The Second Week of the Semester

The first week of class I do not require the students to read the Journal. I introduce and explain the assignment, but we begin discussion of current events during the second week. It usually takes about a week for everyone to get subscribed and for delivery to begin. To warm things up, I mention some recent articles I have read to begin modeling what I would like the students to do. This also sparks some interest in reading the paper.

I begin each class by asking a few students (selected at random) to informally present an article they have selected from the WSJ. Each student then gives a brief overview of the article, tells the reason for selecting that article, the relationship to course material or topics, connections with previous articles we have discussed, etc. Then I and/or fellow students ask questions, offer comments, or mention related articles.

I grade using a class list in my textbook for just this assignment. As the students discuss an article or immediately after, I note write down the date and a check mark if they presented at an appropriate level, or the date and a 'no' if they were unprepared. At the end of the semester I assign the points for this exercise based on the percentage of times they were called and prepared times the total points allocated to this exercise. (If they were prepared every time I called them, they are assigned all the possible points. If they were prepared half the times I called them, they are awarded half the possible points.)

(For a more detailed explanation of my main WSJ exercise, please read my blog posting for the second week of last semester, September 5, 2005. I also use the Journal for testing and assessment purposes.)

One tip: Be open with your students from the very beginning! Share with them the fact that you do not read every article in the Journal everyday (unless you do!). I would not expect that from my students. When my students bring up an article I have not read, I tell them and say how excited I am to hear what they have to say. Win-win: I am not judged as unprepared, and the student gains a feeling of importance and contribution.