Best News- and Media-Literacy Resources for Students

Mighty media literacy resources powered by inquiry-based approach

Bottom Line: A thoughtfully-created collection of tools for teaching media literacy across the curriculum.

Structured literacy program inspires deep analysis, thoughtful writing

Bottom Line: This is an expertly scaffolded and pedagogically sound resource for developing critical reading and writing skills.

Relevant media clips get students examining identity, culture

Bottom Line: Teachers will need to take time to build effective lessons, but if they do, this is a useful, relevant, high-interest resource for deconstructing identity and building critical thinking and empathy skills.

Organized digital library features piles of useful primary resources

Bottom Line: DPLA is at the top of the list of high-grade, online primary source collections if teachers make effective use of what's on offer.

Browser extension adds layer of annotation and discussion to the web

Bottom Line: Free, user-friendly tool opens up the web to in-context annotation and discussion.

Historical texts, interactive activities can promote critical thinking

Bottom Line: This text-rich app encourages students to conduct their own analysis of history, but the formats and graphics may prevent them from making a thorough analysis.

Interactive experience quickly exposes algorithms

Bottom Line: This is an effective and well-designed intro to the dangers of algorithms and how we have to approach them with care.

Social media simulation builds news literacy skills

Bottom Line: This is a great tool to kick off critical discussions about news and social media.

Modern, minimalist fake news game has players be the villains

Bottom Line: Quick, fun, and to the point, this game gets at the social mechanics behind viral falsehoods.

Spot real stories, dodge fake news in cheeky media literacy sim

Bottom Line: A refreshingly modern way for students to explore how to filter and interpret info and media during breaking news events.

Go-to news literacy site is an excellent primer on media issues

Bottom Line: With "fake news" a pressing concern, Checkology's literacy lessons offer essential, if not totally comprehensive, skills to help students evaluate sources.

Spot fake news, sharpen media literacy skills with speedy quizzes

Bottom Line: A solid starting point to support critical-thinking habits and media literacy skills.

Civics site offers a PBS-guided approach to thoughtful debate

Bottom Line: This is a powerful framework for building critical media literacy, but teachers might need to bring in some extra perspectives.

Take on the role of troll to better spot social media manipulation

Bottom Line: This game-based approach can be an innovative part of your media literacy toolkit.

Journalistic history site helps students analyze primary sources

Bottom Line: This is a strong resource for showing the power of journalism and research, and it'll engage most students; others will need teacher support.

Independent website fact-checks political statements

Bottom Line: A tool to help students become independent thinkers and question what is said by those in positions of power.

Foil fake news and viral rumors with fact-checking site

Bottom Line: This can be a handy reference -- and a good model for critical thinking -- but it'll require some teacher scaffolding and guidance.

Crop, customize, and remix online video content with interactive tool

Bottom Line: This is a valuable tool that teachers can use to flip classrooms or support student-led creation.

Add a hint of fun to note-taking or annotating images

Bottom Line: It's easy to annotate images and screenshots, take handwritten notes, and organize it all with Evernote.

Free video-remix tool boosts media literacy, presents some challenges

Bottom Line: It's not without its challenges for teachers, but at its core MediaBreaker is an easy-to-use and free tool for teaching critical media-making and literacy.

Cool coding tool tuned to teens' passions aids creativity

Bottom Line: Women-created platform expands the traditional scope of coding to visual elements students interact with online everyday.

Daily news stories and supplements keep elementary schoolers current

Bottom Line: This highly useful current events platform can be a daily fixture of elementary school classrooms.

Draw kids into weekly news with powerful symbols and voice narration

Bottom Line: Students can expand literacy skills, learn about the world, and get involved with discussion questions and activities.

Great stories, just-right leveled reading; now mostly by subscription

Bottom Line: Up-to-date, high-interest articles will meet students right at their level, and help teachers bolster students' nonfiction reading skills.

Trusted news brand's current events site could pique teens' interest

Bottom Line: This isn't going to necessarily excite students, but the high-quality content is credible and timely and should support interesting discussions.

High-powered news site offers daily resource to process current events

Bottom Line: Driven by a trusted news organization with its finger on the pulse of the world, this free resource can be a reliable source of activities and ideas for current event discussions.

Dynamic site harnesses creative young talent to speak truth to power

Bottom Line: This fresh and socially aware website will draw students in with catchy -- often controversial -- topics, but keep them there with quality content.

Top-notch digital content takes students beyond the airwaves

Bottom Line: Provides an easy, fun, and effective way to engage students with radio.

Easy access to news, but most content is available only to subscribers

Bottom Line: Provides an easy-to-use news resource, but only section front pages are accessible without a subscription.

Share and curate news articles on social network with classroom features

Bottom Line: Curated, topic-specific Newsrooms help students focus on topics from various sources on one timeline.