This past year my school district purchased several iPad and MacBook carts for our school and really pushed technology in the classroom. I wanted to create a way for students to complete current events products using this new technology that went beyond simply searching for an article and printing it off. What I found was a great website called Smore where you can create a variety of online flyers.
Since we were doing current events, I had students create a news bulletin flyer so they could essentially create their own newspaper. I chose to complete this project during our Middle East unit since there is constantly breaking news coming out of that area, and I found that several students didn’t truly understand what was happening, or were only going off of what they had heard people say about the events in the Middle East.
I had students work in groups of three and each had to pretend that they were a news reporter stationed in either Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan. Each student then spent time researching what was happening in the country they picked by reading news articles and summarizing the key information.
The great part about this project was it was also a great way to get students writing. A lot of our students struggled with summarizing and putting information into their own words in their English class, so I took this opportunity for them to practice the skill in my class.
The groups then combined all of their information into one flyer with three articles (one for each country) and pictures to accompany their articles. Take a look at one of the actual products from my students and let me know what you think.
I love S’more! It is easy and fun! Thank you for sharing this – It is one I plan on sharing with my teachers in my school this year.
Krissy,
I’m glad Cassie shared it! It’s new to me – and it sounds great. Will have to give it a try.
Thanks for the comment!
glennw
HI Cassie,
I also teach the Middle East to my 7th graders and really like how you incorporated current events using S’more. I am interested in recreating this lesson and was wondering how much time you allotted? Did you have them turn in a rough draft or peer check before they typed their final draft?
Thank you!
Hannah
I gave the students one class period to find the current events that they wanted to use, one class period to read through and summarize their current events, and one class period to type up their final product. I told the students to read each others summaries before they typed them in their final product and also told them that I would check their rough drafts if they wanted me to. I had about half of my groups get done in the given time and half of my groups needed one more day to finish typing.
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon on a daily basis.
It’s always helpful to read articles from other authors and practice a little
something from other websites.