English II Honors Scholars,
Each week you will be responsible for reading, watching, or listening to some newsworthy publication. You can choose to read a column in a local, regional, or national paper, magazine, or periodical; you may elect to listen to a podcast, talk radio, or online radio; or, you may watch the news, a youtube channel, or another form of online video. The point being, you will educate yourself for at least 30 minutes a week on current events in our world.
Your weekly assignment is simple:
- Consume the required minimum 30 minutes of current events information
- Craft a response to the current event (at least 200 words)
- Respond to at least two of your peers' responses (at least 75 words)
That's it!
Of course, your responses must be thoughtful and full of commentary. Please do not summarize (beyond the first sentence) your 30 minutes of current events findings. Instead, figure out the importance of the information you have consumed on an individual, local, regional, national, and/or international level. While I'm certainly asking you for your opinion on the current events, I do not want you to stop simply at your opinion--please do the requisite research. If you disagree with a policy, go beyond "X politician/event/region/whatever sucks!" Determine what you disagree with it and make sure your reasoning is empirical, not emotional.
Similarly, when you respond to your peers, go beyond "I agree/disagree with your post!," or "You're so smart/stupid, X!" Please do your peers the due diligence of responding to their ideas and implications--perhaps your current event is somehow related to the event that your peer discussed? Find the thread of reasoning and follow it!
Beyond the required 30 minutes per week of somehow consuming current events (less than 5 mins a day), this project should not consume more than one hour of your time.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know in the comments below.
Educationally yours,
Mr. De Ceglie
