Spotlight on Sources:
Welcome to Renzulli Learning’s Spotlight on Sources, some of our most engaging resources to excite and inspire your students!
This week we are featuring our favorite resources from Thinkalong! The Thinkalong team is passionate about building media literacy and critical thinking skills alongside middle and high school aged learners. It's a free resource, requires no registration, and is based on compelling and timely current event questions. From Tricia George at Thinkalong, “We think your learners will LOVE it - and we have outreach specialists on staff to help you figure out how to implement! We're so grateful to Renzulli Learning for the opportunity to share this with you!”A great way to use these resources is to create a Collaborative Group and have your students engage in discussion on their message board! This way your students can participate no matter where they are. Want to expand your student’s exposure to different opinions? Create a Global Collaborative Group as a starting point for these discussions.
To locate these activities within Renzulli Learning:
Under the 'Teach' navigation, click 'Search'.
On the Search page, type in the title of the activity you would like to locate.
For more ideas to infuse enrichment activities with your curriculum, please visit the Unit Supplements on the Teacher Site, under “Teach.” We can also link these enrichment resources to your regular curriculum if you send us a theme or topic.
Thinkalong Activities
Thinkalong
Literacy / Critical Thinking
Using trusted source materials from PBS, NPR and local public media stations, Thinkalong is a free program that helps students think critically about media, develop informed opinions, and practice respectful, civil discourse. Click the link and explore different current event topics!
Thinkalong: Should controversial books be censored?
Literacy / Critical Thinking
Every year, libraries, schools, authors, and readers celebrate Banned Books Week, which casts light on the issues of censorship and banning books. Classic novels, like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (one of the most consistently challenged books) join with comics, young adult novels, and children’s books on the American Library Association’s list of most challenged books. Explore the resources provided, use the graphic organizers, and submit your Pro and Con Arguments!
Thinkalong: Should companies have to unlock encrypted communication in the case of a crime?
Literacy / Critical Thinking
A battle is brewing between tech companies and law enforcement over access to private data. As smartphones become more secure, law enforcement officials are calling for tech companies to create backdoors to these devices—a way for someone with a court order to have access to all of the encrypted data on the phone. Tech companies have refused, citing concerns about hacking and private security. Explore the resources provided, use the graphic organizers, and submit your Pro and Con Arguments!
Thinkalong: Should we label genetically modified foods?
Literacy / Critical Thinking
Genetically modified foods have been a topic of controversy for years and while most would agree that GMOs have led to a greater amount of available crops, some would say that the benefit doesn’t outweigh the cost of foods engineered with pesticide intolerance. The U.S. recently passed a law requiring foods with genetically modified ingredients to be labelled. This policy falls in line with many European countries, but critics of the law say that genetically modified foods don’t have proven health risks and requiring them to be labeled will imply that they are dangerous. Explore the resources provided, use the graphic organizers, and submit your Pro and Con Arguments!
Thinkalong: Should we rewrite our Constitution?
Literacy / Critical Thinking
As one of the oldest documents in our country, the United States Constitution serves as a model for governance, a rule of law, and a catalyst for some of the nation’s most divisive debates. While we constantly reshape our laws based on the 27 amendments to the Constitution, these changes can seem vague and leave things open to interpretation. How relevant is this 230-year-old document to our everyday lives? Explore the resources provided, use the graphic organizers, and submit your Pro and Con Arguments!
Thinkalong: Should governments provide universal basic income?
Literacy / Critical Thinking
Universal Basic Income (UBI) guarantees that all people receive a regular sum of money to offset the cost of living and meet their basic needs. While small experiments have demonstrated the potential of such programs, some leaders look at global economic stressors, increased work automation, and modern wealth disparities as problems that could be mitigated with UBI. Advocates hope that UBI will lift all Americans above the poverty line and eliminate financial inequality. Opponents worry about the expense, noting that recipients could rely too much on government assistance and neglect their jobs, which would hurt the economy. Others have a concern that universal basic income would result in eliminated or reduced social programs, which assist the poorest populations. Would UBI truly benefit society? Explore the resources provided, use the graphic organizers, and submit your Pro and Con Arguments!
Thinkalong: Should Supreme Court Justices have term limits?
Literacy / Critical Thinking
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States, but it's not above debate over how it should be run. With the unexpected death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016 and the recent death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, some are calling for term limits for the top judges in the land. Others object to changing the lifetime appointments to the court, saying it would be difficult to amend the Constitution to do so. Should Justices get the gavel after 18 years? 10 years? Longer? Or should they serve for life or until resignation? Explore the resources provided, use the graphic organizers, and submit your Pro and Con Arguments!
Thanks for being a part of the Renzulli Learning family and we hope you find these resources helpful.
Your Renzulli Learning Team