Article of the Week is a yearlong unit that I have adapted from Kelly Gallagher and developed to fit the needs of my students. Gallagher’s purpose for assigning these non-fiction texts is to provide his students with information to enhance their prior and background knowledge in order for them to be stronger readers, writers, and thinkers.
I, too, recognize that my students need more context with certain topics, books, issues, and articles, so I have assigned Articles of the Week (AoWs) since 2015.
I often turn to two mentors when creating AoWs for my students – Kelly Gallagher and Dave Stuart Jr.
My version of the weekly assignments have adaptations for close reading and reflective writing skills. The purpose of close reading is “to focus on comprehension, making meaning through careful and thoughtful examination of the text” (Lent, 2016, p. 54). In regards to reflective writing, I’m looking for students to reflect on their thoughts, beliefs, opinions, experiences, etc. that tie in and relate to the topics being covered in the Article of the Week. Gallagher also has his students reflect.
Pre-COVID-19, I had students reflect in their Writer’s Notebook, which was an idea I picked out of Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson. With the 2020-2021 school year online for a majority of the school year and the uncertainty of the 2021-2022 school year, reflections have moved to a digital format and the Writer’s Notebook has not been adapted.
Below will be a list of AoWs for the 2023-2024 school year with the most recent being on top. All links lead to Google Docs that include directions on how to adapt them for your use. Articles that are not linked were used as assessments; therefore, formatting will not be shared.
- The Rumored Relationship of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
- “Bill Belichick remarks on Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce romance: ‘Would be the biggest catch’ of his career” by Ryan Gaydos for Fox News
- “Taylor Swift’s Attendance at Chiefs game brings a spike in Travis Kelce jersey sales” by Kevin Dotson for CNN Business
- “So you’re a Swiftie and you want to watch the NFL? Here’s what you need to know” by Matt Durr for mLive
- “‘The other 9/11’: As US marks attack anniversary, another infamous milestone looms” by Amanda Lee Myers for USA TODAY
- “ChatGPT in Education: The Pros, Cons, and Unknowns of Generative AI” by Suchi Rudra for EdTech
- “Parents are smashing eggs on their kids’ heads in new TikTok prank. Doctors say they should stop” by Kalhan Rosenblatt for NBC News
Note: Articles are subject to the copyright protections specified by the original source.
Looking for previous year’s AoW assignments? Check out the Article of the Week Archive.
References:
Lent, R.C. (2016). This is disciplinary literacy: Reading, writing, talking, and doing … content area by content area. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.