After this week’s lecture and activities for identifying fake news, I realized that this is an important skill to teach students…and also that I suck at it.

I am a middle years education student, so my ideal grade range is anywhere from grades 5 to 8/9, so they have a decent ability to work independently. So when teaching my students about digital literacy, I am able to give them tools to use in addition to information and group discussions. Anything would be better than the education I received in school:

“Don’t use Wikipedia” 

– every teacher ever at my school

Is this similar to your experiences in school?

The EdCan Network suggests showing students verification websites such as FactsCan or using “search by image” on Google. EdCan also suggested teaching students how to read laterally, which means comparing different website’s information, rather than only looking at one. I had never heard about reading laterally before the lecture, and now it seems like it should be common sense. This could connect to CR8.4 View critically and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of visual and multimedia texts including videos, television broadcasts, informational presentations, dramatic presentations, websites, and news programs to locate and interpret key messages and details, to develop conclusions, opinions, and understanding, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the text.

I also think it would be fun to play “Spot the Troll” in your classroom as a way to show fake news and accounts they might encounter in their every day lives. This could loosely connect to CR6.4 View, respond, and demonstrate comprehension of visual and multimedia grade-appropriate texts including traditional and contemporary texts from First Nations, Métis, and other cultures containing special features (e.g., the visual components of magazines, newspapers, websites, comic books, broadcast media, video, and advertising).

When trying to develop critical thinking and digital literacy in your students, it is important to teach about biases, which affects how likely we are to believe something. Libguides talks about both implicit and confirmation biases. Implicit biases are unconscious and are related to our tendencies to split people into groups, if we see someone from our “group” posting about something, we are more likely to believe it. Confirmation bias is when you only search for information that supports your thinking, which could be troublesome when doing a research paper. You want to also find information that disagrees with your thinking so you get the full story. By gaining an understanding of bias, students are able to “participate effectively and critically in a networked world” and “promote culturally sustaining communication and recognize the bias and privilege present in the interactions” which are goals of the NCTE.

When examining the lesson plan packet from PeterPappas.com I came across a similar lesson to what I made earlier this semester, using tv advertisements to begin a persuasive writing unit. I matched this lesson with the Grade 6 ELA outcome CC6.7 Write to describe a place; to narrate an incident from own experience in a multi-paragraph composition and in a friendly letter; to explain and inform in multi-step directions and a short report explaining a problem and providing a solution; and, to persuade to support a viewpoint or stand.

Teaching about advertising techniques helps kids to step back and think about what the advertisement is really saying, who the ad is aimed at, and why they used such techniques. Having these skills for tv advertisements will then translate to finding information online and help identifying fake news. This lesson works towards the NCTE’s goal of “explore and engage critically, thoughtfully, and across a wide variety of inclusive text and tools/modalities.” I think this lesson would be very fun to implement in my classroom, what do you guys think?

I think by teaching students any level of digital literacy and critical thinking skills, through any of the above activities and information, we are teaching kids how to “participate effectively and critically in a networked world” which was the first goal of the NCTE.