 I think one of the things that I really enjoy about using current affairs with my students is the fact that it really makes them aware of issues that are out in the world and in our local community and so on. So just that awareness that a lot of the things that are happening in our local community are also happening out there. So just starting to get that idea that there is many different perspectives and facts and opinions on issues and they're not only here but they're all over the world. The second thing is teaching the children to look at current affairs and look at statements in current affairs and having them distinguish, learning how to distinguish between fact and opinion is very important. It helps them become a critical reader that not everything they read whether it's on the internet or they hear it on the news is a fact and that's really important just a starting point. And then being critical thinkers in a democratic society they then have to go beyond that. They have to not only understand well this is a fact because it can be proven by statistics or whatever and we use class made criteria after we read stories and so on to help them look at things and be able to refer to criteria and then judge that but then beyond that they need to learn how to make good decisions and that occurs when they look at the article, look at different opinions in articles and then start seeing that and they have to when we use our anticipation guides for example they have to select a level of agreement on an opinion initially before they read some information and then after that as they read they are gathering information and then looking at oh my idea or what I thought about that issue might be different then I'm getting all these different perspectives coming in from the article and different people's opinion and that now is making me reevaluate how I thought and then based on new information and other and then also communicating it within their group when they work in a group they're getting all these different perspectives they're reevaluating have to think very critically in their mind and now they're reassessing and having to look at their idea and now judge their level of agreement and that can be very different from what they started with they're again having to back that up so they're making a reason judgment on what they originally thought what they think now why did I make that change and that's very powerful as well we have anticipation guides that we use where they're looking at the reading a current event article and they'll look at a statement and opinion and so they have to evaluate whether they agree or disagree on that to what level they agree or disagree on that and then they read and it's very important that they understand that sometimes it's okay to change your mind sometimes we have more information it's all right to rethink those things and reevaluate them I found that monitoring the students as they worked was really powerful listening to what they had to say having them refer to the opinion on their page for example and then point very directly to the criteria that we had come up with I found that the fact that the students who were referring to that gave me a lot of information on how well they were able to distinguish fact and opinion looking at the responses later on the anticipation guide where how well did they defend their reasoning it gave me the idea that my next steps would be to come up with a rubric that would help me look at those reasoned statements and see how well thought out were they just sort of a basic reason how well did they go back in the article and really choose the relevant information that supported their reasoning so I think there's a lot of powerful assessment there but the conversations were probably the best also when they went up and put their stickies up you know that was communicating with the whole class the children loved that and it was a quick assessment for me too because they had to write their reasons on that in order to make their decision at the end and I think that was very powerful as well and they enjoyed it as well which is always great. Okay when we're looking at distinguishing between fact and opinion or to what degree something's fact and opinion the conversations with the kids are really key because they'll tell you well I think this is a fact because it has a key word which is great they're using the class made criteria but you have to go beyond that so you do those questioning things and they'll tell you well I think this one is an opinion because it says people might believe this but they also have evidence to back it up like they gave a percentage so it's looking at to what degree something is and really examining that so those conversations with kids are really key. I found even the reading of the article was very motivating for the children because believe you know we sometimes think the children are very unaware of what's going on in the world and yet a lot of them hear little bits and pieces of things on the news or so on so when they get to actually read an article on the meteoriter or on the Olympics whatever they there there's motivation right off the bat and so all children are already motivated to read. I found that it was very easy to differentiate. I have a real wide range of abilities in my class and yet and current affairs is very motivating to them all. In the fact and opinion for example using in order they can cut for example rather than have to write they can number the opinion and put it on their fact and opinion sheet. They can work with a partner if they choose to and so to help with reading and that kind of thing and being able to use only four statements rather than eight so they're so those have finished early or wanted to go a little bit further read all of the statements they could do that if they only wanted to do four and choose choose therefore then that was fine too as long as they were engaged in the in the activity. One of the things that I did was grouping because I have some students that are lower readers we have very diverse range in our classroom so in terms of my students who would have a hard time reading that I grouped them with students that would be able to read for them and they did most of their work in partners so that that wasn't an issue