Educators know that studying current events provides students with an important sense of context and can help them become more aware of the problems and challenges that occur in the world around them. In fact, Facing History and Ourselves has put together a collection of teaching ideas on COVID-19 that can serve as an excellent resource for educators looking to incorporate current events into their lessons.
Regardless of how you choose to address current events in your classroom, it’s vital that you do so in a way that is appropriate for your students’ needs and comfort levels. To help you do so, The New York Times offers a list of “green, yellow and red lines” that can be used to determine the level of sensitivity or emotion a topic can elicit.
It’s also important to help students recognize how news and current events can be manipulated by media outlets and other sources. This is an excellent opportunity to teach research skills and how to distinguish between facts and opinion.
In addition, it can be a good idea to encourage students to take time to reflect on their own feelings and reactions to an event. This can be done by having them respond to an article or news clip with a “3, 2, 1” response, which asks them to share 3 key takeaways from the story, 2 personal reactions and thoughts on it and finally 1 question they have about it.