Written by Helen A. Finken and Julie Weiss

How can Newsweek ThisWeek be used to extend student learning in the classroom? This guide offers suggestions for you to consider as you plan your Newsweek lessons. Specify Your Purpose for Using Newsweek in the Classroom

Newsweek ThisWeek will be most valuable to you when you have a well-defined answer to this question: What goal(s) do I want students to achieve by using Newsweek? The answer might be one or several: improve skill development (reading, writing, thinking, speaking), increase awareness of political issues, extend understanding of contemporary society and/or link historical events to today's developments. Once your goals are specified, you will be able to utilize Newsweek ThisWeek's components to guide student learning.

Preliminary Considerations Portfolio Project Using Newsweek ThisWeek's Components Class Activities Special Focused Activities Campaign 2000 Activities Media Literacy Activities Today's Language Weekly Quiz Additional Activities Tips for ESL Classes Long-term Benefits

Preliminary Considerations

• Time
  Review the amount of time you need (and have available) each week for Newsweek activities. How will you schedule the lessons throughout the week? Will students be expected to do portions of the Newsweek ThisWeek lessons as homework? Will you be consistent from week-to-week in the amount of time you devote to Newsweek activities?
• Newsweek Availability
  Consider the number of copies of Newsweek available for student use. The way you use Newsweek ThisWeek activities will be influenced by how accessible Newsweek is to your students. Will each student have a copy of Newsweek? Will copies be placed on reserve in your school library? Will students have access to Newsweek online (www.newsweek.com) at school and/or at home? Will you need to coordinate your students' use of Newsweek with other teachers' lessons?
• Individual and/or Cooperative Learning
  Determine the extent to which you will expect students to work independently or cooperatively to complete the Newsweek ThisWeek activities. Both types of learning formats may be selected from the Newsweek ThisWeek lessons.

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Portfolio Project
One way to organize Newsweek lessons throughout an entire term is to use the Newsweek ThisWeek Portfolio Project. Guidelines for using the Portfolio Project are detailed at Newsweek ThisWeek. Each Newsweek ThisWeek denotes specific activities that can be included in a student portfolio. The Portfolio Project serves as an over-arching structure that will make the use of Newsweek in the classroom manageable and meaningful. The blended portfolio format recommended by Newsweek ThisWeek allows for teacher and student input into the portfolio components.

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Using Newsweek ThisWeek's Components
Keeping in mind your curriculum goals, classroom circumstances and whether you assign the Portfolio Project, review each Newsweek ThisWeek's suggested activities. Plan how you will integrate the learning segments into your instructional program. Newsweek ThisWeek's activities can be used in a variety of ways to help you meet your goals:

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Class Activities

1. Newsweek ThisWeek highlights four articles each week, and offers three or four class activities for each article.
2. The articles come from different sections of the magazine–National Affairs, International Affairs, Society, Science & Technology, Arts & Entertainment. You might choose an article for in-depth analysis, based on the section of the magazine in which it appears, and your curricular needs.
3. There are a variety of activities for each article–usually involving speaking, writing, discussion and something more visual. Often there will be an activity that asks students to use the Internet to supplement information found in the article. If you want to focus on one particular skill, choose that activity for each of the four articles.
4. When an article is unusually complex, at least one activity will help students organize the article's information using a visual organizer, outline or summary.
5. The rest of the activities tend to focus more on higher-order thinking skills than direct recall. They ask students to use the information in the article to complete a task; students must understand what they've read in order to do the activities. (As part of the Weekly Quiz the Student Guide to Articles guides their reading and helps ensure that they understand what they read.)
6. If the activities include both the article and a sidebar that accompanies it, the sidebar will be identified in the title of the activities.
7. One or more of the activities for each article is identified as suitable for students' portfolios.
8. Completing all the activities for all four articles might take more time than you have. If that is the case, choose one article for students to work with in depth, or choose one activity from each article, or do a jigsaw activity, in which small groups work on different activities, and then present their work to the rest of the class. Students need not have completed all the activities to be able to take the quiz.
9. Another approach is to assign all articles to a group of four students who become "Issue Experts." One student becomes the ‘expert’ on international issues, another becomes the ‘expert’ on national affairs, etc. They complete the suggested Newsweek ThisWeek tasks, working first with a jigsaw group that has been assigned the same article. Then they return to their group of four and review the essential information in their assigned article. Student composition of the groups may remain the same over several weeks, as can the responsibility for specific Newsweek sections.
10. In addition to completing and presenting the Newsweek ThisWeek activities for each article, students present the historical basis of their issue to their group and identify, if possible, a local connection to the topic. At the conclusion of the "Issue Expert" discussions, each group predicts the way the issue might develop over the next few weeks or months. Save these predictions for future reference. Each group chooses the article that they feel is so significant that it should be included in a year-in-review edition of Newsweek. At the end of the term, each group reviews their selections and defends their top recommendations for a retrospective issue.

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Special Focused Activities
When suggested, use the Focus Activities as portfolio entries. Other Focused Activities can be used as long-term research projects for the "Issue Expert" groups. Have students present their Focused Activities to the class during a "Newsweek Reporters' Symposium." Each group is responsible for visuals, a handout that summarizes their research findings, and a focus question that will engage their classmates in a discussion of their Focused Activity topic.

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Campaign 2000 Activities

1. Have students add a Campaign 2000 section to their Portfolio Project or assign a separate Campaign 2000 portfolio. In either case, use the Campaign 2000 activity suggestions to expand students' understanding of the electoral process, candidates, political parties and issues.
   
