Building News Literacy: Lessons for Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in Elementary and Middle Schools

by Tom Bober

Overview

Every upper-elementary and middle school educator can teach news literacy and connected literacies, including text, visual, graphic, and video literacy, using this book.

This book suggests that news literacy is made up of several other literacies and skills that must not only be explored across the subject areas, but also connected to students' real-world consuming and sharing habits. A series of lessons, some using technology, lay a foundation for building these multiple literacies and skills. While not meant to be a complete program, the lessons provide a holistic experience and are adaptable to personalize students' learning.

The author melds strategies for finding and making meaning from information, the multiple literacies that young consumers of news must be familiar with to navigate news and other information, and the digital skills necessary to navigate today's news options. Whether students encounter news in the firewall-protected classroom or pushed out to them on their phones, the series of lessons encourage them to give pause and ask important questions as they move beyond simply consuming to become critical readers of the news.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798216056744
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	01/05/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	182
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	7 - 17 Years

About the Author

Tom Bober is an elementary school librarian in Missouri and author of Elementary Educator's Guide to Primary Sources.
Tom Bober is an elementary librarian in Clayton, Missouri, USA; a former teacher in residence at the Library of Congress, a member of the Teachers Advisory Board at the National Portrait Gallery, and a 2018 Library Journal Mover and Shaker.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1—News Literacy in Elementary and Middle Schools?
Where Do Elementary and Middle School Students Get Their News?
Defining News
By Format
By Geography
Hard News and Soft News
By Creator or Reporter
By Legitimacy
Recruiting Everyone in the Effort
What This Book Attempts to Do
2—Challenges to Be Addressed by Developing News Literacy in Students
Reading Digital vs. Print
Trusting the Messenger and the Message
Organizing Facts, Commentary, and Personal Reactions
Instilling the Importance of Reliability and Credibility
Making Sourcing and Contextualizing Automatic
Abandoning Old Approaches to Information and News Literacy
3—News Literacy: Tying Together Multiple Literacies Across Subjects
News Literacy: Made Up of Many Parts
Text Literacy
Visual Literacy
Audiovisual Literacy
Graphic and Geographic Literacy
Comparing News Literacy to Historical Literacy
News Literacy Across the Subject Areas
4—Lessons to Develop News Literacy
Describing the News
Lesson 1: Fact vs. Opinion
Lesson 2: What Is News and What Isn't
Lesson 3: Differentiating Between News and News Commentary
Lesson 4: Reliability and Credibility
News Analysis Strategies
Lesson 5: Sourcing: Taking a First Look at New Information
Lesson 6: Contextualizing: Placing News in the Moment
Lesson 7: Close Reading: Uncovering the Story
Lesson 8: Corroborating Information Across Multiple Sources
Lesson 9: Asking Questions When Interacting with News
Lesson 10: Word Choice in the News
Lesson 11: Voices in the News: Finding Who Is Heard and Who Is Not
Interacting with the News
Lesson 12: Reading Across Headlines
Lesson 13: Curating Sources: Expanding Beyond an Initial View
Lesson 14: Going to the Source: Finding Primary Sources
Lesson 15: Making Connections Between News Topics: Cause and Effect in the News
Lesson 16: Stick with the Story: Following News over Time
Lesson 17: The Quick Share: Sharing, Liking, and Commenting on News
Understanding Oneself and Others as News Consumers
Lesson 18: What Is My Opinion?: Being Aware of Our Own Biases
Lesson 19: Rethinking Relationships: Reflecting on Affinities with News Sources
Lesson 20: Interacting with and Reacting to Emotionally Charged News Topics
Lesson 21: How Will Others Read This?: Predicting Audience Viewpoints
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Practical and user-friendly, with lesson ideas that are ready to implement.” —School Library Jourbanal

“School librarians and teachers will appreciate this logical and easy-to-implement guide to incorporating news literacy into research and inquiry.” —Booklist Online

From the Publisher

04/01/2021

Though news literacy isn't a new area of interest for librarians, it's a critical one, and this informative and accessible volume offers a concise exploration of the topic, along with a variety of lessons for use with upper elementary and middle school students. School librarian Bober defines news and news literacy and discusses why news literacy is important and why librarians should make connections between this topic and other literacies across subject areas. The bulk of the book consists of 21 lessons targeting skills such as distinguishing between fact and opinion; evaluating reliability and credibility; close reading; sourcing and contextualizing news; corroborating information; analyzing word choice, voice, and bias; and reacting to and sharing news stories. Each lesson includes objectives, an overview of the activity, an exit slip to assess student learning, ideas for differentiation, and recommended historical news articles, though the author also offers suggestions for substituting current news articles. The lessons follow a similar format and rely on graphic organizers. Lessons are detailed enough to guide readers through each activity but general enough to be adapted to work with any number of news topics. VERDICT Practical and user-friendly, with lesson ideas that are ready to implement.—Lauren Strohecker, McKinley Elem. Sch., Elkins Park, PA

School Library Journal