 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Part of the reason my students have such a hard time reading is because they bring little prior knowledge and background to the written page. They can decode the words, but the words remain meaningless without a foundation of knowledge.To help build my students’ prior knowledge, I assign them an "Article of the Week" every Monday morning. By the end of the school year I want them to have read 35 to 40 articles about what is going on in the world. It is not enough to simply teach my students to recognize theme in a given novel; if my students are to become literate, they must broaden their reading experiences into real-world text.
Below you will find the articles I assigned* this year to my 9th grade students.
"The 'Jane Goodall of Ants'" by Lori Kozlowski for the Los Angeles Times (Note: This is the final AoW for the 2009-2010 school year.)
"One Day Your Pants May Power Up Your iPod" by Tiffany Hsu for the Los Angeles Times
"Santa Clara County Says No to Fast-Food Toys" by Justin Berton for the San Francisco Chronicle
"Free Speech Versus Kids and Violent Video Games" San Francisco Chronicle
"Growing Gulf of Mexico Oil Leak Called Spill of 'National Significance'" Los Angeles Times
"HGH: 'Miracle-Gro' for Humans?" The Week
"Cows on Drugs" by Donald Kennedy for The New York Times
"The U.S. Census: Why Our Numbers Matter" by Nancy Gibbs for Time Magazine
"Cell Phone Etiquette: 15 Rules to Follow" from Cellphones.org
"Historic Healthcare Bill Passes" Text of Key Speeches
"Repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell" The Week
"Scientists Settle on Single-Asteroid Hit as Culprit in Dinosaurs' Demise" by Thomas H. Maugh II for the Los Angeles Times
"1.5 Million Displaced After Chile Quake" by Alexei Barraionuevo and Liz Robbins for The New York Times
"Paying for Cellphone Services As You Go" by Kathy M. Kristof for the Los Angeles Times
"Boy, 12, Faces Grown Up Murder Charges" by Stephanie Chen for CNN
"Sugar Overload: Curing America's Sweet Tooth" by Bonnie Liebman for Nutrition Action
"Advocates: Don't Give Directly to Homeless" by Will Higgins for Indianapolis Star
Thoughts on the Earthquake in Haiti The Week and Los Angeles Times
"The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s" by Brad Stone for The New York Times
"The System Failed" The New York Times
"Boom! Hok! A Monkey Language Is Deciphered" by Nicholas Wade for The New York Times
"Inventions in 2009" Time Magazine
"Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans Need More Help at Home" by Steve Lopez for The Los Angeles Times
Veteran's Day Political Cartoons
"Football's Wounded Gladiators"
"Trustee: Ban Maya Angelou Autobiography from Libraries" by Annie Burris for The Orange County Register
Note: No article this week. Students have been asked to self-select an article to read.
"Obama Wants More School, Shorter Break" The Associated Press
"The Road to Resilience" by apahelpcenter.org
Obama's Speech to Students The Associated Press
"Montana Court to Weigh In on Assisted Suicide Case" by Kirk Johnson for The New York Times
Looking for last year's Article of the Week assignments? Check out the 2008-2009 Article of the Week archive.
*While I assigned these, many of the lessons were prepared by my colleagues in the Magnolia High School English Department, including Helen Chung, Amie Howell, Melissa Hunnicutt, Virginia Kim, Katrina Mundy, Esther Noh, Sherri Rothwell, Lindsay Ruben, Margaret Tagler, Robin Turner, Sarah Valenzuela, Michelle Waxman, and Dana White.
