Presented by K.C. Boyd, Librarian, District of Columbia Public Schools; and Sue Thotz, Senior Program Manager, Common Sense Education
Moderated by Jennifer Ehehalt, Senior Education Program Manager, Common Sense Education
Between the recent presidential election, COVID-19, and racial unrest, our students are barraged with 24/7 access to news and media that can be real, fake, or altered. According to the presenters in a recent edWebinar, sponsored by ABC-CLIO, the relationship between the terms “news” and “media” are fundamental distinctions that we need to make when working with students in the new era of journalism. Jacquelyn Whiting, Innovation and Technology Specialist for Cooperative Educational Services, and Peter Adams, Senior Vice President of Education for the News Literacy Project, assert that while there are many credentialed journalists, there is also “a world of citizen journalists with mini computers in their pockets.”
edWeb.net is excited to announce that the News Literacy Project will be sponsoring News Literacy, a free professional learning community on edWeb where educators can work together to develop their students’ civic knowledge and critical thinking skills when consuming news and information.
Twenty years ago it was easier to identify fake news. There were the tabloid papers in the grocery store checkout line and the sensationalized “news” programs that promised inside looks at celebrity lives. Now, between the number of online information sites and the proliferation of social media apps, plus near constant mobile phone use, determining a story’s credibility seems to call for advanced detective skills. In her edWebinar “Fight Fake News: Media Literacy for Students,” Tiffany Whitehead, School Librarian for the Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, says that’s exactly what we need to teach students. While today’s youth may be aware that not everything on the Internet is true, they don’t have the tools to evaluate accuracy and authenticity.
This edWebinar gives an overview of the phenomenon of fake news going viral and tools educators can use to help students develop news literacy skills.
In this edWebinar, Peter Adams, Senior Vice President of Education at the News Literacy Project, provides an overview of the field of news literacy, including the most current trends and research, and offers concrete tools and strategies for addressing these skills in the classroom.
Media literacy is more important today than ever. It is a critical skill for students of all ages, especially because teenagers spend an average of nine hours a day on media that doesn’t include schoolwork or homework. Educators must give students the tools and skills they need to decipher between reliable and unreliable sources of media. Susannah Moran, Senior Project Manager at myON, presented tips for providing students with these important media literacy skills in “Teaching Media Literacy in the Classroom.”
Join myON’s Susannah Moran for a robust edWebinar where we will discuss the impact teachers can have on this important topic of media literacy.
In this edWebinar discover how you can help students grapple with these topics in a thoughtful, honest and civil way that encourages thinking about their own biases. Veteran teacher and media literacy trainer Chris Sperry will engage participants in analyzing classroom models of inquiry-based media analysis to explore pedagogy and practice.
In this edWebinar, Michelle Luhtala, Library Department Chair at New Canaan (CT) High School, shares close reading exercises and activities for learners in grades 6-12.