Welcome to the Insider Spotlight section, 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 Jennifer Liang from Atlanta, Georgia, where she teaches Media Literacy to high school students with incidence disabilities, like autism and ADHD.

Q: Why are news and media literacy skills important for all learners? 

A: Media literacy is important because we want students to mature into active, engaged citizens. I tell my students all the time that they will be voters soon, and I want them to make good choices based on facts. 

Q: What are some ways that you’ve adapted NLP resources to meet the needs of your students?  

A: Because I teach special needs, I am always adapting everything. We complete the lesson modules together as a class. That way I can make sure the students fully engage with and understand the content. Because we are reading together, I can help them break down any unfamiliar words or idioms to improve comprehension. Doing it as a group also means that we can discuss answers together. I love it when two students disagree on a response so we can talk through the concept. We make liberal use of the “try again” feature.  

Q: How do you supplement Checkology lessons to further student learning?  

I add additional readings or videos and assign projects as a summative assessment. Right now, we are working on “Conspiratorial Thinking.” We started the unit by watching a short documentary on the history of the Flat Earth movement. Their final project will be researching a popular conspiracy theory and debunking it. As part of the debunking, they have to identify the types of bias the theory demonstrates and document what kind of harm this theory causes. 

Q: What is your favorite tool from the Resource Library, and how do you engage students with it? 

A: We refer back to the Seven standards of quality journalism poster all the time. Students have to complete a weekly news article review and rate how well it meets the standards. 

Q: What is your favorite Checkology lesson to use with students, and why? 

A: The kids get really excited about “Conspiratorial Thinking.” It’s the topic they look forward to all semester. 

 

 

Welcome to the Insider Spotlight section, 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 Candice Roach from Port Jervis, New York, where she teaches a middle school course called Multimedia Experience. To help students identify credible evidence, Candice uses resources like the “Levels of Scientific Evidence” infographic.

Q: Evaluating evidence for its credibility is a foundational news literacy skill. What are key characteristics of authoritative sources and credible claims?

A: Not all sources are created equally. Obviously, peer-reviewed journals are going to be more authoritative than TikTok. Credible claims are those that can be verified. If a claim is online and true, it should be easy to find it in more than one place.

Q: How is news literacy relevant to your teaching of research skills?

A: News literacy is key to information literacy. Teaching students to find reliable, trustworthy information from verifiable sources is a research skill. It can be transferred to learn any content in any class.

Q: In your experience, what are some common misconceptions that students have about the credibility of sources? How do you address those misconceptions?

A: Lately, students are too trustworthy of AI! Students tend to be trustworthy in general — if someone says it, they believe it. My job is to encourage them to do a lateral search or a reverse image search and verify the information is true before they share it.

Q: How can formal research skills translate to a student’’s consumption of information on social media?

A: It is all related. Verifying information is a skill that can be used in the library, ELA, social studies or on social media. If they aren’t verifying, they may be spreading misinformation.

Q: Why is the ability to evaluate evidence important across subject areas?

A: I want my students to be well-informed. They should be confident in finding information, sharing it and citing it. This will help them do their own thinking, not just regurgitate what they are being told. It gives them agency to learn whatever they want.
 

 

Welcome to the Insider Spotlight section, 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 Noreen Fitzgerald-Makar from New York City, where she is an English and journalism teacher.

Q: Why is it important for students to understand the First Amendment when learning about news literacy?

A: I think that it is important for students to have a working background knowledge of the First Amendment before learning about news literacy because understanding freedom of press and speech is essential to the practice of being a good journalist and a good citizen. Students need to know what can and cannot be said, to be able to differentiate between opinion and fact, and to understand that First Amendment freedoms allow the press to act as a watchdog. One thing I like to ask students that are interested in joining the class is, “Should governments be permitted to censor news media?” A good number of them say “yes,” and it is then my job to explain why that can never happen.

Q: How does understanding the First Amendment’s protected freedoms help students become more informed, critical consumers of news? 

A: I think that understanding the First Amendment’s protected freedoms helps students because they are able to add their own voices to conversations concerning news. Knowing that they have a voice, and they can use that voice to advance a cause or convey a dissenting opinion on a controversial topic, is important.

Q: What strategies for assessing modern issues do students gain by analyzing landmark Supreme Court cases in this lesson?

A: Students learn to make connections between what has already happened and what is going on in our schools/classrooms/communities today. Students can analyze and synthesize information, for example, about why school publications are run as they are run and why change may not be possible. These real-world cases put a face on the issue and make the students more invested in learning about it.

