📌 National News Literacy Week Activity Planner

🌟 Madeline Stewart Insider Spotlight

🎤 Register for National News Literacy Conference

As we send this newsletter, we’re at the midpoint of National News Literacy Week! At a time when students are constantly scrolling, sharing and sorting through information, news literacy skills have never been more important. Helping students slow down, ask questions and think critically about what they see online is essential, not just for school but also for life. That’s why we created a flexible Activity Planner to support you in bringing news literacy into your classroom, even when time is tight. And if you’re a librarian, we made a special version of the planner just for you. 

The planner is built around teaching one core news literacy standard each day, using ready-to-go resources from Checkology® and The Sift®. Whether you want a full lesson, a short activity or a five-minute class opener, you’ll find options that fit naturally into what you’re already teaching. 

Throughout the week, students practice skills that help them become more thoughtful consumers and sharers of information, including: 

Each day includes a mix of interactive lessons, quick activities and visual resources, all aligned to NLP’s Framework for Teaching News Literacy. 

Pressed for time? Grab-and-go options like Daily Do Now slides and RumorGuard Guides make it possible to participate even on your busiest days. Our activity planner offers you a practical guide to help students build skills that matter beyond the classroom. Choose one activity, try it with your students and build from there. 

Welcome to Insider Spotlight, where we feature real questions from our team and answers from educators who are making a difference teaching news literacy. This month, our featured educator is Madeline Stewart, a middle school social studies teacher in Metamora, Ohio.

In case you missed it, registration for our inaugural National News Literacy Conference is now open! This conference marks a new chapter in our shared work of educating for a future founded on facts and will bring together educators from across the country to exchange strategies, celebrate impact and shape the next phase of the news literacy movement. Register now. 

The News Literacy Project sometimes presents with educators at major, national conferences, such as NCTE, NCSS, ISTE, TCEA, FETC, ALA and AASL. If you’re interested in submitting a proposal with us, please fill out this form. Note: NLP cannot cover registration fees or expenses for individuals outside of the organization. If an occasion presents itself, we will reach out. 

Are you using NLP’s resources to make a difference in your classroom? We want to hear from you! We’re looking for passionate educators to share their experiences and insights in our Insider Spotlight. Complete the interest form here: https://forms.gle/pvzQPix7kAPmgYQp6

NLP hosted a National News Literacy Week edWebinar on Tuesday, featuring our own Hannah Covington. During this edWebinar, Hannah explored different teaching strategies and resources to help students distinguish between different kinds of content on social media. You can find the recording here.  

In today’s rapidly evolving labor market, decision-making remains one of the most essential and enduring sets of skills. Yet most of us don’t receive adequate training in decision-making in school. The Alliance for Decision Education, a national nonprofit with the mission of improving lives by empowering students with the skills and dispositions to make better decisions, is working on bridging this skills gap for K-12 students. “Decision Skills in the Workforce”, a new Burning Glass Institute Report, developed in collaboration with the Alliance for Decision Education, finds that developing decision skills — such as strategic thinking, risk analysis and problem-solving — prepares students to thrive in the workforce of the future. According to the report, nearly half (41%) of U.S. job postings (2022–24) explicitly mention decision-making skills; that percentage rises to 68% in computer and mathematical occupations, 55% in management and 44% in skilled trades. Read the full report to learn more and reach out to Tim Flynn at tim@alliancefordecisioneducation.org to further engage around this work. 

The Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference on June 21-26 in Washington, D.C., provides 51 students (one high school junior from each state plus the District of Columbia) with an all-expenses-paid program that includes panel conversations with journalists and multimedia storytellers, newsroom visits, networking events and a chance to meet students and industry leaders who share a passion for news.  

Participants also receive a $1,000 college scholarship and ongoing support from a community of more than 1,700 alumni. The deadline to apply is March 15. Whether students are interested in print and broadcast journalism, multimedia storytelling or podcasts, this program has something for everyone!  

Click here to take the poll and be entered into a raffle to win NLP swag! 

 Congrats to history teacher Laurel Taylor for winning last month’s giveaway! 

📖 March 2: Read Across America Day  

🍀 March 17: St. Patrick’s Day  

Support news literacy by donating today.

Visit us at newslit.org, checkology.org and rumorguard.org.