Video: Teach students to spot fake news!

Rich instruction: Informational text strategies, Cognitive Level 2 video

We’re now going to talk about Cognitive Level 2 of testing. The next level of testing is: What is the author’s purpose, and what did the author do specifically to manipulate the reader?

First of all, one of the things that students need to understand is: What’s the author’s purpose? Did they want to inform? Did they want to persuade or influence? Did they want to entertain?

Sometimes they do all three. Sometimes they do two of the three. But usually there is an ultimate purpose, and what is it?

And so there are ways then, once you’ve decided what the author’s trying to do, there are the ways the author is gong to manipulate you. One is bias.

Bias is fairly easy to do. You can bias through omission. For example, that’s so frequent in the newspapers right now. They’ll only use half a quote. Or they will leave out a key piece of information that was important in the decision making. I love to read newspapers right now because they bias, and omissions are just the game every day.

Watch the video on rich instruction for more.

About the Author: Ruby Payne

In her two decades as a consultant on education and economic class, Ruby has published more than a dozen books and spoken extensively around the globe. Ruby empowers educators and community leaders to address issues of poverty in classrooms, communities, businesses, hospitals, churches, and social services. Through aha! Process programs and conferences, Ruby has certified thousands of trainees in her Framework for Understanding Poverty and Bridges Out of Poverty models. Her book Emotional Poverty won an IPPY Award from the Independent Publishers organization, which named it one of the best educational resources of the year. Over her distinguished career, Ruby has worked as a teacher and principal, written K–12 curriculum in all subject areas, and assisted in strategic planning and staff development programs for multiple organizations. Ruby’s work guides educators and community leaders through her extensive library of resources. She aims to equip everyone she meets with the tools to write a future story full of hope.