N.I.E. BRINGS NEWS TO THE CLASSROOM

There are a lot of textbooks out there, jockeying for spots in the nation's classrooms.

But as thorough as textbooks can be, some teachers say there's a problem with all of them -- they contain last year's information.

That's OK for some classes, but subjects like current events, geography and economics require updated information. Teachers in those classes use the media as part of their curriculum, and a program called Newspapers In Education helps.

N.I.E. is a nationwide drive to improve literacy and help students learn through their local newspapers. The Southeast Missourian began participating in 1988, providing copies to students throughout the newspaper's coverage area.

Kim McDowell, the Missourian's N.I.E. coordinator, said the newspaper got involved because managers there realized that students need, not only reading skills, but comprehension and information to help them later in life.

"One of the biggest needs in our society is for people to gain basic skills so they can better themselves," McDowell said. "Maybe they can do better than their parents, who may have limited literacy skills."

Last year, more than 3,000 newspapers a week went out to area schools, and teachers using them reported great results.

Jean Graham, a fourth-grade teacher at the Scott City Elementary School, said she made copies of the Mini Page in Tuesday's paper for years before she began receiving the entire paper through N.I.E.

Graham shows her students usage of nouns and adjectives in various articles and encourages them to read Learning page features about children at other schools.

"I can't imagine anyone not wanting to use the newspaper to teach," she said. "The kids love it. They look forward to it."

Kevin Bohnert taught geography and economics for years at Cape Central High School before transferring to Jackson High School. He participated in N.I.E. in Cape.

Although he didn't use newspapers at Jackson for the year he taught American History, Bohnert intends to use them to teach his current events students this year.

He said he plans to take three articles from the Southeast Missourian dealing with local, national and worldwide events, attacking the articles from a reporter's point of view. Students will have to come up with the who, what, when, where and why of an article, then take a quiz each Friday on various articles.

"Teachers used to rely on textbooks as their main tools, but textbooks may be three or four years old," Bohnert said. "The newspaper is an everyday thing."

Students in Bud Cravens' citizenship classes at Cape Central Junior High have enjoyed N.I.E. newspapers since the program began. Cravens assigns three to five articles for students to read each day, from which they can glean information about social, geographical and economic issues.

"The first thing the kids want to do is look at the police reports," Cravens said. "After that's over, they settle down to their work."

He said he would continue with the N.I.E. program as long as it was available.

Teachers interested in becoming a part of N.I.E. should call Mark Kneer, circulation manager, at the Southeast Missourian.

Teachers for grades K-3 can receive Mini Pages, grades 4-6 can receive Tuesday's paper and grades 7-12 can receive Tuesday or daily papers if they are teaching social studies, current events, journalism, reading skills or other newspaper-related subjects.