Presented by ​​Dr. Jeff Wilhelm, Distinguished Professor of English Education, Boise State University, and Director, Boise State Writing Project; Brittney Smith, Senior Manager of Education Partnerships (East), News Literacy Project; Pamela Brunskill, Senior Manager of Education Design, News Literacy Project; and Shaelynn Farnsworth, Senior Director of Education Partnership Strategy, News Literacy Project

Sponsored by News Literacy Project and National News Literacy Week

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How can you engage and motivate students to think critically when navigating today’s complex information landscape? How can you help students develop the skills to evaluate the trustworthiness, credibility, and reliability of evidence? How can cross-disciplinary connections help your students in “fighting fake news”?

Watch this edWebinar featuring the News Literacy Project (NLP) for a conversation around these questions with Dr. Jeff Wilhelm, Distinguished Professor of English Education at Boise State and literacy teaching expert. Dr. Wilhelm’s forthcoming book is Fighting Fake News: Teaching Students to Identify and Interrogate Information Pollution.

Dr. Wilhelm is joined by NLP experts Brittney Smith, Senior Manager of Education Partnerships (East), and Pamela Brunskill, Senior Manager of Education Design. Shaelynn Farnsworth, NLP’s Senior Director of Education Partnership Strategy, moderates.

The edWebinar includes a discussion of the need for and benefits of critical reading skills, as well as a look at NLP’s Framework for Teaching News Literacy, developed using the Understanding by Design template by Wiggins and McTighe (2005). Viewers learn about a variety of resources and techniques that they can implement immediately in the classroom. This edWebinar is part of National News Literacy Week (January 23-27), an annual event presented by the News Literacy Project and The E.W. Scripps Company.

This recorded edWebinar is of interest to K-12 teachers, school leaders, library/media/technology leaders, and education professionals.

About the Presenters

A full-time classroom teacher for 15 years and a university professor for 26 years, Dr. Jeff Wilhelm is currently Distinguished Professor of English Education at Boise State and Director of the Boise State Writing Project, and he teaches middle or high schoolers each spring. He has authored 42 texts about literacy teaching. He received the NCTE Promising Research Award for “You Gotta BE the Book,” and the Russell Award for Distinguished Research for both Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys, on the literate lives of boys, and Reading Unbound, on the nature and power of pleasure reading. His latest books are Planning Powerful Instruction: 7 Must-Make Moves of Teaching and Learning, on how to operationalize the major research agreements from across the learning sciences, and Diving Deep into Nonfiction, on teaching complex nonfiction through Rabinowitz’s rules of notice. His next book, due out in February 2023, is Fighting Fake News: Teaching Students to Identify and Interrogate Information Pollution.

Brittney Smith is a senior manager of education partnerships (east) at the News Literacy Project. She joined NLP in July 2022 after eight years of teaching life science in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was a high school teacher to diverse populations of students, including English language learners. In her tenure as a science department chair, she focused on building partnerships with community stakeholders to enrich and improve students’ educational experiences. Brittney holds a bachelor’s degree in biological science from the University of Cincinnati and a master’s degree in teaching science to adolescents and young adults from Mount St. Joseph University. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in educational practice and innovation with a STEM focus at the University of South Carolina.

Pamela Brunskill is a senior manager of education design at the News Literacy Project. She joined NLP in August 2021 after 20 years of experience in education and publishing. She was an elementary and middle school teacher and an adjunct education instructor at schools and colleges in New York and Pennsylvania. As a literacy specialist and consultant, she worked to align and enhance K-8 writing programs in Western New York. She also founded and operated Authors and Educators, a company dedicated to developing curriculum resources for publishers and authors, and she co-authored a book on information literacy. Pamela holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from SUNY College at Buffalo and a master’s degree in education from the University at Buffalo.

Shaelynn Farnsworth is the News Literacy Project’s Senior Director of Education Partnership Strategy. 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. Shaelynn holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English from the University of Northern Iowa.

Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.

Join the News Literacy community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.

The News Literacy Project, 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.

National News Literacy Week (Jan. 23-27) is an annual event highlighting the vital role of news literacy in a democracy and providing free resources to help people of all ages and backgrounds become savvier consumers of news and other information.