WHAT ARE MY GOALS?We believe that the goal of studying current events is more than helping students know what is going on in the world. More importantly, it is about developing in students the capacity to reflect and deliberate on today’s world within a group that might be more diverse than they encounter outside the classroom. From this practice, students can develop the skills and dispositions they need to be thoughtful participants in society.

What do you want your students to learn from engaging with current events?My goals when teaching current events are:

HOW DO I CHOOSE WHICH STORIES AND ISSUES TO ADDRESS?This checklist offers a toolbox of strategies that you can use to address events of any type. Many teachers choose news stories to bring into their classrooms that relate directly to their curriculum. Many also give students the opportunity to take the lead in deciding which events to discuss. Regardless of whether or not students take the lead, we believe it is important to listen carefully to students to learn what stories and issues are affecting them directly or are on their minds.

On our Current Events page, we highlight issues and events that relate to core themes of Facing History and Ourselves, including identity and belonging, civic participation, the fragility of democracy, historical legacy and memory, racial justice, discrimination, bigotry, and genocide. Check the page regularly for new current events stories and activities or sign up below to stay updated.

What issues are especially relevant in your school and local community?Some issues that matter to my students and resonate in our school and local community:

PLAN AHEAD WITH OUR TEACHER CHECKLIST

HOW OFTEN WILL I DISCUSS CURRENT EVENTS WITH MY CLASS?Our research suggests that teachers who incorporate current events into their classes most often spend about a half class period each week doing so. We recognize it can be hard both to prioritize current events and to find the time to fit it into the limited class time you have with your students. Regardless of how much time you are able to devote to current events, we recommend protecting that time and establishing routines to minimize the amount of extra planning it requires. Also keep in mind that some news stories may impact students more than others, and that occasionally it will be important to spend additional time helping students reflect on and discuss the news.

How will you plan to integrate current events into your schedule, and how will you decide when to put aside your lesson to address a news event?I will aim to integrate current events at least _______________________ times into my class schedule each week.

I will know it is important to spend extra time in class addressing a news event when

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

WHAT ARE SOME TRUSTED NEWS SOURCES THAT REPRESENT A RANGE OF VIEWPOINTS THAT I CAN BRING INTO MY CLASSROOM?Here is a list of sources that we regularly browse to keep track of the news and find reports suitable for classroom use:

• For news from a variety of perspectives, consider: AllSides and The Week• For condensed news stories and digests: Axios and CNN 10• For radio journalism and podcasts, consider: Listenwise, The Daily, and Today, Explained• For more in-depth journalism, consider: a variety of major newspapers such as:

- AP News- BBC News- CBC News- The Globe and Mail- National Post- New York Times and New York Times Learning Network- Washington Post- Wall Street Journal- USA Today

• For longer, “explanatory journalism” articles, consider: Vox.com• To find news stories “leveled” to a variety of lexile levels, consider Newsela

We recommend including local news sources in your area for their coverage of community and national events. You may also want to seek out news coverage in other languages that are widely-spoken in your community.

Which local news sources in your community could you add to this list? What news sources will best meet the needs of your students?The news sources that will work best for the students I’m teaching this year are:

HOW CAN I PREPARE MY STUDENTS TO HAVE A REFLECTIVE AND RESPECTFUL DISCUSSION OF CURRENT EVENTS, ESPECIALLY THOSE THAT MAY BE EMOTIONAL OR DIVISIVE?

Be proactive in creating a foundation for reflective and respective discussion of current events, or any topic, in your classroom. Fostering Civil Discourse: A Guide to Classroom Conversations provides specific and detailed guidelines and strategies for setting the stage for your work with current events. We especially recommend creating a classroom contract with your students at the beginning of the school year.

Once you lay the groundwork, how you facilitate each current events discussion should vary depending on the issue and the source at hand. The following table provides some sample scenarios with suggested teaching strategies for each.

WHEN YOU WANT STUDENTS TO… TRY THIS STRATEGY…

Uncover the complexity of an event Iceberg

Discuss a contentious topic Four CornersSave the Last Word for MeBig Paper

Process an emotionally difficult event JournalingColor, Symbol, ImageGraffiti BoardsS-I-T

Analyze Images and Video Close Viewing ProtocolSee, Think, WonderCrop It

Understand diverse perspectives Town Hall CircleLearn to Listen, Listen to Learn

Connect a topic to their own lives Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-WorldConnect, Extend Challenge

Some teaching strategies that have worked well for me in the past are:

WHEN I WANT STUDENTS TO... I WILL USE...

What elements of a class contract are most important to you? Are there additional discussion strategies that have helped you to structure successful conversations with students?

HOW CAN I HELP MY STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE NEWS THEY READ AND SEPARATE FACT FROM FICTION?To prepare students to be thoughtful and active participants in democracy, we must help them develop critical thinking and media literacy skills. These skills help students judge the reliability of information they encounter in the news, assess how their own biases influence their responses, and make careful decisions about how they share news through social media.

Consider investigating and using the following resources to help your students hone their media literacy skills throughout the year:

• Teaching Idea: Where Do We Get Our News and Why Does It Matter?• Teaching Strategy: News Article Analysis• Teaching Strategy: How to Read the News Like a Fact Checker: A Media

Literacy Strategy• Unit: Facing Ferguson - News Literacy in a Digital Age• Partner Site: Checkology by the News Literacy Project

Some media literacy skills and habits I would like to help my students develop are:

Miscellaneous Notes for Current Events Prep:

LEARN MORE AT facinghistory.org/current-events

If you plan to share photos or anecdotes about your teaching experiences with these lessons on social media, tag us @FacingHistory using #CurrentClassrooms.

Email us at info@facinghistory.org to share your ideas for teaching about current events, submit topic suggestions for us to cover on our current events page, or to

ask questions about a specific Facing History and Ourselves resource.