MEDIA SMARTS

Work collaboratively with other members of an Editorial Board to analyze and evaluate potential articles for your fictional news organization. Discuss the merits and shortcomings of each piece, then decide on one editorial that your organization will publish. 

• Make sure you discuss different indicators of each author's point of view / perspective such as potential source bias; slanted language; or selection and omission of certain visuals, statistics, or quotes. 

• Use the nonfiction reading strategies to help you dig a little deeper and see what is lurking beneath the surface of each source.

• It's helpful in a discussion like this to have some notes prepared so you remember what to talk about, so consider annotating your article with those nonfiction reading strategies and writing down some of your stronger talking points. 

CCSS.RI.6.11-12 Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.

CCSS.SL.1.11-12 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

CCSS.SL.1.11-12.c Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative perspectives.