Close Reading
Now remind students of the point at the end of the Information Sorting video: if you are looking for simple information (like whether a news story really happened, or when the bus is coming) you may only have to do enough companion reading to make sure that the source is reliable.
But if it’s any more complicated you’ll want to go on to the second step, close reading.
Have students access the student chapter Close Reading or display it on a screen or digital whiteboard.
Ask students:
Why do you only do close reading on sources you know are reliable?
- Because it takes longer and there are more things to consider.
What are some of the things you look for when doing close reading?
- How the media makers use things like images, sounds, music and word choice; how those make you feel; what’s included and what’s left out
How can you tell what’s left out of something?
- Tell students that just like scientists make a hypothesis and then test it, you can ask yourself first who or what you think ought to be included.
- Point out to students that the activities in many of the other digital media literacy lessons – such as Comic Book Characters, Stereotyping and Genre, Advertising All Around Us, and Brands and Mascots – were close reading exercises.
- The difference is that in this lesson you are looking at how to apply close reading to informational sources which you want to give you accurate, complete and unbiased information.
Now have students access the student chapter The Story of the Titanic or display it on a screen or digital whiteboard.
Have students read the story and then answer the questions, or read and discuss it together as a class:
Words that make the story sad or scary: beautiful, sadly, afraid, scarier, terrible, etc.
- You can also point out some images in the story that make it sadder, like the passengers playing with ice on the deck before they know what’s happening, the people in lifeboats watching the ship sink, and the families that were torn apart.
Who was to blame: The story places the blame on Captain Smith. It does this by saying that he didn’t slow down even though he knew there were icebergs, that he didn’t tell people right away what was happening, and launched the lifeboats before they were full. Amateur radio operators are blamed as well.
- Point out to students that while all these things are true, there were also many problems with the design of the Titanic, as well as bad decisions made by the ship’s owners and by people on other ships nearby.
Who is in the story and who is left out: The story includes the Captain and the first-class passengers. It does not show the rest of the crew, the other passengers, or the people who designed and owned the ship.
Radio: Because there were no rules about who could broadcast radio signals, there was no way to tell what was true or false. After, rules were made so that people needed a special license to broadcast radio signals.
Someone who either is not trained in a job, who does it without being paid, or both.
Quelqu’un qui n’est pas formé pour un travail, qui le fait sans être payé, ou les deux.