2. Create a Campaign 2000 time line on a bulletin board or classroom wall. Divide the time line into the number of weeks remaining before the November election. After completing the week's Campaign 2000 activity, have students place a "Campaign Update" sheet on the time line. Samples of student essays, polls, pictures and quotes of candidates can be included on the weekly "Campaign Update."

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Media Literacy Activities

1. Each week, Newsweek ThisWeek includes a special media-literacy activity. Its aim is to get students to look beyond the information in the magazine, and to focus on how that information is presented. Examples of media literacy include: evaluating the role the media play in elections, looking for bias in presentation, studying the impact layout has on readers and searching photographs for the point of view they present. Media-literacy activities help students develop their critical thinking skills, because they are looking at both the stated and unstated information conveyed in the magazine.
2. The media-literacy activities can also be linked to other Newsweek ThisWeek assignments. For instance, the February 28, 2000, Media-Literacy activity that asks students to analyze photographs of candidates can be used as a Campaign 2000 activity. Utilize the media-literacy activities each week or in a separate unit during the term. Have students complete a particular number of media-literacy activities from categories such as article analysis, language use, poll interpretation, etc. Save past editions of Newsweek for students to use during a separate Media-Literacy unit.

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Today's Language

1. Each week, Newsweek ThisWeek identifies seven to 10 words, found in the four articles, that students might not know. There are often more unfamiliar words in the articles. After the students have thoroughly read the articles for understanding, have students get in the habit of circling vocabulary words with which they are unfamiliar. Then, working alone or with other students, they can try to determine the meaning from the context, and then check their guess using a dictionary. Keep a semester-long list of words, and re-visit them regularly to help students remember the new words they are learning.
   
2. As students work on the classroom activities with their "Issue Expert" groups, have them determine definitions from context clues for each of the Today's Language words.
   
3. As directed in Newsweek ThisWeek, have students work together to check their guesses using a dictionary.
   
4. Another approach to using Today's Language is to give students a matching pre-test. List the words and their context in Column A; put the definitions of the words in Column B. Have students retake the quiz after reading the articles and using a dictionary to look up the words.
   
5. Students may create a Today's Language list in their notebook that contains the words and definitions they missed in the pre-test. Encourage students to use words from Today's Language lists in their portfolio essays.

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Weekly Quiz
The Newsweek ThisWeek's Weekly Quiz can be used in several ways. It can be given individually to students, with individual scores used in a manner consistent with your grading procedures.

The weekly quiz is based on the four selected articles.

Students should be able to do the quiz whether or not they have completed the class activities.

Students can take the quiz using the magazine to find the information, or without the magazine, to test their recall.

Students can take the quiz alone or in pairs.

If you want to focus on writing and synthesis, have your students answer all three essay questions, rather than completing the other sections of the test. Writing the essays will require that they understand the article, so you will be testing comprehension, albeit indirectly.

The Weekly Quiz can also be administered to the "Issue Expert" groups. Have the groups discuss and mark the quiz together; each group member earns the same score. Instead of collecting all group quizzes, have students number their quizzes 1 through 4. Roll a die and collect the number of the quiz that matches the die. If a "5" or "6" appears on the die, students may choose the quiz to turn in for grading. This encourages students to listen attentively to their group discussion, and mark their quizzes thoroughly and accurately.

Have group members take the quiz independently but award points on the basis of the average of the scores the group members earned. This increases students' attention to group members’ presentations to the "Issue Expert" discussions. They recognize that the presentations are important to their learning and will be assessed. Assign essay questions to be completed individually during the quiz period or as homework. Encourage students to cite information presented in Newsweek to support their responses. Have students add their essays to their portfolios. Remind students that they can polish some of these essays for their final portfolio. Encourage students to use relevant words from "Today's Language" in their polished essays.

Use the Weekly Quiz's section, "Student Guide to Articles," to begin "Issue Expert" group discussions. Have each group form additional questions to ask the person who read the article. Discuss how important it is for reporters to phrase questions that will elicit the kinds of information needed to give a complete view of the event or issue.

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Additional Activities
Using the format of Newsweek ThisWeek's sections, create additional activities that build skills and extend understanding. For example, develop a section entitled "Today's Geography," modeled after "Today's Language." Use maps and articles from the current issue of Newsweek to prepare the list of geographic places. Create clues for each place based on the events occurring there.Post Newsweek covers throughout the room in chronological order. As a Media Literacy Activity, analyze the individuals and issues chosen for the covers. What reasons might the editors have used when choosing the cover? What alternative covers might have been more appropriate for each week? Why?

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Tips for ESL Classes

1. Have students use the Student Guide to Articles to guide their reading and understanding.
2. Choose the Class Activities that use the skills you are trying to emphasize–e.g., reading, speaking, writing.
   
3. Use pre-reading activities as warm-ups before students actually read the articles. These might include: discussing the headline and photographs, reading the captions and pull quotes, and studying any graphics that accompany the article.
   
4. Focus on one article in depth, rather than trying to complete activities about all four articles.
   
5. Use advertisements and photographs as well as articles as the basis for writing and discussion.
   
6. Use Letters to the Editor, as well as articles, because they are short and concise.
   
7. Avoid the multiple choice section of the quiz; it can be very confusing for students who are just learning English.
   

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Long-term Benefits
As you utilize Newsweek ThisWeek in your classroom, keep in mind that it contains active and challenging learning activities for all students. When used consistently in conjunction with Newsweek, ThisWeek activities help students meet knowledge and skills’ goals that will benefit them in their future academic endeavors and prepare them for active participation as informed citizens.

Current and archival copies of Newsweek ThisWeek and ThisWeek Extras! are available at http://www.school.newsweek.com.