Media Literacy: Identifying Bias in Sources

Skill focus: Identifying Bias in Sources

For the parent

Today we'll work on identifying bias in sources. Read the passage closely, with a pencil. Identify the thesis. Mark moves the author makes — diction, repetition, structure. Strong readers question the text instead of just consuming it.

What you'll need

pencil
paper
highlighter (optional)

Warm-up

Read any short paragraph you have nearby. Identify the verb in the first sentence. Verbs reveal an author's stance.

Vocabulary

shaped

Look up this word in a dictionary, then use it in a sentence.

carries

Look up this word in a dictionary, then use it in a sentence.

above

Look up this word in a dictionary, then use it in a sentence.

stories

Look up this word in a dictionary, then use it in a sentence.

Sentence frames

The central claim of this passage is .

The author supports this with .

I would push back on this by .

A reasonable counter-argument would be .

Guided practice

1
Read this passage: "A river is shaped by what it carries and by what carries it. From above, the curve of any river tells two stories at once. The first is geography: mountains slope it down, banks shape its turns, sediment slows it where it spreads into a delta. The second is the river's own work — the way it picks up grit from the bedrock, drops it where the current weakens, and over centuries carves the very corridor it runs through. To know a river is not to map it once. The map is incomplete the moment it is drawn. To know a river is to walk it in spring, when it surges with melt; in late summer, when it lowers and reveals the rocks below; in autumn, with leaves fleeting on its surface; and again in winter, when its movement is hushed beneath ice. Knowledge that takes only a single look will always miss the thing that matters: a river is a verb, not a noun." Q: What is the central image of the passage?
Parent tip: Read aloud once, then ask your child to read it back. Underline answers together.
2
Using the same passage, answer: Identify a likely figurative meaning of 'a river' in this passage.
Parent tip: Point back to the line in the text that proves the answer.

Your turn

1
Why does the author insist on knowing a river through every season?
2
What does the final sentence — 'a river is a verb, not a noun' — suggest about how to study things in the world?
3
Identify two pieces of figurative or sensory language and explain their effect.
4
Apply the author's framework to one other thing — a city, a friendship, a language — and explain.
5
What is one word from the passage you didn't know? Look it up and write a kid-friendly definition.
6
What feeling does the passage give you? What word in the text supports that feeling?
7
Find one verb in the passage. Write it here.
8
What might happen next? Write one to two sentences.
9
What is one detail you remember? Write it in a complete sentence.
10
Underline one sentence you think is the most important. Why?

★ Challenge

Write a 3-sentence summary of the passage in your own words.

Reflection

What is one thing you'll remember from this passage tomorrow?

For the parent

Answer key

guided #1A river as something shaped by both internal load and external geography.

guided #2It can stand for a life, a community, a relationship — anything shaped by inner and outer forces over time.

independent #1Because a single observation gives an incomplete picture; rivers change.

independent #2Some things are best understood as ongoing processes rather than fixed objects.

independent #3Open response — e.g., 'leaves fleeting on its surface' (image of impermanence), 'movement is hushed beneath ice' (sensory quiet).

independent #4Open response — strong responses will identify forces that shape and forces that the subject itself shapes back.

independent #5Open response — vocabulary lookup.

independent #6Open response — reader response with text evidence.

independent #7Open response — varies by passage.

independent #8Open response — prediction.

independent #9Open response — supporting detail.

independent #10Open response — student picks a key sentence and justifies.

Bright Hearth · printable for home learning