Using News 2 You in a High Incidence Classroom

Do you use News2You in your special education classroom? News2You is an adapted digital newspaper that allows students to make connections to current events each week. I have used it for years, and I love it! When I switched to teaching in a high-incidence classroom, I quickly learned that this would STILL be a super effective resource in this type of classroom environment. I was able to secure News 2 You in my classroom from a DonorsChoose.org request! Check out my funded project here.

I thought News 2 You was for students with intellectual disabilities?

Typically, this resource is used in classrooms of students with disabilities like autism and intellectual disabilities. While my students have behavior disorders, many of them also have autism, learning disabilities, mild intellectual disabilities, speech/language impairments, and delays from interruptions in service due to their often occurring challenging behaviors. I have found News 2 You to be incredibly motivating. My students love the weekly repeated routine! Being “in the know” of current events is really fun for them. I’m able to tie in TONS of related resources with the content that’s given. I’ll show you my 2 favorite features of News 2 You that helps make it extra successful in my classroom.

Here’s the main screen you’ll see after you log-in to your N2Y account:

1.) Differentiated levels of resources

Across the top of the screen you’ll see the 5 levels of text you can choose from. In our classrooms our ability levels range so hugely that it can almost feel impossible to do any type of whole group lesson. I love News2You because they understand this – my lower level readers can use the regular or simplified newspapers, while my students reading at a higher level usually use the “higher” newspaper. The level of symbol support changes as well as the complexity of the words and length of the paper. Below is an example of a printed version of the “higher” newspaper:

2.) Extension Activity

I can say with certainty that my students have a lack of exposure of many experiences and information. It’s the nature of their disability and one of the many negative results of their traumatic backgrounds. I can’t expect my class to read a newspaper article about King Tut and be able to connect to it. Having a meaningful experience with the text is a challenge without background knowledge. This is why I LOVE the Extension Activities that News 2 You offers.

I would create these slideshows myself if they weren’t already available with the program, and it’s insanely helpful that the team there has already created these. I have talked to many teachers using N2Y that did not even know about the glory that is the Extension Activities! They are background building slides that discuss more about the underlying theme of that week’s newspaper. Facts, discussion questions, primary-sourced pictures, and videos are embedded to help build the knowledge of the students so they can better connect to the newspaper and the information. So many of our students are visual, experiential learners that really respond to multiple examples of new material. This week as we learned about King Tut, my students originally had no idea who he was, or what this newspaper would be about. As we browsed through the Extension Activity slideshow, I saw so many lightbulbs go off! They DID know about Egypt, they just did not have the vocabulary (like Sphinx and pyramid) to really share the information that they already had been exposed to.

What’s your favorite News 2 You feature? How do your students best access this resource?