Instructors engaging with the following resource will discover a variety of pre-reading strategies for enhancing their students’ reading comprehension. The resource emphasizes the importance of activating students’ schemata, or prior learning, as a foundation for comprehending new material. Techniques like guided anticipation utilize thought-provoking yes/no statements to initiate conceptual learning, while cloze exercises actively engage students with filling in missing words based on their existing vocabulary. “Writing in the Round” is presented as a collaborative activity fostering an exchange of diverse views, while free writing encourages students to draw upon their memory for a creative exploration of related concepts. By the end of this resource, instructors will discover adaptable strategies applicable to various grade levels and subject areas, providing a comprehensive toolkit for promoting active reading and comprehension among their students.

Author: Sharon Haigler
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

By the end of this activity, students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of the First, Second, and Third Amendments of the Bill of Rights by completing a cloze exercise, using context clues and prior knowledge to fill in key terms without referencing their notes.

Author: Sharon Haigler
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

This resource features two lesson plans: "Reading Critically for Bias and Tone" and "Reading Critically for Propaganda Techniques." Both of these lessons are designed to help students analyze authors' viewpoints and biases, as well as the general use of persuasive tactics in texts. Through group work, activities, and individual essays, students learn to identify and analyze elements such as word choice, tone, omissions, and propaganda techniques (i.e. straw man arguments, bandwagon appeals, etc.). The resource includes detailed assignment expectations, learning objectives, lesson preparation guidelines, and downloadable worksheets to support classroom implementation.

Author: Sharon Haigler
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

By posing provocative inquiries about local and state government, this worksheet is intended to ready students for abstract learning while guarding against conformity and encouraging critical thought. Specifically, students will be able to express their opinions on key concepts related to representative democracy, including elected officials, term limits, and the interconnectedness of state and federal politics

Author: Sharon Haigler
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Propaganda is used in several ways as a persuasive technique. Designers and authors desire to sway the reader’s thinking in specific ways to perhaps make certain purchases, as is the case in retail advertising. Other authors would like to communicate certain ideas and persuade the readers to adopt their beliefs. Naïve or unaware readers may find themselves subject to being pressured into challenging their own deeply held beliefs by experts or authorities or by something heard on the news or read in a book.

The purpose of this worksheet is to sensitize readers to the various propaganda techniques used in media of various forms and to challenge the readers to screen incoming information through their belief systems. Specifically, students will practice matching various statements to propaganda techniques like straw man arguments, bandwagon appeals, half-truths, loaded words, and obfuscation.

Author: Sharon Haigler
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

Some words may not cause a particular emotional reaction whereas other words with similar meanings may fire up anger, joy, fear, or other emotions. Authors may choose to use more emotional words to convey a particular tone in their writing, and critical readers need to be aware of this literary device to maintain an objective view of the topic and not be subtly swayed by the author’s attitude.

In this worksheet, students will evaluate groups of words and identify the choice that suggests a more emotional response. The objective is for students to hone their ability to assess tone, connotation, and denotation through word choice.

Author: Sharon Haigler
Editor: Mary Landry, C. Anneke Snyder
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso

This handout provides definitions and examples of media propaganda techniques, including Name-Calling, Glittering Generalities, Transfer, Testimonials, Plain Folks, Card-Stacking, Bandwagon Appeals, Half-Truths, Loaded Words, Obfuscation, Straw Man Arguments, and Deliberate Manipulation.

Authors: Sharon Haigler, C. Anneke Snyder
Editor: Mary Landry
Supervisor: Terri Pantuso