World History and Geography 9

Current Events Weekly Assignment

Directions:
Find, read, and annotate a current news article from anywhere outside the US. Because we are studying
World History, please make sure that you are only finding articles that deal with newsworthy events
outside the United States. Once finished reading and annotating the article, you will write a one page
response and have an optional Challenge to complete.

Standards (Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6-12):
Reading: Writing:
RH.6-8.2 WHST.6-8.4
RH.6-8.4 WHST.6-8.5
RH.6-8.5 WHST.6-8.9
RH.6-8.6 WHST.6-8.10
RH.6-8.8

News Article Information:

News articles can come from any of the following RELIABLE (but not necessarily unbiased) sources:
You are not limited to this list; its just a starting point.

The New York Times USA News and World Report (Just WORLD news)
CNN Huffington Post
NBC, ABC, CBS News
Fox News The Wall Street Journal
LA Times The Washington Post



Written Response:
After reading and annotating your article, you will write a one page TYPED response (if you cant type
your response, please let me know in advance and we can work out an alternative format) briefly
summarizing the article and discussing how you think this will affect the world as a whole. Also, you must
distinguish the following:

1. Is the article fact, opinion, or reasoned judgment?
2. How is the text presented? Is it a chronological order of events, a sequential order?
3. What is the authors point of view and/or purpose?

Optional CHALLENGE
Address the following question in your writing with historical evidence:
How does this current event relate to a historical event? What are the connections/similarities?

Rubric:

10 points 8 points 6 points 4 points
Reading Portion 12 detailed and
varying types of
annotations,
legibly and
10 detailed and
somewhat varying
types of
annotations, most
8 somewhat
detailed and one or
two types of
annotations, some
6 or less vague and
one type of
annotation(s),
most are not
*This assignment incorporates many of the
required Career and College Readiness Standards
for Literacy and Writing. Throughout the year, we
will increase the depth and quality of this
assignment.
*Op-Eds are okay, but the general
content must be based on fact,
but its okay if the authors
opinion is present.
logically
written/connected
to the material in
the article
are legible and all
are logically
written/connected
to the material in
the article
are legible and
logically
written/most are
connected to the
material in the
articles
legible, and are not
connected to the
subject of the
article
Written Portion

Challenge
Completed?
Y / N
-Extra Credit
considered

One-page typed
response
submitted
addressing all
required parts
listed
of a page typed
addressing most of
the required parts
of the response
page typed
addressing some of
the required parts
of the response
Less than a page
typed with few to
none of the
required parts in
the response
Comments: