Current Events Scrapbook
Due Date: ______
Materials:
9” x 12” Construction paper or unlined white paper
News articles (Spanish, Internet or magazine OK)
Depth & Complexity handout pages (3), cut into quarters
Glue
Markers or gel pens
Objective:
Apply the dimensions of depth and complexity to newspaper articles of current events.
Procedure:
Collect articles that illustrate the tools of depth and complexity – from print newspapers, online newspapers, news magazines such as Time or Newsweek. Spanish language articles are OK. You need to consider all parts of the newspaper, including the comics, the weather report, and sports scores
Cut out the article neatly, making sure you get the whole article. You can include a picture if it will fit on the page. If you’re using online news, print it out.
Glue the article and the depth and complexity information sheet for that icon to a piece of construction paper. Title the page with the name of the icon and the type of article (for example, “Language of the Discipline” and “Sports”). See sample above.
Fill out the depth and complexity analysis quarter sheet. If “Where” and “When” are not mentioned, you may leave those two spaces blank. The other information MUST be completed.
Articles must represent different types of articles, such as news, comics, weather reports, sports, movie/TV reviews, classified ads, editorials, advice columns, political cartoons
Repeat the procedure for the rest of the pages.
When you have completed all pages, staple the pages together down the left side, or tie together with yarn. You may use a report cover if you used regular white paper. The pages can be in any order.
Make a cover with a title, appropriate decoration, and your name, period, and the due date.
Things to Know:
You may not use more than two of the same type of article:
News printed from the Internet is OK as long as it is NEWS – which movie star is dating which rock star is NOT news. News magazines such as Time or Newsweek are OK to use.
Presentation counts – cut things out neatly, glue them straight (at an angle for creative purposes is OK as long as you do that throughout the scrapbook), write neatly, and make sure your writing is legible (readable).
Creativity helps your book stand out from the rest – but don’t get carried away.
ICONS:
Language of the Discipline = write at least 5 words used in the article that are examples of specialized language or words that have different meanings used in this context.
Details = list 3 details about the topic mentioned in the article.
Rules = explain a rule that is stated or implied in the article. For example, an article about a law being voted on in Congress might say, “laws must be passed by both the House and the Senate.” That’s a rule.
Patterns = identify a pattern you see in the article. For example, in the temperature listings, maybe you notice that the cities along the coast are always cooler than the inland cities. That’s a pattern.
Trend = describe a trend –what caused a change in the way things were happening? For example, stores such as Blockbuster have gone out of business, because changes in technology allow people to download DVDs – no one rents them anymore. The change in technology is the trend.
Ethical Issues = describe the ethical issue (fairness, justice, or right and wrong) or write a question. For example, if a story is about school dress codes, you might say “it’s not fair that girls are allowed to wear earrings but boys aren’t.” The ethical issue here is equality between the genders. Remember, just because you don’t like something doesn’t make it unfair.
Unanswered Questions = write 1 or 2 questions you have that relate to the article but aren’t answered in the article.
Big Idea = identify a big idea – a generalization that is true no matter what culture, time period, or place you’re talking about. For example, in a story about the hurricane evacuees, you might see a big idea about people banding together in a crisis.
Multiple Perspectives = identify the different point of view – “this person thinks . . ., but the other person thinks . . . “.
Changes Over Time = trace how something is different now than it used to be
Think Like a Disciplinarian= show a person in a profession who is doing very specialized work – a doctor, engineer, chemist, architect, historian, archaeologist, etc.
Parallels= show similarities between events happening in different places, or at different times.