Lauren Wyner
Lauren Wyner is currently the Humanities Academic Specialist for Catapult Learning where she plans, implements, trains, directs, and maintains the Archdiocese of New York’s ELA and Social Studies curricula, digital programs, and teacher training. After studying English and Anthropology as an undergraduate student, Lauren earned a Master of Arts in TESOL and Applied Linguistics from Teachers College at Columbia University where she focused on crucial roles of pragmatics, language use, and policy in educational settings all over the world. While at Teachers College, Lauren taught at and managed the Community Language Program, before then managing the graduate program in Bilingual/Bicultural Education where she developed a new masters program in Bilingual Special Education leading to triple NYSED certification. Lauren also worked in the Student Academic Consulting Center at Baruch College where she developed and delivered workshops on sociocultural and sociolinguistic appropriateness in higher education and professional environments. Lauren then ran the Brooklyn School of Languages for several years where she designed, assessed, and supervised all curricular and administrative program aspects, in addition to both advising international students and developing and implementing a teacher training program. Having worked as a teacher, curriculum developer, and program manager of humanities and English as a Second Language courses for all ages both domestically and abroad for over a decade, Lauren is excited to bring her wealth of knowledge and experiences to this conference.
News Literacy in the Social Studies Classroom: Current Events
In order to be fully-participating citizens and to make good, informed decisions, young people need to have a solid understanding of what’s going on in the world around them. Whether it be the positions of candidates in a local or national election or the disputes and causes of a conflict in the Middle East, there’s little doubt that current events are an important part of the knowledge that young people need to succeed in today’s world. But while most educators agree that current events are important, there’s even less debate about the lack of current events knowledge that’s demonstrated by many young people in the United States. Current events lessons help connect the curriculum with what is actually happening in students’ lives. Current events are relevant by definition. News events touch on all the aspects of education and teaching about current events lessons also help you meet state and national standards, Current events allow educators to make relevant connections across the curriculum, meeting standards in all subject areas. There’s no question that good current events teaching can help you address the standards, meet your teaching goals, and improve student engagement and performance in school. But coming up with current events lessons each week can be a daunting task. This session takes a disciplinary literacy approach to give teachers the tools and resources they need to get started with current events lessons in their social studies classroom.
Time: 11 AM EST