ART of thinking

Copyright Elk Grove Unified School District, 2018 from Common Sense Media

It's no secret that every social studies teacher in America feels that extra scrutiny of any assignment, reading or activity lurks around every corner. 
I'm taking a proactive approach and being as transparent as possible about every source we read. On Friday we learned the ART of reading laterally.
The Civic Reasoning Online curriculum from the Stanford History Education Group has great materials but it assumes a deep dive into, well, civic reasoning. 
What we need in 8th grade - an honestly every user of the internet or consumer of any media needs - is a 3-step process to slow us down before we share, like or fail to question. 
The lesson plans from Common Sense Media: Flex Your Fact-Checking Muscles has many great tools and resources. On day seven of the school year, before we research the attacks of September 11, 2001, as history the graphic above is the bite-sized, 3-step process we need to proceed with some curiosity-driven research.
Credit for the visual is the Elk Grove Unified School District.