Re: Current Events, Classroom Dis-ruptions: "Is there really anything new(s) here?!"

Historically Speaking: When written history becomes oral, or when "current events" assignments first get taken home by students, after parents are "roped in" or subtly recruited to give them a news feed, as during the dinner table convo "junior" is all of a sudden, less disruptive in the conversation, at least feigning rapt attention, asking questions ("where did you hear this; what are your sourses...wait, let me put this into my phone...") After which they put it down in writing, perhaps right after dinner, when they are simultaneously catching up on the "real news of the day" on social media, what their "friend group" (highly current term) will be talking about tomorrow, even the day after the election...Yup, as long as "public education" has been a thing, which eventually brought us, the real consumers of ed, the "butts in the seats" -- where we, the more unruly among you, were told to get, "and now!" but still found ways to disrupt the flow of the classroom, teacher instruction, in a tacit, well-intentioned😇😉 attempt to keep the rest of the class well-informed, up-to-date, on what's "really new"😂😉. Yup, and as long as "compulsory education" for the "common good" (aka "common core") has become woven into our mainstream culture, so has "current events" become a staple: where this sub-subject has been incorporated, such as "social studies", "history" or, apropos to this moment in time, "civics" ("the study of the rights and duties of citizenship"). Some teachers, separate it our entirely, grade it as a separate subject, at least in-formally, to "give it its due" (as in only one day, so it's still fresh), to increase student appreciation...of what's really going on, the...

Outs and Ins: As in, what the students might actually take away from others, their peers, contemporaries, reporting ("commenting" more likely, kinda' like real life reporting, if they paid closer attention) from "Current Events" exercises, as well as my own comments with-in (as inside the parentheses) as cited by an "anonymous source" about the value of doing so: "Studying current events helps students understand the importance of events and issues in the news (the little that's left over after they have gone on their constant news feeds on Facebook, Twitter, Snap Chat, Tik Tok)...it stimulates students (who are already over-stimmed😖) to explore more about the news, and pay attention to the news they see and hear outside of school (if the teacher only knew what they already know, a few steps ahead of them). They provide a "writing model"...students can learn by imitating (plagiarizing?) the clear, concise, style of professional news writing..." (let's hope not, given the samples I've seen that purport to be "all the facts, nothing but...") Yup, the reporting and student reports on reporting, what's current as well as what's about to un-fold...

The Writing on the Walls: Which actually pre-ceded "public education" by a few millennium, give-or-take, based on what I learned in school at least, at least all the way before the "Bronze Age"...the days of hieroglyphics which, if those cave dwellers were to return, would find their way of truncating language via symbols, writing on the wall, re-current, maybe even a case for screaming "copyright violation!" Re-envisioned by adolescents who still, to this day, broadcast for their peers, if they only paid attention, with writing the "real news of the day" in places a bit less public than the classroom..."sooner or later you gotta go..."(term limits?)... 

"A Turn of Events": A sneak peak from the "Insiders", the ones in the places where the writing on the walls, stalls,, the accurate pollsters, spell out what's about to happen, at the precincts, where the "civic minded" folks go on election days, the suckers who didn't pick up an "absentee" ballot in sufficient time, who will thus, be bombarded at the last minute, in the "eleventh hour" with "vote for me and I will..." Where once in line, you can instead, along with a throng of dis-contents, chime in with "let's vote the bums out, get some new butts in the seats..." After which the "returns" start recurring, once again, just a few hours later, if you bother to tune in to see, as in...

"The Day After" and the day after the day after tomorrow...to see if, in fact, "anything new here?!" 

Next Up: "Show me, don't tell"😕