TCE Contamination and Cleanup Curriculum

Reading for Knowledge:

Going Beyond the Hype

Author: Catharine Niuzzo Honaman

Editor: Stephanie Nardei

Time: / 2 classes
Preparation Time: / 1 – 2 hours to read the lesson and make copies of the newspaper article or to find an article of your choosing
Materials: / Newspaper article
Highlighter – one set of pink, blue, and yellow for each
small group

Abstract

In this lesson the students will read an article about TCE and separate fact from sensationalism. They will examine vocabulary to see how word choice can influence a reader’s perception of a situation. They will also look at what is presented in the article and what is left out. They will summarize their findings in a paragraph.

Purpose – This is the explore lesson. Students will explore how ideas can be presented in a neutral fashion or through sensationalism or exaggeration.

Objectives

Students will be able to:

1) Read a newspaper article about an environmental health issue identifying words, phrases, and rationales that sensationalize actual scientific understanding of the matter

2) Analyze a newspaper article to separate facts from fear-mongering

National Language Arts Education Standards:

Standard #1

Students read a wide range of print and nonprint text to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world, to acquire new information, to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace, and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

Standard #5

Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Standard #7

Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

Standard #8

Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

ArizonaState Standards: Grade 10

READING

Strand 1: Concept 6: Comprehension Strategies

PO 2. Generate clarifying questions in order to comprehend text.

PO 3. Use graphic organizers in order to clarify the meaning of the text.

PO 3. Connect information and events in text to experience and to related text and

sources.

Strand 3: Concept 1: Expository Text

PO 1. Critique the consistency and clarity of the text’s purposes.

WRITING

W-P2. Write a persuasive essay (e.g., a critique) that contains effective

Introductory and summary statements; arranges the arguments effectively; and fully develops the ideas with convincing proof, details, facts, examples, and descriptions.

PO 3. Create an organizational structure that includes an effective beginning, middle, and ending.

Teacher Background

Knowledge about the historical background to the TCE contamination problem in South Tucson and the current state of the clean up is important to be able to teach this learning cycle.

Related and Resource Websites

List URL and title of page

Activity

  1. The students should have a basic understanding of the facts of the TCE contamination in South Tucson from reading the informational brochure and participating in the class discussions in the engage lesson. They are looking at this environmental health problem from an historical perspective. We know much about where and when it happened as well as why it happened. We know about some of the health effects are still finding out about some others. Your students also have many resources to help them understand this problem – science teachers, the Internet, the school library and the librarians who will help them locate resources.
  1. Ask the students to imagine what it was like for members of the community living in South Tucson when the TCE contamination problem was first being discovered. When did that happen? People started putting personal experiences together and doctors and researchers at UniversityMedicalCenter began detecting disturbing trends in the 1980’s. What were the major sources of information then? People were not on the Internet then!! People relied on newspapers, magazines, and television news. Books and encyclopedias were often used resources for obtaining background information. So print media was very, very important. It is still important now, though today we have more varied sources of information.
  1. We usually assume that something that is in print, that is published, is the truth. That is one reason why it is so important to get one’s information from credible sources. How something is written can have an impact on how the reader sees a situation being written about. For example, ask the students which source would be more credible- The Tucson Citizen or The National Enquirer? Why does one newspaper have a better reputation than the other?
  1. Tell the students that when you read an article you are not just receiving information, you are also getting an impression about the topic. What are some of the things in the article that would create an impression? They would be:
  1. Adjectives (words used to modify nouns and pronouns)
  2. Adverbs (words used to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs)
  3. Words of strong emotional content or connection to a topic
  4. Negative nouns and verbs
  5. Important facts left out
  1. Ask the students to give you an example of each of the categories listed above. They would probably have a very different impression of “Crazed elderly driver hits man trying to escape” and “Heroic older driver uses car to stop fleeing bank robber.” It’s not just the words that are used to describe a situation that influence the reader, it is also what has been left out of the description.
  1. Now the students are going to look at a newspaper article. You may use the suggested article or use one of your own choosing that may be about a more timely current event. Have them get into groups of three and give each group a copy of the article. In their groups the students will read the article and with the highlighters mark the following:
  1. Pink: adjectives and adverbs
  2. Blue: negative nouns and verbs and words of strong emotional content or connection to a topic
  3. Yellow: Put a question mark in places where something may have been left out or the students have a question about something.
  1. After the groups have had sufficient to read most of the article and highlight the significant words and phrases, hold a class discussion in which the groups share what they found in the article that was emotion charged or slanted to one opinion. See what questions they have about the information in the piece that was not answered in the article.
  1. Ask the students to each write a paragraph summarizing their findings. The paragraph does not have to be long, five sentences will do. They need to state their opinion in the first paragraph. Give three examples from the article to back up their opinion. Then end the paragraph with a concluding comment. While using the conventions of the English language is always important, the emphasis here is on cementing the ideas learned in this lesson. You may choose to have the students do a rough draft, have it proofread by a fellow student, and then do a final copy. Or, you may just have them concentrate on writing on good version where only the ideas and format are evaluated.

Closure

Remind the students that we tend to trust information found in the print media. However, just because some article has been published does not mean that we forget to look at it with a critical eye. We must always be evaluating information that comes our way and we must always be looking at the sources from which we obtain our information.

Embedded Assessment

Student learning for this lesson can be assessed by the amount of class participation, how well students contributed to the group work, and the quality of the written work in describing how the article was not entirely neutral.

Homework

Ask the students to find an article in a newspaper or a magazine that is about something they are interested in and that either uses highly charged emotional words or only tells one side of the story.