Current Events Throughout the Year
As the course focuses on connecting the information discussed in the class with real-life, current issues it is imperative that students keep informed and connected to current events and world issues. The class will continually challenge students to think critically about world events as they occur, so current events are an integral part of the class.
Current Event / Issue Activity
One way for students to critically involve the class and help us all gain a deeper understanding of the world is through completing a Current Event Activity and presenting it to the class for discussion. Students are encouraged to sign-up for and create a presentation to introduce a current topic to the class and have the students deeply analyze a topic. Students pursuing this option will be responsible for bringing to class one current event / issue that can be related to a topic that is currently being discussed in class. I will let you know one week in advance when you are to bring your current event /issue and prepare to lead a discussion.
Your responsibilities are as follows:
After having decided on a general topic of interest and understanding how that topic connects to our current unit of study:
- Research a current event/issue from either the US or World news that you find interesting and important and that you can connect to the class unit.
- Prepare a 5 – 10 minute explanation of the topic and your event and how you see them relating to our current study. Consider the following questions in your preparation:
- The five W’s: Who, What, Where, When, Why.
- Why is the current event/issue important?
- How does the event /issue connect to our unit of study?
- How can we best connect the event/issue to our lives?
- Why should students be aware of this event/issue?
- Prepare at least five questions for the audience that would solicit a good discussion. Here you must avoid “Yes” “No” or simple answer questions. One of the questions should address what we can do as individuals to affect positive change regarding the topic.
- Make a written plan as to how you would like the class to discuss the event/issue. You will have about 15 minutes of class for the discussion, and you should be ready to lead the discussion by planning how you want the class to learn from your current event/issue presentation.
- Visuals are encouraged: Maps, statistics, PP presentations, charts, short video clips of news, etc. Anything that will help the viewers understand the topic and your ideas more clearly. All materials you plan to use must be approved by the teacher prior to presentation.
- Your written plan should be ready and sent to your teacher at least two days in advance. Make sure you send along any hyperlinks to any visuals or videos you plan to show ahead of time.
Current Assignment Rubric
| The Event Chosen is: | Explanation of the Current Event is: | Explanation of how Event Connects to class topic is: | Explanation of why Event is important to understand and connect: | Preparation to lead the class discussion was: | Prepared questions for discussion: |
| Very important and interesting | Very thorough and easy to understand | Very well connected throughout the presentation | Very well explained throughout | Very thoroughly completed with plans and five questions or more in the plan | Led to a very interesting discussion that allowed students to participate fully |
| Somewhat important and interesting | Somewhat thorough and easy to understand | Well connected overall, although a few elements are missing | Well explained overall, although a few elements are missing | Somewhat thorough with at least four questions and brief class discussion plans prepared | Most of the questions encouraged an interesting conversation |
| Of little importance but interesting | Briefly explained but easy to understand | Somewhat connected, but a lot of possible connections missed | Well explained overall, although a few elements are missing | At least three questions prepared and brief discussion plans completed | Some of the questions encouraged an interesting conversation |
| Of little importance and not very interesting | Briefly explained and difficult to understand | Briefly connected, but a lot of detail missed | Briefly explained, but a lot of detail missed | At least two questions prepared and brief discussion plans completed | Very few of the questions encouraged an interesting conversation |
| Not prepared or chosen | Not well explained | Connection to class topic was missed | Explanation of importance and relevance was missed | No more than two questions for discussion prepared and no preparation for discussion given | Questions failed to encourage an interesting discussion |
Comments:
Final Grade: ________