6 Ideas For Teaching Current Events

Teaching current events should not be ignored. It is important that students are exposed to current content in our programs no matter what subject area or grade we teach. Middle school students should learn about current events for several reasons.

It is important to teach middle school students about current events because.

It helps them develop their critical thinking skills.
Students can become informed and responsible citizens.
It can also expand students’ perspectives and encourage them to have empathy toward others.

When students develop their critical thinking skills it helps them to analyze and evaluate the information they receive from various sources. This is a skill they will need for their future education as well as their careers. When students are informed citizens it can help them form opinions about community and global issues and set them up for success as global citizens.

Studying current events exposes students to a variety of ideas. Hopefully, they will expand their perspectives and lead to become more compassionate and inclusive toward their peers and other people they meet. In this blog post, you will find 6 easy to implement ideas for teaching current events in your middle school classroom.

Resources For Teaching Current Events

1. Provide students with regular access to print or online news media. Bring local newspapers into your classroom, and teach students how to access online news articles using new services like Google News or Reuters.

2. Integrate discussion-provoking articles into your lessons. Many teachers like using Kelly Gallagher’s Article of the Week format. Dave Stuart Jr. also provides great articles for class discussion. I also love using the article of the week format with students.

3. Use online student-friendly new sites like Newsela, Teaching Kids News, and News4Youth to help your students gain an understanding of current issues and topics.

4. If your students would prefer video clips CNN has a CNN10 which is their student news section, which many teachers have come to rely on for their classrooms. They post a new 10-minute video clip each day during the school year except on weekends and holidays.

5. I recently learned about Listenwise podcasts for different topics. Students can listen to the content being shared. KidNuz is another great news podcast written for kids.

6. If you want non-fiction articles related to the history of significant holidays and celebrations check out this Article of the Week Non-Fiction Articles Celebrations and Holidays Bundle. This non-fiction article bundle contains original articles about the following special days: Chinese New Year, Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, Daylight Savings, St. Patrick’s Day, April Fools’ Day, Earth Day, Ramadan, Halloween, Diwali, Hanukkah, and Christmas. Find this resource on Shopify CAD and Teachers Pay Teachers USD.

I use these two assignments Current Events and Hot Topics in my classroom to keep students accountable for their current events learning.

Current Events Assignment

In the Current Events News Assignment students are given several different graphic organizers to analyze their current event. After their analysis, they present their current event to the class to expose students to a variety of issues. The assignment comes with gradual release teacher instructions to ensure students get the maximum benefit of this assignment. Find this resource on Shopify CAD and Teachers Pay Teachers USD.

Hot Topics Assignment

In the Hot Topics Class Discussion Assignment students are provided with a structured environment to explore controversial issues like animal testing, school uniforms or global warming and lead the class in a discussion. I approve all topics before students get to work on this assignment to ensure that it is related to our curriculum and age-appropriate. Find this resource on Shopify CAD and Teachers Pay Teachers USD.

Use these resources to help for teaching current events to your students.