Standard Lesson
Hoax or No Hoax? Strategies for Online Comprehension and Evaluation
Grades
9 - 12
Lesson Plan Type
Standard Lesson
Estimated Time
Four 60-minute sessions
Author
Publisher
ILA
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Overview
Research has shown that online reading requires not only traditional comprehension strategies, but also new digital- and media-literacy strategies. In this lesson, students learn how to use these comprehension strategies involving a sequence of planning, predicting, monitoring, and evaluating. Once students learn the strategies, they read a variety of hoax websites and evaluate the content. They then demonstrate their learning through the creation of outlines for hoax websites.
Featured Resources
Compare & Contrast Map: Using this tool, students can easily compare and contrast a "real" website from a "fake" website.
From Theory to Practice
- Reading comprehension on the Internet requires both similar and more complex comprehension applications of traditional text-based strategies, including the use of prior knowledge, inferential reasoning strategies, and self-regulated reading processes.
- The authors recommend the following repeating pattern of self-regulated reading for websites: planning, predicting, monitoring, and evaluating.
- Authentic research opportunities for students should include exposure to unreliable information sources.
- Through website evaluation and the identification of "hoax" sites, teachers can guide students to assess the credibility and authenticity of information on the Internet.
Common Core Standards
This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.
State Standards
This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.
NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts
- 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
- 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
- 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
- 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
Materials and Technology
- Computers with Internet access
- LCD projector (optional)
Printouts
- Is This a Hoax? evaluation sheet
- Online Comprehension Strategies Diagram
- What I Learned self-evaluation
- Teacher Evaluation Form for Online Comprehension
Websites
Preparation
| 1. | Before teaching this lesson, your students should be familiar with satire and parody. You may teach some or all of the following lessons:
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| 2. | This lesson focuses on helping students discern that a website is a hoax, with the goal of teaching them to evaluate information they find online. It uses four specific comprehension strategies intended for reading online that are outlined in the first article in the Theory to Practice section and can also be found in the Online Comprehension Strategies Diagram. These strategies will be repeated many times during a single website evaluation. You should familiarize yourself with them and should be prepared to share them with your students. |
| 3. | All four sessions of this lesson plan require a computer for every one or two students in your class; if necessary, reserve time in your school's computer lab. During Sessions 1 and 2, you will be modeling the comprehension strategies and will need one computer that is connected to a projector or has a large screen. |
| 4. | Familiarize yourself with the Media Awareness Network exercise titled Deconstructing Web Pages. Questions from this webpage are used in the Is This a Hoax? evaluation sheet. |
| 5. | Visit and familiarize yourself with Jo Cool or Joe Fool For Kids, the Compare & Contrast Map, and the following hoax websites: For background information on hoax websites as well as links to some additional examples of hoax websites see Better Read That Again: Web Hoaxes and Misinformation and Teacher Tap: Evaluating Internet Resources. Note: Make sure that you check any hoax websites before allowing students to view them to make sure that the content falls within your school's Internet usage guidelines. |
| 6. | Bookmark all of the sites listed under Websites for Student Use in the Resources section on the computers you and your students will be using. |
| 7. | Make one copy of the Online Comprehension Strategies Diagram and three copies of the Is This a Hoax? evaluation sheet for each student in your class. |
Student Objectives
Students will
- Use research-based comprehension strategies to read and evaluate websites
- Practice analysis by comparing hoax and real websites and identifying false or misleading information
- Apply what they have learned about hoaxes by creating an outline of their own hoax website and evaluating the outlines of their peers
Session 1
| 1. | Ask students to think about how they read differently when they are using the Internet. Discuss strategies they use when reading websites. Questions for discussion include:
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| 2. | Distribute the Online Comprehension Strategies Diagram to students. Read through the strategies with students and discuss how these strategies can help with reading a webpage. |
| 3. | Model the use of the online comprehension strategies using Jo Cool or Jo Fool For Kids as an example (if possible, project the website onto a large screen; otherwise have students gather around the computer you are using). Think aloud as you navigate around the site, for example:
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| 4. | At this point, have students work through the Cybertour in pairs. Ask them to record any important information they learn on the back of their Online Comprehension Strategies Diagrams. |
| 5. | Ask students to discuss some of the ideas in the activity. What did they learn about the process of evaluating websites? Note: You may want to discuss some of the strategies in more detail using questions from the Jo Cool or Jo Fool Teacher's Guide. |
| 6. | End the session by having students complete the interactive activity at Deconstructing Web Pages. Note: This activity has students practice strategies for identifying credible websites; in addition, they will become familiar with the Five W's of Cyberspace that are modified for use in the Is This a Hoax? evaluation sheet that is used in the next session. |
Session 2
Project Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus onto a screen. Students should be working in pairs at computers with the same website showing.
