Newspapers create a value for what is being taught in the classroom by making the content relevant to the student. Bottom line: It gives students a reason for learning!
"A Dozen Good Reasons for Using the Newspaper in your Classroom"
1. It's an adult medium. No big seventh-grader who has difficulty reading likes to be seen carrying around "Six Ducks in a Pond," but that same student is proud to be seen reading the newspaper.
2. It deals in reality, in what's happening here and now. Motivation is built in for reading and discussion.
3. It bridges the gap between the classroom and the "real" world outside.
4. It contains history as it happens, reported as completely and objectively as possible. 5. It is the ideal text for individualized instruction because it contains something for every student the comics for reading enjoyment, the ediorials for thinking skills, math problems ranging from number recognition to understanding stock reports, and information that can be used in every academic discipline.
6. It contains practical vocabulary, words students will use over and over throughout their lives. It provides a perfect base for learning English.
7. It can be marked, cut, pasted, colored all important to those who learn by doing and seeing.
8. It contains, in its news stories, the best models for clear, concise, simple writing.
9. It is the perfect model for teaching students to write for a purpose and for a particular audience.
10. It is the only up-to-date social studies and science text there is.
11. It is the only text most students will continue to read throughout their lives.
12. It is an influential and integral part of our free society. Its freedom is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. This freedom is "less the right of the newspaper to print than it is the right of the citizens to read
Why N.I.E.?
1. Newspapers meet state standards for expository, informational text reading and analysis.
2. Newspapers are a history-in-the-making experience. Standard textbooks are outdated by the time they arrive in the clasroom.
3. Newspaper reading expands vocabulary.
4. Analysis and decision making skills develop by reading and discussing current affairs and relating them to historical data.
5. Tolerance of the diverse nature of the world's cultures can be nurtured through reading the newspaper.
6. Free reading of the parts of the newspaper the student selects and enjoys, can be relaxing and a decompression time for those students who are feeling stress.
Reading the newspaper is a right and a privilege which most students don't comprehend. They have never known of a society where free speech and a free press were NOT the norm.
* Newspapers are inexpensive, timely and local.
* They are familiar and less threatening or intimidating than other media.
* They don't need to be plugged in, logged on or caught at a particular time.
* Once you learn to use one newspaper, you can transfer those skills
to any other newspaper in the world. (That's why in teaching about
newspapers, we focus on their general structure, not only the daily
content.)
* Newspapers help students learn how information can be organized.
With the ever-increasing glut of information available, that is an
important skill.
* Newspapers are an important tool for lifelong learning.
* By helping children learn how to manage information, newspapers
help children deal with its abundance. Young readers learn:
** That no one can or should read it all
** That there is information of interest and relevance to each of us
in the newspaper
** That the newspaper helps us to learn about the changes we need to
understand, and it is tool for lifelong learning.
I have used the newspaper in my classroom since the early 70's and I have
always felt that it almost taught itself. Newspaper day was going to be
easy for me, because once we started reading it, we never knew where it
was going to take us, usually around the world. I always had the kids
look on a map to see where the story came from. When I had a self
contained classroom, I could teach almost every subject right there from
the newspaper. Whatever was happening in the world, we knew about it. We
always covered the local news and discussed how it might inpact our lives
or the lives of our friends and loved ones. Someone would always say,
"Miss, here's my cousin or here's my neighbor in the paper."
In an article entitled "Learning by Doing: Implementing Commnity Service-based Learning" author Jeff R. Crump says, "According to the educational philosophy of John Dewey, learning occurs when knowledge is directly linked to experience(Dewey 1990). By linking what goes on in the classroom directly to real world experience, community service-based learning(CSBL) implements Dewey's pedagogical theory."
Now, couldn't we conclude and say, "According to the educational philosophy of John Dewey, learning occurs when knowledge is directly linked to experience(Dewey 1990). By linking what goes on in the classroom directly to real world experience, NIE implements Dewey's pedagogical theory."
A few years back when Homesead, Florida almost got wiped out by a
hurricane, we followed the whole thing in the newspaper and then kids
would go home and watch the news and report back about it. We did
reading, math, social studies, geography, history, science, (the whole
thing) in the newspaper. We did hurricane preparedness, just in case the
storm came across the Gulf of Mexico and hit us.
A mother called me and ask, "What are you studying in class? My son comes
home sounding like Tim Smith, the weatherman on Channel 5 KRGV."
If a person could read and never went to a formal school, they would have
the equivalent of an 8th grade education just by reading a daily
newspaper.
Learning to read and use the newspaper as a resource, prepares a student for life.
What other textbook will the students use for the rest of their lives?
The newspaper is a valued news source containing the most up-to-date information,
allowing a student to learn to discern and form an opinion about the world around him.
The classroom setting is appropriate for NIE because the teachers can do hands-on activities with the students....without cutting up mom and dad's copy. In many situations, the newspaper the students take home, is the only copy in the home.
Educating students with newspapers in important so that they will understand what Jay Leno is talking about in his monologue. It will also make his "Jay Walking" feature on the Tonight Show become obsolete. Many college students don't even know the answers to some of the most basic current events and American history questions. If we can interest young children in the world around them with newspapers by making learning current events fun - then hopefully it will be a life-long curiosity. Not only do we hope to peek the curiosity of children, but also that they will take the newspaper home and initiate conversations with family members who might otherwise be indifferent or too busy to discuss what's happening in the world. NIE helps instill Literacy and Learning for Life!
In addition to learning to read, write and do 'rithmatic, our future leaders need to be aware of what is happening in the community they live in.
Knowledge is Power.
The diverse information contained in the newspaper creates informed citizens and shows kids that they have the power to participate in and make a difference in the world in which they live.
NIE is important because it encourages students to become involved in the daily issues of thier lives through an informative, motivating and entertaining resource.
Improved student performance and behavior.
The NEWS in "newspaper" says it all:
.....NEW everyday...NEW perspectives....NEW discoveries...NEW
vocabulary...... NEW life skill opportunities....
...NEW ways to meet performance objectives using a NEW
accross-the-curriculum
resource....NEW developments in our world....