When we think of digital literacy we have to acknowledge that what we are seeing online isn’t always true. So that means as teachers we have to know that what we see online isn’t always true… and we have to teach that. YES 1000% harder said then done. The people creating this fake news is getting incredibly good at it. I found during last class when we had to guess “real or fake” I struggled…. I was more often than not wrong. So I need to sharpen my digital literacy skills.

What might teaching digital liteacy look like? Digital literacy is understanding how to find, evaluate and communicate information online. Plus use these resources to support our own infromation or thoughts. Digital literacy is also known as online safety. I love the idea of the students being able to curate and create a space for themselves to learn and grow on the internet. I would also like to show students documentaries like  “The social dilemma” or “Dancing for the Devil- the 7M TikTok Cult”. Just to show the students how quickly things can get out of hand.

I think as a teacher we have to make learning about digital literacy hands on with guidance. Students often learn better when they are doing the work. I think if they are able to use their own devices we are already ahead of the game. Showing students what is right and what is wrong is an incredible place to start. Start by sharing your phone screen and scrolling through facebook or other sources. The students will instantly connect and begin to understand why we are showing them this information.

I also think showing students the 5 C’s is a great way to get started. These 5 c’s are: Context (Who, what, why, where, when), Credibility (Is the author using credible sources), construction(Are there any notable biases), corroboration(Is it the only source on the internet with this information), and compare (Comparable to other sites on this topic, is it legit?). The video states that if all 5 of these are in check, the site is usually a credible site to reference.

I also think that as teachers if we focus on these 10 types of misleading news we will be in the right place when it comes to teaching digital literacy. If we were able to pick one a week to focus on and use different resrouces, games or apps to develop understanding of each type of misleading news we would be able to support the students in finding out the right information!

What would I do? 

okay– so when I taught grade 4 I used to have what was called “Google time”, it was everyday right after lunch. I used it as a calm down time from the busy lunch hours. So what this consisted of was the students would either be sitting in their desks or on the ground in front of the smart board. I would then allow them to ask “google” any question. I would type it in. The questions usually lined up with topics we were learning about in class, the questions that the students were more curious about that I couldn’t always answer. Things like “What is a Tsunami?” “Who invented ____?” etc. Once I typed it into google, showing the students how to ask google something to get the answers they were looking for. I then took the students through google and showed them credible sites + youtube videos on the certain topic they were wanting to use that day.  Honestly, the students loved it. I think it made them feel like they had more control over what they were learning about AND they were also learning skills on how to research things properly. It was my favorite time as well. I was able to use their interests to guide further lessons or topics. SO FUN!

I also was lucky enough to teach “Tech period” to grades 4 and 5 a couple of years ago. This class was so fun. We focused on typing, digital literacy/ citizensip and Canva. ( I only had them one day in a six day cycle. So I could only venture into so much) But we used  googles “Be Internet Awesome” lots and numerous videos/ websites.