Generally, I have the students go through the paper and I direct them to most significant articles featured that day. Many students are not current events motivated, and so I use the paper to motivate them and pique their curiosity. For example, today their was a story about missile defense that we found interesting. We delved into the physics of it and what it means to fire a bullet into the air. I also like having students go to the Nationline page and the Across the USA page that highlights stories around the country. I have students work together to find the most remarkable, oddest or funniest story they can. For example, several years ago, a truck flipped over on a highway in Oklahoma, and the story gave detail about the mess it created.
When I teach, I try to highlight all of the sections, especially News because that is a part of the paper the kids won’t naturally go to – Boys always want to go to Sports and girls to Life. I peruse the paper and identify the important articles and then share them with my students. After, I hold a teacher directed discussion, and then I let engage in free reading. The students will invariably go to the state by state page to scan and find a story. But what they don’t realize is that they’re reading to learn. What I really like about using USA TODAY is that the kids are reading the paper and learning about current events but they don’t really know it. I enjoy the fact that the learning is fun for them.
I am trying to increase my students’ awareness of the world around them. I also want to enhance their reading and writing skills and make sure that they gain an appreciation for a newspaper.
