Alabama Social Studies SS24.CWI.2c

Social StudiesGrades 9–12Media Literacy

The Standard

SS24.CWI.2: Compare the presentation of world events in various media, including cable news services, international news sources, Internet news sources, network television, print, public broadcasting, and social media.

Critique viewpoints presented in cable news commentary, editorials, political cartoons, and social media algorithms.

2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies · Media Literacy

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify the views expressed in cable news commentary, editorials, and political cartoons. They explain how words and images make a case, then examine which views a social media feed repeats or leaves out.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student points to a specific claim, word choice, or cartoon image to explain a source's position. They question its evidence, name a missing view, and explain how recommended posts might shape what someone sees.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat a cable commentator's opinion as reported fact or take a cartoon's exaggeration literally. They may assume repeated posts show what most people think, rather than what a feed has selected.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: An editorial says, 'Phones ruin learning,' but gives no data. After a student likes one phone-ban video, their feed recommends four more. What evidence is missing, and how could the feed shape their view?

Lesson moves

Give groups a phone-ban commentary transcript, editorial, cartoon, and two mock feeds; have them mark each claim, missing voice, and evidence.
Ask, 'How might a cartoonist and a commentator frame a school phone ban differently, and whose view might each leave out?'
Run a four-card sort: students match phone-ban headlines, cartoon captions, video comments, and recommended posts to framing choices, then explain each match.
Project two public news feeds covering a local school board vote; students tally repeated views and discuss how recommendations could affect public opinion.

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