Reading the Newspaper

Procedure

1. Ask students to read the newspaper.

2. You can direct students' reading in the following ways:

a. For Science teachers, find the day that your local paper prints science features. Students can read about recent discoveries, medical advances, etc. The New York Times publishes a science section on Tuesdays. You can visit their science page (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/index.html) to get current and archived articles.

b. Social Studies teachers can ask students to search the paper for stories that relate to historical events, how government works, etc. The New York Times publishes archived articles (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/index.html) on the web (for free) that may relate to the material you're covering.

c. Language Arts teachers can have students search the Op-Ed pages. What local events and controversies are people writing about? How is emotion expressed in the writing? Have your students read the book reviews. How are professional book reviews written? Students can write a book review about their independent reading.

d. Math teachers can have students search for the use of math in the paper (percentages, statistics, box scores, advertising).

e. Foreign Language teachers can focus on stories about countries or communities where their subject is spoken. Students can translate cartoons into the language they are studying.

3. After students read through the newspaper, or the sections they have been directed to read, you can proceed in the following ways.

a. Discuss current events that relate to your academic area.

b. Students can write reviews of news events, including paragraphs that briefly paraphrase what they have read.

c. Students can write a mock newspaper, or a real newspaper, modeling the paper they read in your class.