SCET Journal 2020

Prompting

Critical Thinking

Teacher-led classroom opportunities for all students to share aspects of their outside-of-school literate lives in ways that affirm their literate identities Purposefully designed instruction around ad- olescents’ out-of-school literacies underpinned by collaboration and independent activity intended to deepen in-school literacy engagement and learning. As students switch between the physical class- room context and online environment (e.g. echo chambers), they assume membership of a unique social network where they “interact face to face with classmates, interview friends and family members, and engage in their own reflective processes” (ILA, 2018, p. 3). To “(i)ntentionally build time for such online and offline literacy practices” affords opportu- nities for students to position themselves as “agents of change” (ILA, 2018, p. 3), and exercise a degree of autonomy over their digitally-driven lives. In a knee-jerk reaction, US state governments such as California have forged ahead with legislation requiring schools to design curriculum to combat fake news. Without layering yet another responsibility on teachers, ELA teachers have at their disposal a solid repertoire of powerful literacy strategies for critiquing truth. Evidence shows that invoking critical literacy pedagogy serves to instill in students a healthy skep- ticism of misinformation online (O’Byrne, 2012; 2017). Practical Suggestions The following section offers practical suggestions developed by ELA and English classroom teach- ers worldwide in coaching their students towards becoming discerning readers with the capability to determine fact from opinion. Strategies reported here constitute good English teaching. For example, teachers might lead students in an analysis of how effective and persuasive arguments are supported by online platforms such as Twitter. Using keywords and hashtags to search for topics has the potential of garnering multiple authors’ perspectives and, in turn, a repository of new ideas that can lead to a meaning- ful student-led conversation. Introducing news-related terms into the curriculum can stimulate higher order thinking associated with defining terms such as bias and credibility . Interro- gation of these terms may involve identifying exam- ples, but the real benefit is derived from intentionally helping students to understand how they process

their interpretations and communication of the news. Any discussions around bias and credibility of news websites should emphasise source verification, in particular: • Ask students to investigate if a shared “news” story is published on multiple mainstream news outlets to determine if the news story is factual. • Familiarize students with reputable news orga- nizations. (News organizations solicitous about their sources rarely publish a story without a sec- ondary source. A story’s veracity will be tested if multiple reliable news organizations cover the issues or topic). • Ask students to determine factual websites in contrast to websites that deliver sheer entertain- ment, since URLs can be deceptively alike. Surprisingly, when asked about the source of their news stories, students will often cite family, friends or social media. Asking students to justify their sources involves critical thinking, requiring disconfirmation or confirmation of their sources. A process of “fact-checking” news utilizes websites for interrogating “fake news” by identifying examples of how many misrepresent what is false to be true. For example, fact-checking websites (e.g. Snopes.com debunks myths, fake news and shared “news” stories circulating on the internet) test and adjudicate claims made by politicians, public figures, advocacy groups and institutions engaged in public discourse. Many social media sites are imposing restriction on the spread of fake news. Responsibly, teachers are making students aware of these restrictions by asking them to locate the rules used by sites such as Reddit (a reputable alternative to Google) to eliminate content from r/news. Facebook provides “Tips to Spot False News.” Using this information, students can corroborate that facts reported by Facebook, for example, are similarly reported by other sources. In a post-truth world, all students need to become critical readers, capable of recognizing the tone of an online text and identifying purpose. Teachers report on scaffolding examples of real news, satire, and fake news to demonstrate a process of differentiating “news” stories, as shown in figure 2. The purpose of real news is to inform (e.g. Boeing airplane news story). Satire and fake news seek to entertain or draw out a response or reaction (e.g. “Father Christmas” news story).

South Carolina English Teacher

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