TEACHER RESOURCES
Lesson Plans
We suggest that teachers devote class time to teaching news literacy skills prior to the journalist's lecture. Here are several suggested lesson plans and other classroom resources.
TED-Ed offers a customizable lesson plan about how to choose a reliable news source. It includes videos, discussion questions, reading materials and other resources.
Based on a true story, the Academy Award-winning film Spotlight offers students a chance to see how journalists work. The News Literacy Project has written an article explaining the journalism lessons offered by the film. Additionally, Teach With Movies offers a complete lesson plan based on the movie.
The News Literacy Project offers a program that allows teachers to sign up for access to a virtual classroom. They offer a basic and premium program.
A 50-minute lesson plan for kids grades 7-12 designed to teach kids how to spot fake news. Includes materials, discussion questions and classroom activities.
California's KQED News offers a lesson plan about spotting fake news complete with Common Core tie-ins.
A weeklong series of hour-long lesson plans for 9-12 grade students. Lessons cover the basics of news literacy and unpack other topics like bias and fact checking in greater detail. Created by the Journalism Education Association this program adheres to Common Core standards. Download all five lessons here.
The New York Times offers a comprehensive lesson plan with multiple resources to help your students make sense of the news.
Advanced high school students will benefit from the news literacy curriculum developed for students at Stony Brook University. Even if you can't teach an entire course, a number of the individual lesson exercises are helpful.
A four-session lesson plan for grades 9-12 created by the International Literacy Association. Each session is one hour and adheres to Common Core standards and other individual state guidelines. Students learn the basics of news literacy.
A 30-60 minute lesson from the Newseum for middle and high school students on using six questions to determine the validity of news. (Requires free registration to access online course materials.)
A collection of 24 lesson plans for teens on the essentials of journalism. Topics range from what is news to news literacy and an introduction to the First Amendment. All lessons include videos and other resources.
Reading Materials
Use these articles to prepare yourself and your students for the journalist's lecture.
An NPR reporter offers a step-by-step guide for how to read the news like a professional fact checker.
A professor at Merrimack College in Massachusetts complied this guide for spotting fake news along with a comprehensive list of fake news sites.
TED-Ed offers another step-by-step guide to verify whether a story is real or fake news.
A 2016 Stanford University study that reveals how even tech savvy young people struggle to differentiate between real and fake news online. The report is excellent background reading for teachers.
The director of the Center for News Literacy offers teachers advice on how to teach news literacy in this guest article for The New York Times.
A 10-step guide for identifying fake news from The News Literacy Project.
The fundamentals of news literacy boiled down into six basic principles by the Radio Television Digital News Association Foundation.
The News Literacy Project's educational programs vice president writes about teaching news literacy.
The New York Times has created a guide for teachers about how to use current events in the classroom.
Guide to Q&As with a Journalist
If you invite a journalist to your school, we suggest doing a guided Q&A session. This strategy requires less prep for the journalist and may make them more willing to come. We encourage you to come up with your own questions but here is some a sample set of questions.