| 1. | Tell students you will work together to make a plan for reading using the strategies from the Online Comprehension Strategies Diagram. Model asking questions such as:
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| 2. | Begin a discussion about the Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus homepage, soliciting observations from the students. Some things you may want to make sure they notice include:
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| 3. | Discuss some of the things that make the website seem legitimate. These include the:
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| 4. | Hand out copies of the Is This a Hoax? evaluation sheet and review. Ask students if they feel there are any further questions they wish to add based on their work during Session 1 and their initial impressions of the Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus website. Tell them that their goal is to determine if the website is a hoax. Review the Online Comprehension Strategies quickly and remind students to use them to help as they read. |
| 5. | Once students have completed their work, have them discuss their responses. How did they figure out that the site was a hoax? Discuss also what is effective about the site. Questions for discussion include:
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| 6. | Ask students how the Online Comprehension Strategies helped them read the website and determine that it was a hoax. Questions for discussion include:
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| 7. | If there is time, have students spend some time looking at other websites that the tree octopus site links to including The Bureau of Sasquatch Affairs and The Republic of Cascadia and responding to some of the same questions. |
Session 3
| 1. | Have students work with partners to evaluate a pair of websites (one hoax and one real). They should bring their Online Comprehension Strategies Diagram for reference. Provide blank copies of the Is This a Hoax? evaluation sheet for students to fill in. Website pairs you might use include: |
| 2. | Once students complete the evaluation, they can use the Compare & Contrast Map to take notes about the similarities and differences between the sites. (If you think it is necessary, you might have them review the Comparison and Contrast Guide first). Students should print out these maps to use in Session 4. |
Session 4
| 1. | Have students work in small groups to create an outline for their own hoax website on a topic of their choosing. The outline should answer the following questions:
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| 2. | When they have completed the outline, have each group create a sketch of the homepage for their hoax website, including title, pictures, navigation, and titles of possible articles. You might also have them go online to look for potential links to include on their websites. |
| 3. | Student groups should trade outlines and sketches. Each student should complete the Is This a Hoax? evaluation for another group's work; you may want to give them some time to go online and check the links that other groups used. Note: There will be some areas of this sheet that will not apply to the outlines. You can ask students to simply write "not applicable" in those boxes. |
Extensions
- For more practice with identifying credible websites, have your students take the tutorial at Vaughan Memorial Library: Credible Sources Count!
- Students can use the outlines from Session 4 to create mockups of their websites including pictures and text for articles.
- Have students use their Compare & Contrast Maps to write essays that outline the components of a real versus a hoax site using the specific sites they explored as examples.
- Have students write either hoax or exposé newspaper articles that they publish using the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.
- Have students create their own hoax webpage or website that is based on a real website they use routinely.
- Have students create video public service announcements about Internet hoaxes and online safety. Instructions for creating video public service announcements can be found in the lesson MyTube: Changing the World With Video Public Service Announcements.
Student Assessment / Reflections
- Have students evaluate how well they are now able to read websites using the new comprehension strategies on the What I Learned self-evaluation sheet.
- Collect both sets of student Is This a Hoax? evaluations and use the Teacher Evaluation Form for Online Comprehension to identify how well students understand the concepts. Look also at the outlines students create in Session 4 to see how well students were able to apply the characteristics of a hoax to their own work.
http://time.com/3524433/life-with-mike-the-headless-chicken-photos-of-a-famously-tough-fowl/
A great deal of my students have used sites like this to verify that this is a legitimate site and not a hoax. Can you please explain and verify as there is some confusion on this topic?
http://time.com/3524433/life-with-mike-the-headless-chicken-photos-of-a-famously-tough-fowl/
A great deal of my students have used sites like this to verify that this is a legitimate site and not a hoax. Can you please explain and verify as there is some confusion on this topic?
http://time.com/3524433/life-with-mike-the-headless-chicken-photos-of-a-famously-tough-fowl/
A great deal of my students have used sites like this to verify that this is a legitimate site and not a hoax. Can you please explain and verify as there is some confusion on this topic?
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