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

Bober, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1440875154 ISBN 13: 9781440875151

Publisher: Libraries Unlimited, 2021

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

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.

Reviews

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

Edition details

• Publisher: Libraries Unlimited
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1440875154
• ISBN 13: 9781440875151
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 182