Lesson Plan: Can You Trust Your Feed?

Essential Questions:

• How does the news industry benefit people?
• How can we decide whether something we read is believable?

Literature Connections:

• Fiction: Cyber Sleuths: The Super Berries Scam by Natasha Deen
• Nonfiction: Killer Underwear Invasion!: How to Spot Fake News, Disinformation & Conspiracy Theories by Elise Gravel

Activate Prior Knowledge  (5 minutes)

Before reading, take a quick survey by asking students to raise their hands if they regularly read or watch news stories on social media. Note whether more than half the students raise their hands. Then briefly discuss the relative merits of different news sources. Ask students where they find news stories and why. Ask whether they frequent any of the same news sources as their parents or guardians.

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article in their magazines or at Action Online. Preview the text features by asking the following questions:

• Read the article’s title and subtitle (the text below the title). The subtitle says that more than half of teens get their news from social media. Why do you think that is? Answers may vary. Students might say that teens get their news from social media because they’re on social media anyway or because teens find influencers on social media more appealing than traditional journalists.
• Find the sidebar “Know the News!” What is its purpose? The purpose of the sidebar is to provide readers with resources to help them figure out whether a news story is truthful and complete. 

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

• Point out the vocabulary box. Read the terms (convenient, reliable, misinformation, exaggerated, engage with) aloud and discuss their definitions.
• Play the Vocabulary Slideshow. 

Make a Plan for Reading

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

• Set a purpose for reading by telling students that the article explains why you can’t always believe the news you see on social media and how to know what stories to believe. 
• Point out the Pause and Think boxes. Tell students they can check their understanding of what they’ve read by answering these questions.
• Point out the activity at the end of the article and let students know they’ll complete it after reading.  

Read the article. (Higher- and lower-Lexile versions are available on the Story page at Action Online. Click Presentation View to access an audio read-aloud.) Then discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

• The article mentions both misinformation and disinformation. How are these terms different in meaning? (vocabulary) The term misinformation refers to information that is simply wrong. The term disinformation describes incorrect information that is spread on purpose to trick people. 
• Based on the article, why might someone give a video a title like “Urgent Warning”? (cause and effect) The article says that people give videos titles like “Urgent Warning” to cause feelings of alarm and make viewers more likely to click on the videos.
• What information were people posting about Stanley cups last year? What information were they leaving out? (key details) Last year, people were posting that Stanley cups contained a dangerous metal called lead. They were leaving out the fact that the lead is covered and doesn’t come into contact with the areas you touch or drink from.

Critical-Thinking Question (5 minutes)

• The article says that when your parents were teens, they probably got their news from newspapers or TV news shows. Do you think those are better ways to get news than through social media? Why or why not? Answers will vary. Some students might say that newspapers and TV shows are better because they generally provide reporting from professional journalists, while anyone can post on social media. Others might say that social media is a better place to get news because it’s more convenient and more likely to offer news that fits a specific viewer’s interests. 

• Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill activity at the end of the article.
• Go further: Assign students to work independently on our Summarizing activity (Click here to view all your Skill Builders for this article.)
• Writing Prompt: Imagine that your friend Jack is worried because he read online that a new study shows using deodorant can cause health problems. Write a short response telling Jack what he can do to make sure he’s got his facts straight.