This lesson plan introduces students to lateral reading techniques using the SIFT method. Designed and implemented for a political science introduction to international relations course, this can easily be adapted to other media literacy contexts. Students will practice lateral reading with sample news articles. Worksheets, slides, and sample articles are linked in the lesson plan. Alternative news articles can be substituted.

This Worksheet is based on Mike Caulfield’s S.I.F.T. Method. Students will first need to have a familiarity with that. I highly recommend the “S.I.F.T. For Teachers” video playlist on his YouTube channel and/or his website.This activity would probably take most of a class period. Could also be done online via a Discussion.

List of nearly two dozen short (~5 min) videos that deal with various topics related to Misinformation & News/Media Literacy. Prompt Questions included for each video. Great to use for a class activity/assignment.

Tabs/Topics: Categories of Misinformation, Evaluating Information, Media Bias Charts, Classroom Activities, Videos, Podcasts, Infographics, More Resources

Reports from leading organizations on Misinformation & Media/News Literacy

This is a brainstorming activity in which students work in groups that each spend time (approx. 2-3 min.) at 3 different stations. 

These materials were created to complement the "Bot or Not?" learning activity described in "Chapter 12: Fact-Checking Viral Trends for News Writers," in Teaching About Fake News: Lesson Plans for Different Disciplines and Audiences (2021). Students are to divide into groups, take a tweet provided by the instructor (samples are included in the link), and use evaluative methods introduced in the session to determine the veracity and newsworthiness of both the Twitter account and the tweet itself.

A toolkit with various instructional materials to teach media and news literacy. Includes an online activity "Fairness and Blanace" where students watch a short video on journalistic standards and answer discussion questions. Then, students can take one or both interactive tutorials on "Lateral Reading" with a focus on fact-checking and/or "Evaluating Information" based on an information need. Also includes a video on the "Anatomy of a News Website" with reflective questions and in-class assignment ideas for librarians or instructors. 

The goal of this in-class activity is to help students relate database searching to something they already have familiarity with. This is interdisciplinary and could be adapted for any subject or database. Students will explore a timely topic on Twitter using a hashtag and note bias, tone, authority, and related hashtags before conducting a similar search on a library database or discovery tool. Students and instructors then discuss similarities and differences between both searches and their results. 

An open access MOOC in French to bonify the information literacy skills of university students (with Moodle).