What Are the Trends in Using Current Events Lessons in Class?

Teaching current events may seem like a responsibility for a social studies teacher. In reality, every teacher should be responsible for helping their students understand what’s happening in the world. Incorporating current events across multiple school subjects and daily curriculum has major impacts on our students. 

We wanted to know how many teachers are actively teaching current events in their classrooms. So we made a poll! And 93 teachers responded to give us more insight into their experience bringing current affairs into their lessons. Here’s what they said.

Do educators teach current events in the classroom?

Let’s look at the results.

We asked teachers how often they incorporate current events into their daily lessons and what that looks like in their classroom. Of the 93 who responded, only 20% of teachers actively include current events in their lesson plans. 

One teacher commented saying, “Yes, today we talked about the election in GA, why it’s happening, and why it matters on a national level. But I am careful to stay non-partisan.” Adding real-world, relevant topics to daily lessons can lead to meaningful discussions that can help students become more informed about what is going on in the world. 

For those who don’t incorporate news into their class every day, 50% said they include current affair material when it comes up naturally. Another teacher’s response stated, “I don’t shy away from topics when asked but, unless it’s part of the curriculum or a planned lesson (like the 2016 and 2020 elections when we studied US government) I don’t plan lessons around them.” 

Integrating news topics here and there when it makes sense in the current curriculum may seem more convenient. But are your students missing out?

Another 18% of teachers claimed they incorporate current events when they can, adding “Once in a while, I’ll throw something in.” Some have been strictly told by their administration not to discuss the news in their classroom and attested, “We were told we are not allowed to mention current events. If we mentioned the election, our president, or anything not written in our standards, we would not be supported.”

So what impact does teaching current events have on our students? And what consequences can we expect if it’s left out of our curricula?

What are the consequences of waiting to teach current events when they naturally come up? 

Most students, especially later in middle-school or high-school, are going to hear about things going on in our world. That might be through a news channel, from friends or family, or worse, through social media. 

There is a lot of misinformation that gets shared, and a developing mind may not know the difference between fact and fiction. Social media is popularly used by our youth, and unfortunately, these platforms can be super-spreaders of wrong information.

Anyone can post information and claim it to be true. And when someone popular or important shares wrong information, these posts can go viral and spread to thousands, if not millions, of people.

Families and friends may also influence how our students view the world. Although families may have the best intentions, we still want our youth to have the freedom to build their own ideas and opinions.

So if we don’t provide this non-partisan education in our classrooms, how are our students going to know where to look or how to find real facts about the world around them? 

Teaching current events and staying unbiased can help students learn how to find valid sources, have healthy discussions on debated topics, and even understand how to appropriately communicate with others who have different opinions than their own. (Check out our guide to navigating media bias for more information.)

Current events shouldn’t be left to our social studies teachers. We can incorporate these relevant topics in science, literature, art classes, and more. If we only integrate current affairs when it fits the curriculum, you might be missing out on the chance to guide our students through events that are happening in our world right now. 

How can The Juice be incorporated into existing lesson plans?

So how does The Juice help? One of our teachers asked, “Any tips for presenting current events in an unbiased manner? In today’s media landscape, I find it difficult to find unbiased content.” And that’s where we come in.

Here at The Juice, our focus is on current events and providing some of the best, non-partisan sources that teachers can use immediately in their classrooms. 

Signing up with us means you get ready-to-use materials sent to you daily. Our real-world articles cover a multitude of genres and subjects so your students can be educated in a variety of topics. 

Each day you’ll receive four news stories, plus an infographic and a story focused on moral character. Every article includes guided questions that can lead you and your students through targeted discussions. 

Use one or more of our articles as a quick warm-up to get a class discussion started, a real-world example to add to a relevant topic you are already teaching, or even to guide your entire lesson plan for the day. 

With four different reading levels to choose from, you can tailor each lesson to meet the needs of your students. This makes it easy to incorporate the same lesson material for teachers who have different grade levels or learning needs among students. 

We help students deepen their understanding of the material by including definitions, pronunciations, and guided questions around the vocabulary they see in each article. Our standards-based quiz questions give teachers a quick and easy way to check for understanding and guide their next lessons.

To learn more about how we can help you incorporate current events into your daily lesson plans, visit The Juice!