Presented by Shaelynn Farnsworth, National Director of Educator Outreach and Success, The News Literacy Project; Ebonee Rice, Vice President, Educator Network, The News Literacy Project; Dr. Cathy Collins, Technology Teacher/Librarian, Sharon Middle School (MA); Dr. James Stancil, Academic Support Specialist, Prairie View A&M University (TX); and Jeff Kaufman, Computer Science Teacher at a Title 1 School (NY)

Sponsored by News Literacy Project

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Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.
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When students connect strongly to what you are teaching, they become motivated to turn assignments into action. If you want to ignite a spark in your students, you won’t want to miss this edWebinar, featuring the News Literacy Project’s ambassadors. They describe how their students have elevated classroom lessons to the next level. You will learn how to inspire your students as well.

In the session, we also provide instructional resources for integrating these concepts into your classroom, explain the News Literacy Project’s free educator resources, including Checkology®, and introduce you to NewsLit Nation, our virtual professional learning community (PLC) to connect with and be inspired by other educators across the nation.

This recorded edWebinar will be of interest to teachers, librarians, and school and district leaders of the middle and high school levels.

About the Presenters

Shaelynn Farnsworth is the News Literacy Project’s National Director of Educator Outreach and Success. Shaelynn has over 20 years of experience in education. She spent the first part of her career as a high school English teacher in Conrad, Iowa, where she reimagined teaching and learning in her classroom and became a leader in the convergence between literacy and technology. Shaelynn focused on developing student skills in information consumption, creating innovative ways for students to demonstrate understanding, and inspiring healthy skepticism in the digital age. She was recruited by a regional state education agency in Iowa, where she was a school improvement consultant for seven years. Shaelynn supported districts throughout Iowa in the areas of literacy, technology, AIW, and systemic change. She was a member of the state’s literacy, social studies, and technology leadership teams.

Ebonee Rice joined the News Literacy Project (NLP) in April 2020 as Vice President of NLP’s Educator Network. A strategic coalition builder and community engagement expert, she has spent her career successfully scaling up campaigns and programs in the pursuit of equal access for all. From 2015 to 2017, she led the national partner engagement program at Enroll America, a nonprofit created to ensure that members of often-underserved communities were able to enroll for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Her work resulted in millions of people within minority, women and young adult communities gaining health coverage. After Enroll America closed its doors, she joined the District of Columbia’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education as a community outreach specialist, building compelling digital experiences for constituents that led to positive outcomes for children, educators and families.

Ebonee began her career as a marketing/outreach coordinator for the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and has also worked for Golden Girl Media, BET Networks and the International Black Women’s Public Policy Institute. A native of Los Angeles, she holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Dr. Cathy Collins has worked as a library media and technology specialist for 23 years at the K-12 level. She is currently a technology teacher at Sharon Middle School, where she teaches engineering and design, 21st century media skills, and a hybrid science/history course called “Inventions Through Time.” She holds a Doctorate in Education with a specialization in curriculum, leadership, teaching and learning; and additional master’s degrees in education and library science. Dr. Collins served on the MassCUE Board as PD Chair from 2015-2019. She has published her writing in various journals including Education Week, Library Media Connection, NEA Today, and Knowledge Quest. She is a 2012 Reynolds High School Journalism Institute Fellow and served as a project consultant for the e-book, Searchlights and Sunglasses: Journalism in the Digital Age. She received a Teachers for Global Classrooms fellowship from the U.S. Department of State in 2014 and is the recipient of AASL’s Intellectual Freedom Award (2014). She was named an MSLA “Super Librarian” in 2015. She served on the MA State Science Ambassador Team and enjoys contributing to the ISTE STEM PLN Leadership Team efforts. She is passionate about STEM/STEAM and global education. In addition to coordinating the Chinese Exchange Program at Sharon High School, she has journeyed with her high school students to India, Peru and most recently Tanzania, Africa to contribute to global service-learning projects.

Dr. James Stancil works in academic support at Prairie View A&M University. He formed a 501(c)(3) organization, Intellect U Well, Inc., that promotes the joy of reading, media literacy, and digital citizenship in the Houston community. He also volunteers with 100 Black Men of Metropolitan Houston, which mentors young men, and with the Houston Network of Outdoor Afro, which seeks to reconnect local communities with nature and the outdoors.

Jeff Kaufman started his career as a New York City Police Officer. While serving the people of Brooklyn, he attended law school. After leaving police service, Jeff went into the private practice of law. There, he served on a panel as counsel for indigent defendants in criminal and civil matters. He became involved in education issues, and in the same precinct he once patrolled, was offered a position to start a paralegal program for inner-city high school students. His passion for education led him to Rikers Island where he joined the faculty of the jail’s educational facility teaching law to high school students facing trial for serious felony offenses. Jeff currently teaches in a Title I school in Far Rockaway, Queens, where, for the past six years, he founded and maintains a computer science program. His course provided the first Advanced Placement course at the school and the first computer science program on the Rockaway Peninsula. Jeff is committed to the constitutional protections guaranteed to a free press and incorporates these principles in his lessons. He looks forward to his new role as a News Literacy Project ambassador, where he will help to make the resources teachers and students need in their fight against misinformation accessible.

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

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The News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn and share the abilities needed to be smart, active consumers of news and information and equal and engaged participants in a democracy.