Lessons for Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in Elementary and Middle Schools
April 1, 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
Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 21, 2021
Author Bober, an educator with 20 years of school-library and classroom experience, addresses often-expressed concerns associated with teaching news literacy to elementary- and middle-school students and offers ready-made, adaptable solutions. He has created 21 lesson plans that integrate critical-thinking skills into news-literacy-based exercises. Lessons range from basic, descriptive activities (Fact vs. Opinion) to analysis (Corroborating Information across Multiple Sources) to personal interaction (Going to the Source: Finding Primary Sources) to becoming news consumers (What Is My Opinion? Being Aware of Our Own Biases). Each plan includes excerpts from historical and modern news stories to facilitate critical-thinking applications and make current news stories (whatever they may be) more accessible for kids. The plans are presented on templates, and readers are encouraged to adapt and reuse the lessons throughout the school year, in various applications, to reinforce skills across curricular areas. School librarians and teachers will appreciate this logical and easy-to-implement guide to incorporating news literacy into research and inquiry.
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