The authors describe how one teacher scaffolded his 16‐ and 17‐year‐old English communications students to identify the subtle techniques of persuasion in a news report. Situated in an Australian public secondary school, these students were not following a tertiary entrance pathway, but the teacher still wanted them to develop critical literacy skills. The teaching focus was on increasing students’ understandings of the power of language used in a news report through the development of a technical metalanguage. The authors outline seven activities in which the teacher helped his students analyze exchanges in text and the social constructions of identity. Attention is drawn to the role of facilitated discussion, where the teacher has depth of knowledge of a functional model of language. This focus on critical literacy allowed the students to engage with