What does this site provide?
There are so many ways to approach the skills required to be an informed consumer of media. I want to offer ideas that are important but that I’ve not necessarily seen emphasized in related activities I’ve reviewed. Check the Additional Resources section of this site to take a look at some of these other activities.
The activities on this site cover some, but certainly not all, of the skills students and educators need to be able to apply when consuming media in various forms. They fall under two broad topics: Assessing Words and Assessing Numbers. Activity topics in each of these areas and links to individual activities are provided in the Instructional Activities section.
The Assessing Words and Assessing Numbers Instructional Activities are continually reviewed. If you use one or more of these activities, please complete a Feedback Form for each.
This site is meant to be used by teachers. Student Resources are provided, but please do not direct students here. Copy and paste the link to the handout and whichever of the Online Resources you want students to use on your classroom webpage, in your classroom area of the school’s Learning Management System, or wherever you distribute digital materials to students.
The free materials offered on this site were created for middle school students and educators as supplemental materials for my book entitled The Media-Savvy Middle School Classroom: Strategies for Teaching Against Disinformation, but can be used by anyone who wants to learn these critical media literacy skills.
Assessing Words
- Verify Quotations – Who said that?
- Expert Opinion – How reliable is expert opinion?
- Information Echo Chambers – Is your opinion being locked down?
- Counterknowledge – Can you recognize misinformation designed to look like fact?
- Before You Share – Do you verify online items before sharing them?
Assessing Numbers
- Unbelievable! – What are the chances?
- Mean, Median, and Mode – Those pesky averages
- Data Collection – Survey questions
- Data Visualizations – Misleading graphs
- Probability – What are the odds?
Susan Brooks-Young: sjbrooksyoung@gmail.com