Feelings Are Not Facts: How to Raise Conspiracy-Resistant Students

Presented by Michelle Luhtala, Library Department Chair, New Canaan High School (CT); and Jacquelyn Whiting, Innovation and Technology Specialist, Cooperative Educational Services

Sponsored by Mackin Educational Resources

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Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.
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The year is young and yet one thing is clear: “Conspiracy” is already the buzzword of 2021. Public health and politics are both in crisis, and no matter where one stands on either of these issues, one is likely to be accused of ascribing to one conspiracy or another, or another, or another.

As educators, we are expected to teach facts as truth. This is immeasurably harder when students rely on confirmation bias rather than sound research practices to find fact-based truth. In this edWebinar, Jacquelyn Whiting and Michelle Luhtala, coauthors of News Literacy: The Keys to Combating Fake News (2018), share new lessons that teach 6-12 grade learners to become fact-based truth finders.

This recorded edWebinar will be of interest to teachers and librarians of grades 6-12.

About the Presenters

Michelle Luhtala, Library Department Chair at New Canaan High School in Connecticut, was one of five school librarians named as a “Mover and Shaker” by Library Journal in 2015. She is the winner of the 2011 “I Love My Librarian” Award and the Library Association’s 2010 Outstanding Librarian Award. The New Canaan High School Library won AASL’s National School Library Program of the year in 2010. Follow Michelle on Twitter @mluhtala.

Jacquelyn Whiting is the innovation and technology specialist for Cooperative Educational Services (CES) in Trumbull, CT and information literacy editor at School Library Connection. She has a bachelor’s in government studies and studio art from Connecticut College and a master’s in social studies and education from South Connecticut State University. She is also a Google Certified Innovator and Local Activator for Future Design School. Jacquelyn is the co-author of News Literacy: The Keys to Combating Fake News. She presents frequently on human-centered design, student and educator voice, and innovative educational technology practices.

Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.

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