News Literacy
Course
Unpack Print Sources [5:34]
- Learn to connect primary sources and media for skill development.
- Learn to unpack and examine primary sources using three lenses.
- Learn the importance of word choice and how it affects search outcomes.
Jackie: Yes. Primary sources connect really well with current media in terms of student skill development.
Michelle: Yes, they sure do. I've done some work with our students; when they're actually investigating the trajectory of legislation as we change our social values and norms over the course of history. One of the things we asked the kids to do is to think carefully when they are looking through primary sources about what keywords to choose for those searches because clearly, the keywords change over time. You've done some work around that too. Do you want to talk about that?
Jackie: Definitely. When I ask students to examine a primary source, I ask them to look at it through three increasingly sophisticated lenses. The first is text, what is this document. Take for example, the Declaration of Independence. Students could describe it as a letter from the colonies to the king, they could describe it as a declaration of war. There are lots of ways to understand just to what it is as a document.
Michelle: Just the author-craft piece.
Jackie: Exactly. Author-audience kind of thing. The second way to look at it is context. Much like we suggested that students read a source and verify it by searching laterally, when you are looking at a primary source, it has to be put in context, it has to be contextualized. When was this document published? What was happening in the five years leading up to this document? What was happening geographically around the place where this document was being created? Consider the author of the document and who was that person's associations, who would have influenced that person when they were creating this document? So we know what the text is and now we have put the text in its historical place.
Michelle: Right. What's the last level then? You talked about text and you talked about context, I know there is a third.
Jackie: Yes. The third one is subtext. Subtext is what are they saying without saying it. This is where you start to read between the lines and this is that language piece that you began by talking about. What word choice is this author using and how is that word choice both a product of the document's context and a product of what the text itself is? Who is going to be receiving this and what kind of language does that person need to hear in order to inspire the kind of response that the author is looking for? The author is writing this for a purpose.
Michelle: When we're teaching our kids to be very thoughtful about the word choice they are using in their searches, whether they be then or now, that very often word choice suggests that there is an entire underlying agenda, whether it be then or now.
Jackie: That's what brings us to the media literacy piece of unpacking primary sources. Once students are practicing these skills outside of their daily experience, they've started to develop the habits of mind they need to bring to the media that they are receiving themselves and start to wonder, Who is creating this? Why are they creating this? What do they want me to do now that I have received this and am I willing to go along with that agenda?
Michelle: So, for example, if you took let's say a candidate's stump speech, would that be a great example of how information delivery morphs as the audience changes?
Jackie: That's a great example because certainly, when you are on the campaign trail, a candidate has those key points that he or she will always use no matter where they are and yet, because of where they are, they will subtly vary perhaps, the exact word choice they used or the comparisons that they make or the specific examples that they know will resonate with that particular local community. What's interesting now in the media age is these candidates are on a national stage, or an international stage, while they're speaking to a local audience. The savvy consumer can see what are the threads that are common no matter where this person goes, then where is this person speaking to a specific group of people?
Michelle: Good point. What's our call to action?
Jackie: Our call to action, I think would be to challenge students to recontextualize a historical document. Maybe, they can find a speech that was delivered by a 19th century or an early 20th century suffragette. They could recast that speech to be delivered today in the era of #MeToo and marches on Washington. Thinking beyond the content to the medium and what media can best convey that message today to a contemporary audience.
Michelle: Right; and how it changes from medium to medium. Great.
Jackie: When you're doing this work, share it with us. You can tweet to me @MsJWhiting.
Michelle: And me, @MLuhtala.
In this lesson, the focus falls to three lenses that should be used to interpret primary sources—text, context, and subtext. How do these lessons help students think carefully when they are looking at primary sources? How do these lenses translate to media literacy? Review the questions for each of these lenses and start to think how you can relate them to media literacy and complete the Reflect & Practice activity below.
Using the three sophisticated lenses provided in this lesson, consider a few historical speeches that would be the most beneficial to your students in understanding these lenses and how their research skills will improve by using them. How is unpacking a primary source different, or the same, as reading an online news article? How are the lenses reflected in each and what elements of each would you want students to focus on?
MLA Citation
"News Literacy: Interpreting Primary Sources." School Library Connection, January 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2256627?learningModuleId=2256568&topicCenterId=2247903.
Entry ID: 2260751
Additional Resources
About the Authors
MLA Citation
Luhtala, Michelle, and Jacquelyn Whiting. "News Literacy. Unpack Print Sources [5:34]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, January 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2256627?learningModuleId=2256568&topicCenterId=2247903.
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2256627?learningModuleId=2256568&topicCenterId=2247903
Entry ID: 2256627