News to class: Cohoes students learn from The Evangelist

By MAUREEN MCGUINNESS- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Deirdre Matthews, an eighth grade teacher at Cohoes Catholic School, noticed that the young people she teaches didn't read newspapers. Instead, they preferred to get their news from the television -- and they weren't getting much news there.

In these days of talk radio, 24-hour TV news and websites devoted to up-to-the-minute information, Miss Matthews thought rather than being more in tune with current events, her students were tuning out the news.

"I don't know how much on the news they were paying attention to," she said.

Write it down

As an English teacher, she wanted to make sure that her students, who have grown up with computers and cable television, were also exposed to the written word. "I think it's important for them to see the news in its written form," she said.

As a solution, Miss Matthews decided to bring The Evangelist into her classroom. In addition to English, she teaches religion and found that the diocesan newspaper fit in with the curriculum.

"In eighth grade, the students study Church history," she said. "I felt it important for the students to know what's happening with the Church currently as they study its past."

Favorites

When Miss Matthews receives The Evangelist on Thursday, she reviews it. On Friday, each eighth grader receives his or her own copy during religion class. The students read it cover to cover, she said.

Typically, the class reads Rev. Roger Karban's column on the Sunday readings. Then they turn to Kate Blain's "Good News for Kids" column. As soon as the students get a chance, they go to Charlie Martin's music column, Miss Matthews said, and they also enjoy the word search puzzle.

When the students are done, there is a class discussion about what they have read.

Positive response

Miss Matthews has found that the students have reacted to The Evangelist positively. "They look forward to it," she said.

In addition to reading the paper in class, the students use it for research. "When we were studying the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, the students went to The Evangelist to look for current examples," she explained.

When Miss Matthews began using the paper in the classroom, it was the first time some of her students picked up a newspaper to read. Now she finds the students are enthusiastic about it.

'Exciting'

Dan Cashin has found that by reading The Evangelist he has something else to talk to his parents about. "I read it at home," he said. "I'll talk to my parents about it when there is something I don't understand."

Dan admits that he is not a news junky. Prior to reading The Evangelist in class, he would only watch television news if a story seemed interesting, and he rarely turned to a newspaper. But he enjoys reading The Evangelist.

"I think it's pretty exciting to read what's happening with Catholics in the world," he said. "It's written in a way that everybody can understand."

Of interest

Classmate Desiree Smith was first exposed to The Evangelist in Miss Matthews' class. When she heard about the plans to use it in the classroom, she had some reservations.

"I thought it would be 'preachy-preachy,'" she said, "but it tells the facts."

She also thought that the paper wouldn't relate to people her age. "You can't judge a book by its cover," Desiree said. "There are real-life situations -- and even hip-hop songs in Charlie Martin's column."

Andrea Hopeck never read The Evangelist before she had Miss Matthews as a teacher. "I think it's interesting," she said. "I like all of it. I think it's something that everyone can understand."

(03-15-01) [[In-content Ad]]