1. ‘Blade Runner’ in Custody

Originally, it was believed to have been an accident — that Paralympic champion Oscar “Blade Runner” Pistorius thought he was shooting an intruder when he killed his girlfriend in their home in a South Africa gated community. But police, referring to a series of prior complaints about domestic violence in the home, have charged the global sports hero with murder in the death of popular model Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius, who competed in the last Olympics despite having had both legs amputated at the knee in infancy, had been a national hero and symbol of South Africa’s ability to achieve on a world stage. With the newspaper and Internet, find out more about the case and Pistorius’s historic role in the Olympics 400-meter semifinal and 4x400 meter relay. Write a few paragraphs about his impact on the sports world.

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; producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

2. Historic Settings

Discovery of King Richard III’s skeleton under a parking lot in the European nation of Great Britain suggested that it was at or near the site of the Battle of Bosworth Field, where the king uttered his famous speech in the last act of the Shakespeare’s play “Richard III.” Now, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre has been inspired to schedule a touring production of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” trilogy at the sites of four battles that figure in those plays. The dramas will be presented at the battlefields at Tewkesbury, St. Albans, Barnet and Towton, where the Houses of York and Lancaster clashed in the bloodiest battle ever on British soil. Could this set a precedent — “Hamlet” at Elsinore Castle in Denmark, for example, or “Julius Caesar” at what’s left of the Senate in Rome? Talk about the appeal of staging plays in the locations where they are supposed to have taken place. Then design a travel ad for the newspaper promoting one play in one location. Share ideas as a class.

Common Core/National Standards: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions; using drawings or visual displays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points.

3. Smart Friends = Higher Grades

If you want to raise your grades, it may be a good idea to get friendly with academically-oriented classmates. That’s what researchers have concluded after surveying the junior class at an upstate New York high school. Checking averages for 158 students, they found a correlation between a student’s grades and those of his or her closest friends and concluded the most significant influence on a student’s grades seemed to be the grades of friends. As a class, use the Internet to learn more about this study at the Maine-Endwell High School in Endwell, N.Y. Then talk about the role peer pressure plays in how students behave. Find an example of peer pressure’s effect in the newspaper or online and write a summary of it.

Common Core/National Standards: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions; producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

4. A Dangerous Profession

A total of 70 journalists worldwide were killed last year while doing their jobs, and more than 35 have disappeared. The deaths, reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists, represent a 43 percent increase over the previous year. On top of the deaths, 232 journalists were imprisoned around the world, 53 more than a year earlier and the largest number since the annual survey began in 1990. The committee attributes the trend to repressive laws, government intolerance of dissent and impunity for the killers of journalists. Why should anyone, other than those in journalism, be concerned? Because it threatens your source of information about what’s happening in the world, press experts say. As a Committee spokesman said, “The right to receive and impart information transcends borders.” Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are two of the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Use the newspaper to find an example of one of these freedoms in action and write a summary.

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

5. Costly Kickoff Return

A home furnishings store in Baltimore, Maryland, had to give away more than $600,000 in merchandise because of a promotion that backfired. Gardiners Furniture & Mattress promised to give away furniture purchased in the days leading up to the Super Bowl if a Baltimore Raven returned a kickoff for a touchdown, something no one had done in the Super Bowl since 2007. But in this Super Bowl (which the Ravens won), the Ravens’ Jacoby Jones did just that. The store had bought a $12,000 insurance policy, which covered most of the bill, and the owners noted “a very positive effect from the event,” which “generated a tremendous wave of publicity.” In the newspaper, find an example of a promotion or sale offered by a store. Write a summary of the promotion and whether you think it will be successful.

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