A New Twist on Article Of the Week: Coffee & DONUTs

Disclaimer: I am an affiliate with The Donut and will be compensated if you use my referral links below. All ideas, opinions, and suggestions are my own!

In my brick and mortar classroom, I have to admit, I’ve always been pretty bad at following through on “weekly” assignments. I have started so many activities that were intended to be weekly rituals and, although SO well intentioned, I either can’t keep up with the idea or just run out of inspiration and ideas by the time we reach October and November.

I had especially high hopes for implementing Kelly Gallagher’s "Article of the Week” activity. I had a few ups and downs and, ultimately, just couldn’t keep things going. I often struggled with a lot of self doubt when selecting articles, whether they were ones from Gallagher’s own website or ones I was trying to implement myself. There were formatting issues, Lexile issues, and most concerning: bias issues. I was always worried that with just one article I was setting myself up to be one-sided and not giving students the chance to see multiple sides to a story.

ENTER: THE DONUT.

Not too long ago, I was contacted by a staff member at The Donut. The Donut describes themselves as “a community of people changing the world through inclusiveness and positivity. We provide fact-based summaries of the day’s biggest stories and shed light on big-media spin, all while promoting good vibes and civic action”. Okay! So, yes. Yes to all of this.

I subscribed to their free daily newsletter which serves as a daily news update, and found that The Donut delivers - for each issue of the day, 2-4 sources are provided AND labeled on the media-bias spectrum. I immediately saw how valuable this could be with my students and I’d like to share those with you:

1. Everything is curated FOR you. No more looking for articles online. The newsletter is published daily and archives are available from previous dates. Less work for me? Check.

2. The stories and layout are both accessible for students and colorfully designed. The design of the newsletter might sound like a silly reason to get on board with the program, but there’s something magical about packaging that looks attractive and fun, but not childish.

3. The variety of perspectives is wide and deeply informative. I can now offer my students CHOICE when looking at an issue and ask them to determine their own stance on a spectrum. And remember, all of the leg-work is done for you.

4. Um, it’s free. Yes, there are some sponsored products/ads in the newsletter, but so far that hasn’t been a deterrent for me.

Here is a screenshot of the opening section of the newsletter: a deep dive into an important conversation

How I plan to use The Donut

Right now, I feel like The Donut is a springboard for discussion. In my virtual learning classroom (and eventually hybrid and in-person classroom) I’d like to use The Donut as a weekly reading and reflection activity. I’ve created a Google Form that I can reuse each week and I plan to have the students read a minimum of two articles on the focal issue of the newsletter. Then, I want them to identify the claim of the source and at least two pieces of textual evidence that support the claim. Finally, students will reflect and share their own impressions and ideas on the issue in writing, followed by either a live Google Meet discussion or a Flipgrid based discussion with the rest of the class. If you’d like a copy of that Google Form, help yourself and download below!

For more ideas and live tutorials, be sure to check out my Instagram page and highlights!

If you’d like to subscribe to The Donut, I’d love it if you used my referral link!