Current Events

Every year when teaching Social Studies 8 I would try to find time for current events. It is a rich curriculum, which I never adequately cover. Although current events are more relevant than the horsemanship skills of the Mongols, It was a curricular area I never got to, until I started putting it online last year. What allowed me to do this was
nicenet a non-profit service for educators which is very simple, but allows for the posting of links and documents and for online discussions. Some of the topics which I have covered in the last year are gay marriage, the Iraq invasion, the coup in Haiti and the Dalai Lama’s visit. This past week we discussed whether or not the US election was rigged. Here are the links which I used.
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New York Post
USA Today
WSOCTV
Global Research
CBC
I asked the students to first read the links, then respond to whether or not they think that Bush won fairly or if they think that he rigged the election. I began, as usual, by being the first to post, and by posting from both extreme sides of the case. As usual, the discussion was very interesting. Each student then has to summarize the discussion and submit his or her two best posts.
Before embarking on this project, I have to teach students how to critically read online and how to discuss online. Grade eights can easily learn this.
As moderator, it is interesting for me to step back from the arguments which I see as particularly naive or radical.