The Importance of Newspapers

The Importance of Newspapers


As a future teacher, I see that newspapers are very important to the education of our students. It has become a necessity for the common citizen to be educated on global events. By encouraging students to read the newspaper, it not only endorses life long learning, but it also promotes unity throughout the globe. When people are aware of what is going on around the world, they are more likely to interact between countries. The world of technology that is blossoming before our eyes makes global interaction a reality. Newspapers that are on actual paper are becoming objects of our past. It is now very common to have the full published version of a newspaper on the World Wide Web. This makes accessing newspapers very simple. The online version of the papers is not only easier to access, but they also contain more information than the hard copies.
The online versions of the newspapers contain links that give you more information on any given topic. As a teacher there are many resources that could be very useful. There are lesson plans that have to do with any topic that a teacher would like to teach. In these lesson plans there is a great amount of interaction between the student and the web. In a lesson plan that I looked at on voting in the New York Times, there is a way that students can have a mock vote, and see the results via the web. This teaches students such a huge amount of skills in just one lesson. It teaches them to be more comfortable using computers as well as something about voting. There are so many other ways that newspapers can help students become more successful in the world of today. Children, who know more about current events, often find it easier to talk to adults because they have more subjects to talk about. I am speaking from experience because when I am more aware of what is going on, I find it much easier to strike up a conversation with people. By teaching our students conversation skills, it will show them how to network; making them more successful
When I was in elementary school, I was often assigned to report on a current event on a weekly basis. I was never too thrilled about doing this because it was not very interesting to me. By having student interact with the web, I think it would make it more interesting. I think students would realize that current events do effect them and they need to be aware of them. They should be aware of global issues such as destruction of rain forests and pollution. They can see that they can make a difference in the world. This is very important because it not only builds self esteem, but it also helps the earth be a better place.
I look forward to assigning my students to read the newspapers. I think that I will use them on a daily basis to show how much information they contain. I will show the students how to use the newspaper to find jobs as well as to find out about current events. I will show them about the way they can find out about local entertainment attractions and how they can look up the weather forecast. I will try to make sure that all of my lesson plans are full of action so students will be attracted to the newspaper, rather than dread reading it. I hope to be able to show my students that the newspaper is a well of knowledge that can be a useful life long tool.