Social Studies Middle School Guide

Crosswalk: Historical Thinking Skills & News Literacy Skills

Historical Thinking Skill/ News Literacy Skill

Prompts

Guiding Questions

Student Abilities

Example Application

• A student evaluating a Civil War-era newspaper would consider its political affiliation, just as they would assess whether a modern news website adheres to journalistic standards. • A student researching World War I propaganda posters would compare their sources to how social media influencers promote certain perspectives today. • A student analyzing a 1920s political speech would consider Prohibition’s impact, just as they would verify whether a viral news image has been manipulated to misrepresent an event. • A student studying Cold War speeches

• The author probably believes… • I think the audience is… • Based on the source • I do/don’t trust this document… • This source follows these standards of quality of journalism… • This source is/is not biased because… information, I understand this document differently because . . . • The author might have been influenced by _____ (historical context) . . . information, I think the author might . . . • Based on the background

• Identify the author’s position, intent, and credibility. • Evaluate the trustworthiness of a source based on bias and reliability. • Distinguish between

• Who wrote this? • What is the author’s perspective? • Why was it written? • Is it reliable? • Has it been confirmed by a credible source? • Does this source follow journalistic standards? • Is the source biased? • When and where was this document created? • How might the circumstances in which it was created affect its content? • Is the context accurate? • Was this content taken out of context or altered in any way?

Sourcing/ Source

high-quality journalism and sources that lack credibility.

• Understand how background

information influences meaning.

• Recognize that both historical documents and news articles are shaped by their time period. • Identify instances

Contextualization/ Context

where context has been

would compare them to

News Literacy Project. (n.d.). RumorGuard . News Literacy Project. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://rumorguard.org © 2025 Jodi Ide, Teacher Specialist, Canyons School District. All rights reserved. Sharing or reproduction permitted with author’s permission.