“Students can explore the information gathered in context,
which means that they examine the information in relation to the medium that
produced it and determine the degree to which what they read is affected by
interests, perspectives, agendas and worldviews that from knowledge and knowing
in particular ways. Using a lens that
combines teaching with, through, and about the newspaper, we offer a conceptual
framework for such an engagement by highlighting important issues for
consideration and presenting questions that can make the process more
meaningful than currently taking place in social studies classrooms.” (92)
Segall, A and Schmidtt, S. (2006). Reading the newspaper as
a social text. The Social Studies, 97, 3,
91-99.
In their article “Reading the Newspaper as a Social Text”,
Avner Segall and Sandra Schmidtt argue that educators need to alter the way
they use newspapers in the classroom.
They acknowledge that yes, we can promote literacy through newspapers
but we should also be teaching literacy of newspapers. They say we should be teaching our students
to read newspapers critically, not merely using them as an unquestioned source
of facts. The authors also claim that
many educators do little to dissuade students from viewing newspapers as
neutral sources of information. They
argue that we should show them instead that newspapers are “sources of
positions” that deliberately include certain details while leaving out
others. The authors urge teachers to
explain to students that because the news is written by people and does not
write itself, it is influenced by a myriad of choices made by those who gather,
write, edit, and prioritize the news. We
should explicitly show students how newspapers are made and ask them to
explore, observe, and question those choices made by journalists, editors, and
newspaper owners. Many social studies teachers who employ newspapers in the
classroom use them to teach curriculum, few teach them as part of the
curriculum. While critical of current
trends in newspaper education in social studies classrooms, Segall and Schmidtt
offer a straightforward approach teachers can follow to introduce their
students to real newspaper literacy.
I found their suggested method to be thought-provoking and
engaging for students. They recommend
that teachers lead their classes through a lesson that analyzes and compares
different sections of newspapers and among different papers. The authors advise educators to start with the
front page, asking students to make observations about what stories appear and then
push them to make conclusions about the perspectives the newspaper is
promoting. They then propose that
students examine stories on the inner pages. How do they differ from stories on the front
page? Do you think any of these stories
should have been placed on the front page?
I love the idea of asking students questions like these. I believe that the act of thinking about the
placement of stories within a newspaper is a very accessible way to start
thinking about all of the decisions, opinions, and perspectives that affect
newspaper creation. I also agree with
their suggestion that teachers ask their students to compare different
newspapers. They can look at
similarities in differences between papers that cover national news or between
papers that cover different types of news such as international, national,
local, and tabloid stories. Most of all,
I could see myself guiding students through an exploration of newspapers from
different parts of the world. In
addition to major American newspapers like The
Washington Post, The New York Times, and
The Christian Science Monitor, I would add English-language versions of Aljazeera, The Times of India, and The
Nation from Kenya (http://www.aljazeera.com/,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
, http://www.nation.co.ke/ ). I agree that it is important that students
see that people in other parts of the world make different choices when
deciding which stories to write and publish in their newspapers. I think this would provide a great
opportunity to talk about perspective. I plan to tuck away this article, eager to
put its recommendations into play as soon as I can!
