News Articles

Students are required to read and report on 1 news article per week. They will be given time in the computer lab to read and write summary paragraphs about their article. Students will report on their article to the class.

The summary paragraphs must include:

· Title of article and who wrote it.

· Newspaper where the article appears.

· Date of newspaper.

· Clearly states the main idea of the article.

· Answers who, what, when, where, why and or how.

· Tell the student’s opinion on the article and its significance to the content area.

Each week a handful of students will be chosen randomly to present their article and summary to the class. Additionally, paragraphs will be entered in the students’ notebook, which will be collected regularly.

Example:

Police say British teen accused of speeding in YouTube video will face court hearing

London

In London England a 19 year old videotaped himself driving 140 miles per hour on a highway in Scotland. After doing so, the teenager posted the video of him traveling at such high speeds on YouTube. This is not the first time someone has been charged with a crime for something they posted on YouTube. A year ago a young man in Norway was arrested after a video he posted showed his car’s speedometer hitting 150 miles per hour on a public highway. The suspect will attend a hearing in English court in the next few days. Police said he endangered not only his life but those of other drivers as well, and since they have evidence on the crime they should charge him.

This case is very important because of the precedent it could set. Many videos on YouTube show behavior that is to some degree illegal. If police begin monitoring these sites and charging people who commit crimes on film, people will have to be much more careful with what they post. It also raises a couple other issues. Should police be devoting time to monitoring these websites rather than patrolling the streets for crimes currently taking place? Also, it establishes that once you post a video online, it is public domain and you no longer retain any right to privacy over that material. I agree with the police in this case. If you commit a crime and it is brought to the police’s attention, they should prosecute you, regardless of how they acquire that information. The internet should not be a safehaven for criminals to post videos of illegal acts. If we allow that, it almost encourages criminal activity and motivates people to up the ante. Thus, the police are doing the right thing in this case.

Website you might use:

http://www.cnn.com/US/

http://news.findlaw.com/

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/

http://www.law.com/

http://www.lexisone.com/news/index.html