News Source

The technology blog, TechCrunch is running a story entitled, "New Data Confirms Growing Influence of Internet on Politics, But Not Quite the Deciding Factor." The article begins, "Some new data from the Pew Research Center puts some numbers around the growing influence of the Internet on political campaigns. None of this is too surprising, but it quantifies what we already know: that the Internet is becoming more important in political campaigns, especially among younger people. Each election, the Internet grows stronger and stronger. This data suggests that in 2008 the Internet may still not be the deciding medium in the election, but it certainly points to that being the case in 2012. Here are some tables from the report, which is based on a survey of 1,430 adults in the U.S."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Ask your students if they've ever wanted a toy because a friend had the toy. What was the toy? Why did students want to own this toy themselves, couldn't they just play with the toy at their friend's house? Do students think that adults ever want something because somebody else has it? Why/why not?
• Have your students ever learned something on the Internet? What did they learn? Do students think that they can trust something just because it is on the Internet? Why/why not? Have students ever learned something from television? What did they learn? Have students learned more from the Internet or from television? Why have they learned more from one source than another?
• If students could look on the Internet to learn one new thing, what would they like to learn? Why would they like to learn this? How would they start looking for this information?
• Do students think that their parents learned things from the Internet when they were children? Why/why not? How do students think that their parents learned things when they wanted to learn? Challenge students to ask their parents how they learned things when they were kids. What one thing do parents remember learning?

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Quantifies; Respondent; Information; and, "Deciding Factor".
• Challenge students to consider the differences between the kinds of things that can be learned online and the kinds of things that can be learned from watching television. In what ways do students think that the Internet has changed television news? In what ways has television influenced the Internet? (Students might think of such sites as YouTube and MSNBC.com.
• Challenge students to explain why younger generations might glean more information from the Internet than older generations. In what other ways are generations different from one another? How do students think that their children will learn most of their information? In what ways will the Internet be different in twenty five years?
• Challenge students to imagine that they were running for political office. In what innovative ways might they use the Internet to help them appeal to voters? Why would they use the Internet in this way?

Political News vs. Other News

As you know, I've been posting much less frequently over the last few months than I had previously posted. In part this is because my business is in a period of significant growth. The decision as to what news article to select can also be paralyzing. Here are a few questions related to this paralysis:

Discussion Starters for Younger Students

• Tell students to imagine that they are reporters working for a newspaper, what one event that happened in the classroom today, would they like to write a newspaper article about? Why?
  
• If students could ask a question to any person in the world to whom would they ask a question? What would they ask? Why?
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Ask students to consider the importance of paying attention to the Presidential primaries. Do students think it's important for citizens of the United States to know who wins each primary? Why/why not? Is it important for students to know the major candidates running for the presidency? Why/why not?
  
• If students could ask each candidate one common question, what question would they ask? Why would they ask this question? If students had to answer this question, how would they answer it?
  
• The front page of today's Washington Post contains the following headlines: "Bush Begins Mideast Peace Push", "Gibbs Resigns from Redskins" and "McCain Deals Romney Second Loss" among others. Which article do your students think is most worthy of being read and discussed? Urge them to explain their opinions.
  

A Tear

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "The Show of Emotion Heard 'Round the Presidential Campaign World." The article states, "...Mrs. Clinton has meted out her inner life one teaspoon at a time: a suggestive line in an interview here, an intriguingly hearty laugh there...So on Monday, when she choked up during an appearance at a New Hampshire coffee shop, making a nakedly emotional plea for her candidacy, Mrs. Clinton prompted one of the most fiercely debated moments of the presidential campaign to date." "“This is exactly the problem I feared any female candidate would have: In order to succeed you need to come across as tougher than your male opponents,” Petra Boehm, 43, wrote on nytimes.com."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Do your students like to laugh? Why/why not? What do your students think is the funniest thing they have ever seen or heard? Would students prefer to laugh or cry? Why?
  
• Ask your students to think of a time they cried. Why did they cry? Have they ever cried even if they did not get hurt? Why did they cry? Is it bad to cry? Why/why not?
  
• Invite your students to think of a time when they were very tired. Why were they so tired? Can your students think of any reasons why it might be hard for some people to go to sleep? Urge them to explain!
  
• Is the principal in your school a man or a woman? Do students think that it would be OK for the principal to be the opposite gender? Why/why not? In what ways do your students think that a male principal might be different than a female principal?
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Steely; Audacity; "Nakedly Emotional Plea"; and, Reams.
  
• In what ways do your students think that men and women are different? In what ways are they alike? Ask students to respond to the following statement: "The typical woman leader leads differently than the typical male leader." Encourage them to explain their thoughts.
  
• Challenge students to imagine that they had been in the same room as Senator Clinton when she showed some emotion. If they could have said one thing to her what would they have said? Why would they have said this?
  
• What do students think that the word "emotion" means? Do students think that it's appropriate for people to wear their emotions on their sleeves? Why/why not? If students could write a book of etiquette when would they suggest that it is acceptable to show emotion and when is it unacceptable?