American History 8

Current Events Weekly Assignment

Directions:
Find, read, and annotate a current news article from any of the fifty states. Because we
are studying American History, please make sure that you are only finding articles that
deal with newsworthy events in 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
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

in History/Social Studies 6-12):

*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.

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
CNN
USA Today
Fox News
LA Times

USA News and World Report (JUST U.S.!)

Huffington Post
NBC, ABC, CBS News
*Op-Eds are okay, but the
The Wall Street Journal
general content must be
The Washington Post
based on fact, but its okay
if the authors opinion is
*You can also look in local newspapers/news
present.
websites!
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 U.S. 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:

Reading
Portion

Written
Portion
Challenge
Completed?
Y/N
Extra Credit
considered
Comments:

10 points
12 detailed and
varying types of
annotations,
legibly and
logically
written/connect
ed to the
material in the
article

8 points
10 detailed and
somewhat
varying types of
annotations,
most are legible
and all are
logically
written/connect
ed to the
material in the
article

One-page typed
response
submitted
addressing all
required parts
listed

of a page
typed
addressing
most of the
required parts
of the response

6 points
8 somewhat
detailed and
one or two
types of
annotations,
some are
legible and
logically
written/most
are connected
to the material
in the articles
page typed
addressing
some of the
required parts
of the response

4 points
6 or less vague
and one type of
annotation(s),
most are not
legible, and are
not connected
to the subject of
the article

Less than a
page typed with
few to none of
the required
parts in the
response