The Guide to Teaching
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Using Newspapers in the Classroom
From: crawford@creighton.edu
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 10:43:47 -0600 (CST)
Pat,
One strategy that has worked for me (as a faculty member and
as a student) is the use of 1-2 page short writing assignments that
require students to tie a news article to class concepts/theories. They
are probably most effective if used often (once a week or once every other
week). Two downsides: 1) the volume of grading; 2) this heavy of an
investment in news analysis makes it difficult to incorporate much other
writing in the course. If you are willing to use weekly assignments, you
could alternate news analysis with some other type of analytical writing
to address problem (2). As an undergraduate, my instructor dealt with the
first problem by using graders. She looked at the papers and our comments
periodically, but did not have the big stack of papers every Friday.
If the main purpose is to have the material for discussion, asking for the
article citation and 1/2 page summary with one paragraph
about the connection to class material might be enough. That would
require them to find an article, but would not be as writing (or grading)
intensive. I may try this strategy in my American Government class next
semester.
Sue Crawford
Creighton University
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