also with the fact and opinion continuum I had stickies for them to just so they could just put the sticky on the sheet and that is so that gives the kids a movement to do as well so it's those kind of learners and then they don't necessarily have to do the writing so for my students who are struggle more with the writing they don't have to do as much. I've been very lucky I have a wonderful teaching partner and I've had the opportunity also to work with an excellent social studies consultant that has helped us see many of the resources that are available out there for the new social studies curriculum. We have spent many many hours going through all the different resources whether it be textbooks the online resource just talking looking through the resources our social studies consultant has provided us with and really trying to kind of tweak and get things refined as far as what are the expectations in the new curriculum. My teaching partner and I are also part of the teachers a coach pilot and so it's given us many opportunities to share and think and plan activities around the new social studies curriculum and we're still in the process of course if we finding it and so on but being able to work with a partner that's sort of on the same in the same place right now learning the same learning curve and having had the same social studies and services has really helped us brainstorm a lot of activities and come up with some some very good products and we're still learning a lot from each other and I think as we go on we'll be able to refine it even more as time goes on. Well I've been really lucky my teaching partner and I both participated in a social studies are in service on the new curriculum so we had a lot of time there with the consultant and with other teachers to really examine the curriculum and get a better understanding of it ourselves and just those conversations that you have with the other teachers are really great you know someone will be really excited about this book that they found that helps you teach about running for office and so you get to share all those things together also I really love working with Irene she's a fantastic teaching partner and she has such great ideas and she tends to be very structured and step by step which is great for the kids and I tend to be more about connections so I'm a little bit all over the place but together I think when we bring our ideas together we have what's best for the kids because it's a little bit of both. One of the things that they've been saying is how much they really enjoy reading the current affairs it's helping them become more aware of what's going on in their local community as well as the world and they do enjoy that. The other thing is that they're realizing that everything they read is not factual whether they're seeing it on the internet or hearing it on the news they're starting to realize that they have to read much more critically and carefully because it's not all fact and that there are the people's opinion and they're trying to persuade them to their point of view so that's important for them to realize and they're also realizing that gee at some point I am going to be a citizen at 18 years old and I need to be a careful reader because I'm going to have some choices I'm going to be voting I need to be able to read very carefully so that I'm a really good informed citizen. They've really come to an understanding that they need to make informed decisions and that they need to really examine what is happening in those current events so they know what's going on in the world and so they can make informed decisions and take action if they choose to do so. I've learned that you have to tell the difference between a fact and opinion so you know if something's real or not. We were reading articles about how and how to tell facts and opinions because as citizens we should tell the difference between a fact and opinion. I've learned that I'm very lucky to live in a democratic nation and that I have very I have a lot of rights and freedoms that a lot of other nations don't have. I've learned to see both sides of a debate or an argument because different people have different opinions. Current affairs has taught me that it is important to know what's going on in your government so that you so that when you turn 18 you can be an informed voter. That you have to be a careful reader and know the difference between facts or opinions so that someone might be trying to persuade you to their point of view, persuade you to the point of view which with opinions rather than facts. When I analyze current affairs it tells me what kind of person I should vote for when I turn 18. She will play and acts it out but she doesn't tell us the answers because she wants us to learn and find out what it is and she gives us articles and we write brainstorm and drop down notes. We get asked questions where you don't have to completely agree or disagree where you can say you slightly agree like maybe like one point but you don't like another. She gives us sheets like anticipation guides articles and placements which gives us motivation to read the articles. She asks us questions that are not right or wrong yes or no so that we have to really think about what both sides so we can make a decision. You give us little quizzes just to see what we know and then lady you give us big quizzes and when you ask some question even if we don't have a hand up you ask us just so everyone can learn. If we answer a question and we get it wrong you talk about it for a bit and you talk about the answer with us and you give us a little hint. So we can think about it a bit more. We read textbooks together and we summarize the answers because sometimes there's sometimes we don't understand the words in there and we talk about it and she takes one one of us all the kids or all the students to say what we do voting and so voices could be heard in class. She passes out to yellow stickies to us which then we write and serves on a question she has given us and then she makes and then she has us put it up on the board to see what everyone else's thoughts are. My teachers ask us a question while we're in a group with other students and even sometimes we change your minds about the question and which helps us reach a group consensus.