NIE Teachers:
Click here for submission form
for a classroom set of newspapers.

Learn about Wilson
& all the features
for you in the
Wilson County News:

The Wilson County News Newspapers In Education program is a FREE program which offers teachers weekly newspapers to use in the classroom as a teaching tool. Teachers may sign up at any time throughout the year!

NIE offers:

    •Teachers the opportunity to enrich your classroom via the newspaper which can act as an additional resource for learning

    •Weekly lesson ideas, roundup of headlines via email

    •Access to curriculum: Kid Scoop (click here) • NIE Institute (click here)

    •Junior Journalist program allowing students to become guest writers. Email nie@wcn-online.com to start the conversation!

    •Publication of student and teacher achievements may be emailed to nie@wcn-online.com at any time for inclusion in the Wilson County News 411 section.

    •Student writing prompts – we love to publish student writing in the Wilson County News! Teachers receive regular emails from nie@wcn-online.com containing monthly writing prompts.

How is NIE FREE?

    Local corporate and private sponsors' generous donations fund this program so that it is free to you. We invite you to share photos of your class using the newspapers throughout the year that we may share with our NIE sponsors. Send anytime to nie@wcn-online.com. View our list of sponsors: click here.


A Teaching Tool for Today & Tomorrow! Newspapers can help!

During the 2021-22 school year, teachers used the Wilson County News to help teach lessons in reading and language arts, math, science, social studies, history, gifted and talented programs, pre-calculus, algebra, college prep, journalism, government, and economics.

The Wilson County News established the NIE program 22 years ago and the newspaper’s role in classrooms has never diminished. “Every year, we strive to reach as many students as possible. And the feedback from teachers has helped us keep the momentum going,” says Kristen K. Weaver, Director of Operations for the Wilson County News.

NIE teacher Misty Cavazos shared, “My students have always enjoyed the paper! They need to get off technology and hold real paper in their hands!”

“This is a great program!” NIE teacher Macie Neill said. “I have been receiving newspapers for years now and my kids love it!”

“I have been using your newspaper for several years now and I thoroughly enjoy reading about various things going on in our community as well as the surrounding communities. It gets my kids involved in something that can be useful to them and give them insight into other people and places,” said Kimberly Terry of Stockdale Junior High. Terry explained how she uses her classroom sets of the Wilson County News: “We will work on reading skills and writing skills by reading the newspaper and choosing stories to write about and summarize for the class to share. We will do a current events type of writing to discuss various topics.”

For more information about the program, contact Kristen K. Weaver, at 830-216-4519 or kristen@wcn-online.com. To learn how to become a sponsor, contact Pam Smith at 830-216-4519 or psmith@wcn-online.com.


Teaching Students Fact From Opinion

A 2018 Pew Research Study found that the majority of Americans can’t distinguish fact from opinion, while the latest OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) found that only 13.5 percent of 15-year-olds can distinguish between fact and opinion when interpreting a complex reading assignment.

Fact-based journalism plays an important role in helping students separate fact from fiction and opinion. Newspapers can play an important role in civics education, giving kids a real-world perspective, helping them distinguish fact from opinion, building literacy and supporting an informed democracy.