Around the World in One Week

I think that it's easy to forget how much technology surrounds us. More than that, we don't often pay enough attention to how all the technology is impacting our students, in and out of the classroom.

I taught creative writing and computer literacy courses in a small town, in southwestern Colorado. Because of its size, I often run into former students like I did today, when that technological impact was thrown into a sharp focus for me. My former student had gone into a full-blown breakdown of everything she's read online and watched on the television about the situation with Iraq, where her young husband is currently stationed. This student has spent hours every day willingly smothered in technology and its outpouring of information, hoping to understand something that no one understands well enough.

This realization brought me to my latest article and lesson plan. Recognizing that we are so surrounded by technology and its byproducts, it may be time to help our students make sense of what they're viewing.

In this article, we're going to learn some facts for ourselves, and jump right into the lesson plan. This lesson plan is a little bit different, in that you don't have to do anything but prepare yourself. You can print out the lesson plan section of this article and let your students have at it - a complete "worksheet" that will guide them through this teamwork project.

Effects of Media Coverage

Students in the past few years have been bombarded by media coverage of traumatic events. From the Columbine shootings to the attacks on September 11th, the news in all forms of media have covered the events in full and dramatic detail.

The first three days following the bombing saw a boost in traffic on news-related sites of over 70%. On the television, in newspapers and magazines, the information pours forth. Some people say that this information is so addictive because of the fear of future attack, others believe that it's being digested in an attempt to make sense of everything. Whatever the cause, the effects that the media coverage is having must be understood.

Until the attacks on September 11th, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995 was the most deadly terrorist act seen in the U.S. The media

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