Unraveling the Local News Together

Yarn Crafting & Community Discussion

Bring your current yarn project or learn a new skill. Free knit and crochet supplies and instruction provided. We will also discuss recent education and school issues covered in the local news.

Yarn Crafting guidelines

Our icebreaker activity before and during our discussion is to get started practicing knit or crochet - beginners welcome! 

For participants who want to begin or improve their knit or crochet skills, we will use the Each One Teach Two model. 

Learn to knit and learn to crochet supplies will also be available for use during the discussion, or you can bring your own yarn project and supplies. 

Unraveling the Local News Together discussion guidelines

Read, reflect, listen and learn together in a facilitated discussion about topics in the news with a focus on Kansas or Topeka perspectives.

For this session, we will focus on recent issues around education and schools as covered in local news sources including cjonline.com, wibw.com, ksnt.com and Kansas Reflector. 

As you skim or read local news, pay attention to how topics of education, schools and related issues are covered and how these issues impact us locally in Topeka and Kansas. Some common questions in community education discussions may include:

• What public school and education are most concerning to you? How does that compare to what is reported in the news?

• Consider what obtaining an education entails. Oftentimes, when we think of the word, we think of school: classes, lectures, study groups. But much education also occurs outside of the classroom. Who else, aside from teachers, help to educate?

• How can high-needs schools attract and retain high quality teachers to help close the achievement gap? What strategies have you learned about in our local news?

• Highly discussed education topics include school lunches, technology use, curriculum choices, standardized achievement tests, social media, mental health, graduation rates, sports, extracurricular activities, tech schools and career readiness. What do you see reflected and reported in our local news? How does our local news compare to the media shared by the school districts directly?

• How is the role of schools and education portrayed in our local media? Empowerment of youth? Increasing prospects for future success? Skill development? Contributions to the community?

• What news about schools and education is most relevant to residents with students in the community? What news is most relevant to those without students in the community? Is there a difference in the two audiences? Why or why not?

We will focus on being curious, listening to understand, raising questions, and identifying things we each want to learn more about.

The discussion will strive to remain nonpartisan, meaning the group does not expressly support one political party or candidate over another.

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