tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post4013106045699656938..comments2024-03-29T06:57:49.917-04:00Comments on Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Osama bin Laden Dead. GoGo News - A site to help talk about those difficult current events.Lisa Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07759123507185453030noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-15188090216937389732011-05-19T08:17:18.275-04:002011-05-19T08:17:18.275-04:00Last week I gave GoGoNews a trial in my 5th grade ...Last week I gave GoGoNews a trial in my 5th grade classroom, contrasting it against some of the other activities that we have done this year. From the outset of our school year, current events are a fixed part of our curriculum and done very much in concert with our parent community. As the news by itself often raises more questions than answers with children, parents are required to act as mediators to process the dizzying array of issues that emerge. Noble efforts have been undertaken by Khosrowshahi to present the news in a way that does indeed raise the awareness of children of the world around them and cultures very different from their own. As for my own students, they likened the site to GoodNewsNetwork.com. Having already had the hard discussions with their parents of the tumultuous news cycle of the last six months, students broadly felt the site had a pat approach to the issues of the day. As a function of their age and development, I thought it interesting my students ability to differentiate between hard and soft news. The discussion of current events for children holds the virtue of enabling students to form opinions, raising consciousness and developing civic-mindedness (along with countless others). Because of its importance, it needs to be delivered honorably and sincerely, taking into account the earnest curiosities of the learner. While GoGoNews might not be ideal for my own classroom, it could certainly aid younger learners (K-3) with their parents and teachers to make some sense of the maddening complexities of the world today.Davey Neillhttp://teachers.saschina.org/dneill/noreply@blogger.com