Headliners
Did You Know?
Before Middle School Social Studies Teacher Foun Tang began her career in education, she was a news associate for NBC Asia Evening News and a photo editor for Agence France-Presse in Hong Kong.
Q. How does your experience working in the news media inform your outlook as a social studies teacher?
A. News sense. When I was a news associate, I sat in on all the meetings about what would make it onto the news that night and what the angle would be. . . .There are so many stories out there—attention-grabbing stories. What makes them important for us to study? What is the heart of the matter? It is the same with history as it is with news: I want to get students to develop the capacity to determine what is important for themselves and recognize that the takeaways for others might be different.
Q. What do you think young people should know about the media and its role in contemporary society?
A. Students need to understand the power of media and social media, the speed at which things can change, and how persuasive social media can be. It’s where so many people look for their news, and that says something about who we trust—that we might trust our friends to select news items for us rather than the news media.
Social media adds a new dimension to old lessons about the importance of analyzing sources. Students need to know something about the person who wrote the story, who the writer works for, what their motivation or agenda might be, what relationship there might be between the writer or news outlet and a political party.
Q. Do you remember what you learned in junior high or high school?
A. It’s not content that will stick, but the skills you learn—the ability to uncover a truth or a bias or something else that is meaningful for you. That’s the real, lasting residue of schooling.
List of 2 members.
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Joan Buhrman
Director of Brand Communications and Marketing -
Diana Wensley
Manager of Digital Storytelling
1640 Kalmia Road NW
Washington, DC 20012
202-577-2000
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