1. Some Welcome

Just getting confirmed by the U.S. Senate was traumatic for Chuck Hagel, but it may have helped prepare him for his first trip abroad as U.S. secretary of defense. Hagel, himself a former Republican Senator, ran into bitter opposition from former colleagues before he was finally confirmed. Shortly after taking office, he left for Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are preparing to phase out their long dangerous post-9/11 deployment. There, he was confronted by bloody insurgent attacks — one so close that a suicide bombing rattled the military compound where he was attending briefings. He also faced caustic criticism of U.S. and NATO policy from Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Through it all, Hagel — a combat veteran of the Vietnam war — maintained diplomatic composure. The U.S. secretary of defense is often in the news. Find a story about Secretary Hagel in the newspaper or online. Write a summary of why he is in the news and why that is important to the nation. Compare the world situation faced by Secretary Chuck to those confronting former secretaries of defense when they took office. See what you can learn from your newspaper, and be prepared to discuss with the class.

Common Core/National Standards: Integrating information presented in different media or formats to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue; producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

2. Death of a President

Hugo Chavez, the charismatic president of oil-rich Venezuela, died earlier this month at age 58. He had been highly critical of the United States for its Latin American policies, particularly U.S. hostility to Cuba, where Chavez underwent much of his treatment for the cancer that eventually killed him. Chavez was outspoken in his defiance of the U.S., even though Venezuela depends on the U.S. for oil revenue. He used Citgo Petroleum Corp., the nation’s U.S.-based oil company, to distribute discounted heating oil to poor American families in a high-profile program aimed at criticizing Washington’s approach to the needy. Former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy II, who heads the nonprofit Citizens Energy program, distributed about 200 million gallons of Venezuela-donated heating oil to more than 2 million low-income American families under his program. Because Venezuela produces oil, the U.S. is very interested in who will be chosen the nation’s next leader when it votes on April 14. In the newspaper, find a story about the Venezuelan election. Write a summary of the top candidates and their views for leading the country.

Common Core/National Standard: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience

3. Holocaust Even More Horrific

If it’s possible to be even more horrified by the Holocaust than most people are, researchers have determined that there were far more Nazi ghettos and prisoner camps throughout Europe than was previously believed. Scholars from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum have been cataloguing all the ghettos, slave labor sites, concentration camps and killing factories that Germany set up during Adolf Hitler’s reign from 1933 to 1945. “The numbers are much higher than what we originally thought,” noted the director of the German Historical Institute in Washington, when it was disclosed that the figure was about 42,500. The lead editors of the project estimate that between 15 million and 20 million people died or were imprisoned at these sites in Poland and elsewhere. Most were Jews, but sometimes the Nazis also targeted Gypsies, homosexuals (of any nationality), Poles, Russians and other Slavs. Violations of human rights still occur around the world. In the newspaper or online, find a story about such rights being violated. Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper, offering a way people could respond to the violation.

Common Core/National Standards: Integrating information presented in different media or formats to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue; producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

4. Fewer Teens Locked Up

The number of American teenagers being held in detention centers and other facilities is at its lowest level in 35 years. In a report, “Reducing Youth Incarceration in the U.S.,” the Annie E. Casey Foundation attributes the decline to nationwide efforts to use “different treatment methods” for young people, rather than detention. Some residential and short-term programs, designed to be more therapeutic than punitive, were cited. Even better, the researchers note, is that a steep decline in juvenile crime has followed the decrease in locking up teenagers. As a class, talk about programs that can help teenagers stay out of trouble, or help them if they get into trouble. Find an example of such a program in the newspaper or online. Use what you find to prepare a Powerpoint presentation on the program for the class.

Common Core/National Standards: Using technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently, as well as to interact and collaborate with others; integrating information presented in different media or formats to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

5. Immortal Moviemaker

Stanley Kubrick died in 1999, but thanks to fellow moviemaker Steven Spielberg, he’s still at work. They will “collaborate” on an unproduced screenplay by Kubrick, a TV mini-series called “Napoleon.” Kubrick wrote the script in 1961 after years of researching Napoleon, reviewing more than 18,000 documents and books while assembling a huge card file. But he put the project aside in favor of other endeavors, including the celebrated movie, “A Clockwork Orange.” He still intended to make what he called a “great historical film” about Napoleon, but the project was never realized. Spielberg and Kubrick collaborated once before, on the film “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” and Spielberg has told an interviewer “Napoleon” will be “the next project we’re working on.” Movies are often based on real life or historical characters. Pick one who interests you from the news, sports or entertainment pages of the newspaper. Write a one-page movie “treatment,” describing a movie you would like to make about this person. Give your proposed movie a creative title.

Common Core/National Standards: Integrating information presented in different media or formats to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue; producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.