“Oh my goodness, have you seen all the political ads on the television recently?” said a colleague earlier this month. It’s an election year, but how are you making sense of what’s true and false? Many of us have to learn how to deal with persuasive text, which may include political propaganda. And many adults and students are dealing with media overwhelm.
The middle school Texas ELA TEKS emphasize critical thinking skills. But how do you teach that? Let’s take a look at one approach you might consider. That approach is Mike Caufield’s SIFT Method (CC-BY 4.0 license). Before jumping into an overview of SIFT, let’s take a moment to review why it’s even necessary.