads, understands and agrees with or disagrees with an article in a newspaper; a person interacts and engages with newspapers and at the same time participates in the broader democratic community. By encouraging, teaching and hopefully instilling a student's ability and desire to engage with newspapers, I am supporting my broader goal of creating an informed democratic citizen. Start small, begin with teaching them to read and comprehend an article, slowly build up to the more higher order skill of critically reading and analyzing. Over time this scaffolding approach will reach all of the goals previously stated regarding the use of newspapers in the classroom.
If you ask a 9th grader studying world history why people will start a revolution for independence, they will say things like, "they wanted freedoms." Push those same kids a little further to identify those freedoms and the first response, is always, "freedom of the press." Our students know how important something so basic as a newspaper is to democracy, shouldn't we model an exercise of one of the most revered rights? Show our students how important a newspaper can be and use it in our history classrooms for all the things that it is, and it is not.
Kirby,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog and your connections between overarching goals and its components, like teaching newspapers. I was particularly struck by the lines, “But I return to my current overarching goal for teaching history, the creation of an informed democratic citizen and I use this same goal to justify the use and teaching of newspapers in my own classroom…hopefully instilling a student's ability and desire to engage with newspapers…”.
While I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of using newspapers to create an informed democratic citizen, these sentences made me realize that perhaps the battle teachers will be facing is not teaching the skills needed to properly read newspapers but convincing students that it is important to read them. I feel there is this large emphasis on creating democratic citizens but hardly any discussion on convincing students why they would want to do that. Why should a student stop playing Halo on his X-box and sit down with a newspaper instead? Why read a newspaper at all when she can get a quick update from her cell phone. Why care about the mayhem in Syria when Lindsey Lohan is trying to revive her career?
Even if we teach students the skills to analyze a newspaper, what good are those skills if students have no desire to use them? You stated that our students know how important something so basic as a newspaper is to democracy but I’m not sure they do. I think in order to have them engage in the creation or use of newspaper skills we need help them understand that. I also think we need to address the fact that perhaps newspapers are no longer the best medium to teach students media skills—not when students today are so “plugged in” to the web as digital natives. If we are going to engage them and foster informed citizens we may have to adapt to the way these future citizens get their information and process it.
Hello Shelly and Caroline,
ReplyDeleteI missed the day in class where we discussed using newspapers in history classes, so I found it educational to read your blog post and comment. I wanted to add a way that my CT uses newspapers in her 7th grade US history class. A few times a week, she finds political cartoons on the Internet and puts them into a PowerPoint presentation. These cartoons are from newspapers around the world, some international like the New York Times, some local like the Atlanta Journal Constitution. She uses the collection of political cartoons to teach the students about current events. She shows them the cartoon then asks them if they know what's going on, what the cartoonist is trying to say, what they think might be happening in the cartoon, etc. Often times, the students do know what the main story is, but then they have to figure out the cartoonist's bias. Other times, they don't know the story so my CT is able to educate them on what is happening around the world. There were many times throughout my 7-week tenure in her class that political cartoons related back to previous units of study, giving the students to review the material and connect different time periods of history. For example, the students studied Teddy Roosevelt back in January, and last week I found a cartoon with President Obama using the "speak softly and carry a big stick" comment. The students remembered that was a TR quote and were excited that they were able to identify these "inside" comments that cartoonists use. Finally, comprehending political cartoons is a skill that is always required on state standards and AP exams. Starting the students on this skill in the 7th grade gives them a leg up on their classmates when it comes to facing these on standardized tests.
Hope this was helpful and provided another viewpoint on using newspapers in the classroom!
Best,
Anne