Tell me something good

Seventh grade humanities looks at United States history alongside current events, and the conversation can get heavy.
 

To help keep optimism in the conversation, their weekly discussion of the news has been reframed to focus on stories of joy, hope and resistance.
 

The seventh grade’s work on current events helps them keep up on the news, but it also aims to build their skills in reading for comprehension, summarizing complicated topics, collaborating with a team and speaking in public.
 

It also gives them practice in recognizing the difference between the objective voice of a journalist and the subjective perspective of an interview subject.
 

Students gather in small groups to read a story and generate a script for a short newscast, then perform it for their classmates.
 

Everyone speaks, everyone listens, everyone learns, and serious work gets done alongside goofy roleplaying, paper mustaches, Australian accents and interviews with cats.

This week’s stories included a West Warwick eight-year-old running a mile a day for fifty day to benefit children with critical illnesses, a community meal-sharing project in Colorado, a repurposed train car delivering health care in India, and a blockbuster young adult novel being adapted into a film.

Got some positive news that seventh graders could bring to life? Email tpaull@gordonschool.org!