Q: How does learning about the First Amendment’s limitations enhance students’ ability to think critically about what is true and what is false?

A: I think that learning about the limitations of the First Amendment enhances students’ critical thinking because it encourages them to engage with complex questions about the balance between freedom of expression and public responsibility. Students are challenged to consider where free speech should be protected and where it might conflict with other important values, such as public safety, national security or preventing harm.

Q: How can an understanding of the First Amendment guide students in identifying and confronting censorship and attempts to suppress free speech?

A: By understanding the scope of First Amendment protections, students can more easily identify when their rights are being infringed upon. They will be better equipped to distinguish between protected speech and instances where restrictions may be justified. They can advocate for free speech in situations where it may be unjustly restricted, such as when a school or government entity attempts to limit discussions or protests based on controversial topics.

Welcome to the 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 Juan Armijo from Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he is an Advanced Placement (AP) United States government teacher.

Q: Why is it essential for students to comprehend the various types and manifestations of bias in news coverage?

A: Students get most of what they consider news or media from social media. It is important that students understand the role bias may play in reporting and providing the public with what is taking place. The lesson has some excellent examples. The poster resource is a tool that I used at the start of the school year.

Q: What are the potential consequences of not teaching students how to identify and analyze bias in the media they consume daily?

A: Many times, students are provided information without a clear understanding of how to view and understand the role of bias. If teachers use any media resource and students don’t understand how to decide if and what type of bias exists, this impacts their future as members of the community and cheats them of the ability to determine bias and how that bias impacts the truth.

Q: How might understanding their own biases influence students’ perceptions of media content?

A: We all (teachers and students, etc.) see the world or see our surroundings from the chair we sit in. I always tell my students to look at how we view information, learning and discussions from that perspective.

Q: What strategies from the lesson can students apply to identify bias in news reporting? 

A: The section in the lesson titled “What is straight news?” provides an opportunity for students to understand what reporting the facts are and see if there may be bias based on what is reported, how it is reported and what might be left out. Learning the five types of bias (Partisan, Corporate, Demographic, Neutrality and Big Story) is an important part of the process for students in understanding bias.

Q: How does distinguishing between opinion journalism and straight news reporting benefit students’ media literacy?

A: Understanding opinion pieces as opposed to what is news is important to show students that it is OK to form and discuss different viewpoints. At the start of the school year, I had students analyze a print newspaper, which is a perfectly organized type of media dividing news reporting from the opinion page.

Welcome to the Insider Spotlight section, 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 Cathy Collins from Boston, Massachusetts, where she is a library media specialist. 

Q: What makes editorial cartoons a valuable subject for students to study?

A: Editorial cartoons convey complex ideas concisely, making them accessible for students to interpret and analyze. Students today are very familiar with GIFs and memes, and so editorial cartoons have a familiarity to them in today’s digital world. The visual elements require students to engage with both visual and textual information. The humorous, satirical nature of editorial cartoons tends to especially speak to teens and encourages them to look beyond the literal to find the deeper meaning. By exposing students to a range of cartoons expressing differing views on a wide range of issues, we encourage them to consider multiple perspectives and help them develop empathy.

Q: How can analyzing political cartoons deepen students’ understanding of media representation and bias?

A: Analyzing political cartoons helps students begin to question dominant narratives in news, social media and other information sources. Visual cues and symbols can contain fair representation or bias and, with practice, students learn how to interpret these cues and symbols for themselves.

Q: What insights can students gain about the power of visual storytelling in shaping opinions?

A: Through analysis of editorial cartoons, students learn that visual storytelling reflects cultural values, providing insights into the power of art and the ways in which imagery shapes public opinion. Students learn that part of the power of visual storytelling is that it hits us on an emotional level and impacts us on a personal level, influencing our perceptions and beliefs. Visual messages tend to stick in our heads.

Q: In what ways might understanding the watchdog role of media inspire students to question authority or advocate for change?

A: Political cartoons hold authority figures accountable by critiquing their actions and decisions. Studying them, students are reminded that questioning authority and not being what I refer to as a “sheeple” is important. Cartoons that highlight social issues, injustice or political corruption may inspire more students to engage in activism and to strive to make a difference in their home communities and the wider world. By demonstrating the media’s role in monitoring government actions, cartoons can motivate students to participate in civic processes and to find their voices in our democracy. We all stand to benefit!