Fighting Words Poetry Contest from the Pulitzer Center
Help your students to make sense of current events and connect in a personal way with poetry by using materials from the Pulitzer Center.
current events
#wgoitgraph
“What’s Going on in this Graph?” is a new feature from the New York Times that will appear on the second Tuesday monthly for the rest of this school year. Building on the success of a long-running similar activity, “WGOITPicture,” this version posts a graphic that has appeared recently in the NYT, with much of … Read more
The Pulitzer Center
In yesterday’s blog post, I mentioned how our class has connected with experts through Skype in the Classroom. One of the experts was a science reporter named Erik Vance, who helped my 3rd graders really understand the impact overfishing has had on ocean ecosystems. (The students are working on a Genius Hour project about protecting … Read more
Literature Quote Bingo
The New York Times has many lesson plans and other resources for educators that can help with the integration of current events. One portion of the site that you may not know about is the page that offers, “Over 50 Reusable Activity Sheets to Teach any Day’s Times.” With downloadable PDF’s of graphic organizers, games, discussion starters, and … Read more
Newsela
I think that my brain naturally looks for trends. Whether it’s on social media, in Flipboard magazine articles, or at education conferences, if I’ve heard about something more than a few times, my brain starts alerting me that I should try something new, already! Newsela is one of those tools that kept turning up in educational discussions, … Read more
Civil Rights for All
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is coming up in the States next week. Sadly, so much has been in the news lately about civil rights violations all over the world that it’s difficult to comprehend that anything has improved since King’s legacy survives. As a teacher, I want to be sure that my students learn empathy … Read more