Discussions of current events are among the most engaging for many students—helping them connect concepts and theories learned in class to the real world. Instructors may find it useful to prepare for these discussions by providing students with good, reputable resources to educate themselves prior to the discussion. However, instructors can also expect students to bring questions about specific events they have heard about outside of class. These can be a bit trickier, as the instructor may not have prior knowledge of the event or may not be familiar with the reputation of the source.
To help TAs and instructors prepare for discussions of current events, the following are resources of current topics covered in the news.
- Many topics relating to race and ethnicity are inherently political. Especially during election years, students will likely ask more questions about politically contentious- keep in mind, many of your students are also trying to educate themselves about current issues to make the most informed voting decisions possible. This summary* breaks down some of the legalese of university and state regulations into accessible dos and don’ts for instructors in the classroom.
- Pam Oliver shares this helpful tipsheet on exercising judgment when teaching on politically contentious topics.
- This document* offers information about ICE raids, immigrant rights, and allyship resources, compiled in the wake of turbulent, uncertain ICE policy (up to date as of February 2017).
- Topics such as police brutality and Black Lives Matter have a broad-reaching social media presence and are therefore likely topics of interest to students. In response to the shootings of Michael Brown, Eric Gardner, Tamir Rice, and countless others, the Southern Poverty Law Center produced this resource page, “Teaching About Race, Racism, and Police Violence”, which entails blog posts about Black Lives Matter, as well as useful suggestions for designing lessons around Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
- A curated list of other web resources addressing criminal justice and race.
* Created for the 2017 Race & Pedagogy Workshop