Fake News

Grade Level: 7-8

Subject: English

Duration: 45 Minutes

DOK Level: 3

Indiana Standard:

7.RN.2.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what a text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

7.RN.3.3 Determine an author’s perspective or purpose in a text, and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from the positions of others.

Common Core Standard:

Reading Standards for Informational Text Grades 6-12

1. Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

6. Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others

Description:

Students will complete a PBL activity asking them to research a topic and apply a source to a series of questions to determine whether or not the information is fake news or factual.

Objective:

• Students will use close reading to determine whether or not a source is reliable or fake
• Students will locate information within a text using close reading skills
• Students will be able to support ideas with details and examples from the text
• Students will use annotation to increase their comprehension of a nonfiction reading passage

Essential Question: Does this resource contain false or factual information?

Procedure:

1. The teacher will lead class discussion over the issue of fake news by asking the students whether or not they think it is a problem in our culture. (5 minutes)
2. The teacher will go over the assignment document, explaining that the students will research a topic and run the articles they find through a series of questions. (5 minutes)
3. The students will have time to research their selected topics from the assignment sheet and take each article they find through the questions to determine whether or not the articles are fake or real. (25 minutes)
4. The teacher will give the students the opportunity to display their research items on the projector and explain to the class how they determined whether or not the resources were factual or fake news. (10 minutes)

Product or Assessment:

The students will submit the answers to their questions in a Google Doc.

Accommodations:

Give the students selected resources instead of having them research a selected topic.

The inspiration for the questions students must answer was found in this resource: http://pblproject.com/page.aspx?pageid=PBL-ww-News