Media and Information Literacy Lesson Plan

Grade level
● Third Graders

Students can
● Locate and verify reliable sources of information.

Objectives
Students will be able to:
● Locate and examine reliable resources online
● Observe online sources for authenticity and biases
● Identify common reasoning errors through online sources

Materials
● Three-Five online sources about recess time in schools
● Similarties and Differences chart (this chart is to be filled throughout each source)
● Screenshot of schools page about recess time (compare differences and similarities
from outside sources to the schools source)

Vocabulary
Authentic [aw-then-tik] (adjective)
not false or copied; genuine; real

Bias [bahy-us] (noun)

a particular tendency, trend, inclination, feeling, or opinion, especially one that is
preconceived or unreasoned

Reliable [ri-lahy-uh-buhl] (adjective)

that may be relied on or trusted; dependable in achievement, accuracy, honesty, etc.

Reasoning [ree-zuh-ning, reez-ning] (noun)

the process of forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises.

Lesson overview
What will YOU do as a teacher?
● Help give my students ideas to finding resources. I will have several already picked
out to look together as a class. With having an example to look at together before
students start on their own, they can see that some sources that aren’t reliable slip
 through our findings sometimes. That’s okay because I am trying to educate them on
how to see differences and similarities between reliable and nonreliable resources.

What will YOU say as a teacher?

● I will make sure to highlight when I do see things that are common in reliable sources
vs. what isn’t seen. I will also make sure to let students know that it can be difficult to
find the “correct” resources sometimes. I will be sure to let them know that it’s okay
to run into nonreliable sources, I just want them to learn and be aware of what a
reliable source looks like/is vs. what it is not.

What will your STUDENTS do?

● My students will do some exploring and research on their own. They will write down
their observations from exploring different sources and compare and contrast their
findings.

What will your STUDENTS say/discuss?

● My students will later discuss the similarities and differences with others. Those who
happened to find the same source may also discuss if they found the same similarities
and differences.

What will your STUDENTS reflect on?

● After the lesson, students will be able to reflect on their findings as well as the overall
class. They can compare their notes and observations to others who may or may not
have the same sources. Lastly, students could also find components to and ways in
which a nonreliable source can improve in becoming more “official”. What
differences would have made this source reliable? Is there anything that could have
been changed differently, why and how? What differences could have been made to
make a nonreliable source, reliable? There’s a lot of information for the students to
reflect on and hopefully, this information can be taken into account for future
findings.

Alignment to Common Core State Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the
text as the basis for the answers.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.5
Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information
relevant to a given topic efficiently.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.9
Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the
same topic.