Integrating information literacy into your curriculum can feel daunting. There are easy/no prep ways to start, but where should you go from there? A major pitfall of my early years in teaching was to think that I had to constantly be reinventing the wheel. I didn't realize that using curated curriculum as a starting point still left me PLENTY of room to customize experiences and content for my students, while saving me time AND allowing me to learn from the expertise of others. I still don't use any prepared curriculum wholesale, but I do like to crib from the experts when I can
Checkology is a free platform with information literacy resources and lessons for (mostly) secondary students created by the News Literacy Project to help students learn how to "identify credible information, seek out reliable sources, and apply critical thinking skills to separate fact-based content from falsehoods (What is Checkology?). Checkology features interactive
lessons that include videos, questions, and quizzes on topics ranging from What is News? to Conspiratorial Thinking to Understanding Bias. In addition to student facing videos & quizzes (that make AMAZING distance learning or flipped classroom activities), Checkology provides teacher facing lesson plans, activities, and extension work.
Whether you decide to try a lesson or a unit OR just look around for inspiration, Checkology is a worthwhile stop on your way to regularly including information literacy in your curriculum.
Samantha Solomon is the Bay Area News LIteracy Project Ambassador for the News Literacy Project. The content and views in this blog post were her own, and not sponsored by the News Literacy Project.
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