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How do you talk about current events with students?

Becca Horowitz
With everything happening in the world right now--from climate change and weather to politics both local and global--many students are asking big questions. What are you hearing from your students? What topics are they bringing up in the classroom? And when questions about current events come up, how are you responding?
Let's crowd-source some wisdom. Share what you're noticing, what's working, or even what you're still figuring out.
  • in reply to Becca Horowitz

    Thanks for the tag and question,  ! I'm sure there are lots of teachers out there who are looking for some guidance and a bunch of teachers who have some words of wisdom to share. It's been a while since I was in the classroom but I always made sure that we had some class rules on how to engage in thoughtful and civil discussions in the classroom. I also hammered home that students needed evidence to back up their claims. At the start of the school year, I shared a media chart like the one linked below with students and had them evaluate different news stories to understand how journalists framed their arguments and asked them to fact check the evidence journalists used. 

    Media bias chart: https://wilmlibrary.org/fact-checking/ 

    It's hard to foster civil discourse in the classroom, especially in today's political climate, but it's also important to teach our students that the only way through this extreme political polarization is for people to listen to each other, to support their arguments with evidence, and claim test what they see on the news and social media.

  • I put together a lesson on Venezuela recently and tried to tie it to where I am in the AP curriculum, which is Unit 5.  We are touching upon revolutions, nationalism and imperialism. I just put the materials I curated in front of the students, let them explore for a bit, and then opened up for responses and questions.   

    I know students want to know and understand. I've had groups of former students come to ask me about Venezuela since they said their US History teachers haven't touched it. That's really a lost opportunity.  If we aren't helping the students frame what's happening, then social media will. 

    www.pbs.org/.../educator-voice-teachers-if-we-dont-teach-maduros-capture-in-venezuela-tiktok-will-heres-my-plan

  • in reply to Angela Lee

     Thanks for sharing your approach and a resource. I imagine connecting this very current event to your course content felt super relevant. What were some questions and insights this sparked for your students?