Bill, One idea is to start class by explaining the facts of the event, combined with either a key paragraph from a news report or a video clip on the screen. Write one multiple choice discussion question that gives them a choice of four possible causes of the event, or four likely consequences of the event, or four possible ways to deal with the event if they were the key decision maker. Students first discuss in teams, then use voting cards, followed by a class discussion. All of this can be done in about 15 minutes and would not be graded. If the event relates to material you have already covered, remind them of this fact in case it would help with the dicussion. If it relates to material that you will cover in the future, use this discussion to emphasize the importance of the future material. Any ideas on how to improve this process would be appreciated! Rick -- Rick Goedde Director of Management Studies Associate Professor Department of Economics St. Olaf College 1520 St. Olaf Avenue Northfield, MN 55057 Office: 507-786-3126 On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 11:39 PM, Bill Goffe <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I use TBL in two of my courses (economics) and have been quite pleased. > But, there is one thing I haven't really figured out how to incorporate -- > current events. In these courses it is pretty important to read and > discuss events right as they occur, but how might I incorporate this into > TBL? If there is a story on tomorrow, I don't really want to wait until > the next RAP process; instead, I'd like to talk about it in the next > class. Plus, current topics rarely fit exactly into what we're currently > doing. > > Ideas? > > - Bill > > -- > Bill Goffe > Department of Economics > SUNY Oswego, 416 Mahar Hall > Oswego, NY 13126 > 315-312-3444(v), 315-312-5444(f) > [log in to unmask] > http://cook.rfe.org >