Accessible News
When I came across the article title, The simple idea to make kids more empathetic? Get them reading the news ,I was intrigued. The article described Newsela, a website where news articles are rewritten to fit a child's reading skills. It offers reading levels at different grade levels, from grade 2 to 12. Also, it puts articles under themes so that educators can have easy access to similar content.
As the Washington Post article explained Newsela was created by Matthew Gross. He noticed "that in today’s digitized world, traditional textbook teaching failed to develop in kids a love or skill for reading and deeper comprehension" (Itkowitz, 2017, para. 4). The articles on the website are from Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Guardian, National Geographic, Scientific American, The Smithsonian Institute, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and more! Ultimately, the website was created to engage children to be aware and knowledgeable about current events around the world.
For educators there are tools in addition to the articles that further engages children (Newsela, 2017). There are quizzes and open annotations for educator and children comments (Newsela, 2017). Moreover, as the class reads more articles, the website refines the articles that strengthen reading
skills and habits (Newsela, 2017).
I think this this is a wonderful tool that makes relevant, current news accessible for children. There is a lot of information on the internet, and it is easy to read false information. Even more, the understandable language in the adapted articles helps children comprehend what is going on around them. I find that when information is made accessible, equity can be achieved. As Itkowitz (2017) discovered, Newsela is used to help students gain greater perspective of the world. When students read articles from other countries, the students learned that children half a world away are just like them (Itkowitz, 2017). Furthermore, in a diverse classroom the articles can spark deep and meaningful discussions between classmates (Itkowitz, 2017). It is this empathetic development that showcases the positive potential technology and the internet offers to our future.
References
Itkowitz, C. (2017). The simple idea to make kids more empathetic? Get them reading the news. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2017/04/03/the-simple-idea-to-make-kids-more-empathetic-get-them-reading-the-news/
Newsela. (2017). Newsela About. Retrieved from https://newsela.com/about/
