Newspapers schedule teacher’s NIE workshops

The first Newspapers in Education (NIE) teacher’s workshop of the new school year will be at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, in La Posada’s recreation room.

The NIE workshop is open to area teachers from the Sahuarita and Continental school districts and from all charter schools.

“The NIE Teacher’s Workshop series offers creative and unique ways of helping teachers deliver learning using the Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun as teaching tools,” said Mark Bollin, News and Sun marketing director and NIE coordinator.

According to Bollin, the workshops are filled with unique ways to grab the attention of students at every grade level.

In last workshop, teachers actually went through a small-scale process for leaching copper from copper ore. Other workshops have taught “real life” skills to grades 11 and 12 by using the newspapers to find a hypothetical job, apartment, automobile, and food supply. Students were amazed by how much it costs to support themselves.

Other lesson plan materials include civics, math, reading and language skills, science, and history.

“When you think about it,” Bollin said, “the newspaper is the perfect slice of life document to enter the classroom. Every issue is filled with information that becomes grist for the learning mill in the hands of a creative teacher.”

Other NIE workshop dates include Saturday, Nov. 10, and Saturday, Feb. 2, at La Posada.

All NIE workshops meet Arizona standards for education. Attendees receive professional certification credit, and the News delivers breakfast and door prizes. Each teacher receives a “goodie” bag for the classroom.

All workshops are taught by Pat Oso, state NIE coordinator for the ANA. Teachers can register for any, or all, of the workshops . Call Mark Bollin at 520-547-9760, or e-mail mbollin@gvnews.com.

Please RSVP for the Oct. 6 workshop by Oct. 2.