Thing 21: News Literacy

Where to begin?!  This was another timely topic and it worked well with the session I did on Search Tools, but, warning,  it was vast.  I spent hours delving into the amazing wealth of information provided.  I selected this topic because, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I am often found on my soap box, expounding on the responsibilities of being a member of a democratic society.  We talk about this as we do a lesson on evaluating the internet...but to me, news literacy is the next step in this lesson, and as members of a democratic society it is our responsibility to make sure that where we get our information from reliable sources...I know, blah, blah, blah!  So...since the 2016 election I have been exploring the idea of an online news literacy lesson for students to work through.  I have visions of this being a school-wide expectation and that all students will be held accountable for working through the steps of the lesson...on their own.  I do not want to take class time to do this, but think they should receive a  grade for either English or social studies.  (Now that I have articulated this in writing, it seems I will have to follow through!).  Next year our building will be going 1:1 with laptops so this might be the year to do it. Stay tuned...

But in the more immediate future, I am conducting a professional development session on an upcoming Superintendent's Conference Day related to databases and other library tools.  I am sure some of the information I learned in this lesson will make its way into that session.

There was a wealth of valuable resources in this "thing."  Starting with Joyce Valencia's article.  This was the one label..."if you read nothing else...read this."  And, indeed it was chocked full of resources.  I especially liked the Stanford History Education Group's document titles, "Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning."  Not only was this important for the overview and big picture regarding the state of online reasoning, but it also contained excellent activities and lessons geared towards various grade levels related to online reasoning.  What I think I liked best is that they also provided you with a rubric and sample responses at various levels- mastery, emerging and beginning.  This was extremely helpful.  I am planning to use parts of this for sure as I plan for my "online class."

As I worked my way through the Readings/Resources, Lessons and Tools, I found myself stopping to email various co-workers with sites/links I thought they might find helpful as well.  I loved the link to the article titled, "Facticious"  which offered the top 10 sites to help students check facts. This was from ISTE...great stuff.  And I could not wait to send my ELA and ESL departments the links to Rewordify and Readable.io.  I thought Rewordify would be extremely helpful to our many struggling readers, especially those learning English as a second language. There were a couple of articles that stressed the importance of digging and reading multiple sources. 

Truthfully, the thing I think I will struggle with the most as I move forward, is assimilating all this great information.  I would love to meet/talk with anyone else who might be interested in creating the type of assessment discussed above.  Suggestions/Comments welcome. 


 

Thing 13: Screencasting and Screen Sharing

I chose Thing 13 as one of my options because I have been exploring this as a way to flip my classroom.  I started this year with the things I have to repeat over and over...it never gets old to explain that the information for citing a book source is on the title page.  So, I experimented with Office Mix, a product/add on to Microsoft Power Point, as a way to do this.  It was okay...a bit cumbersome to use.  But I created several videos particularly related to citing various types of sources.  However, when I saw "Thing 13" I knew this would have to be one of my picks.  I read a few of the articles (more on this later) and explored all the tools in the lesson but ended up using Screen Cast-O-Matic. It was easy to download and easy to use!  I struggled just a bit with the editing feature- I found it hard to zero in on the point I wanted to stop and start recording over.  At one point I just deleted and started from scratch.  I also appreciated the tips- keep it short (mine is 6 minutes, which is probably way too long) and to not worry if it's not perfect!  I decided to created a video to explain the basics of how to start a literary research paper (we do a lot of these!), focusing on database sources.  I thought I would link the video to our library home page for students that missed instruction, or who might need a refresher. 

Regarding the articles...I also found the articles very helpful.  I know all the reasons why I should be using screencasting, but one of the articles talked about why and how students could be using  it!  This is a level that I did not consider...way at the top of Bloom's!  So, given the ease of using these tools, Screen Cast-O-Matic in particular, I am going to explore ways to have students create screencasts!

Literary Research Tutorial

Thing 9: Search Tools Ninja

As I stated in my first blog post I was feeling a bit overwhelmed as the year started, but now that I am getting into the groove, I am overwhelmed, but it a different way!  I am like a kid in a candy shop, which "Thing" to do next?  How do I  choose?  I settled on Search Tools Ninja as my second post because I always feel as if I am a fraud when it comes to internet searching.  Is there some magic tool out there I am missing?  Am I teaching my students the right way to search?  Am I teaching them all that I can?  And let's not even talk about evaluating sources!  So...Thing 9 to the rescue.  I spent hours going through all these tools!  Yikes.

As part of our freshmen research project we do a unit on internet evaluation.  I realize now, that this is good, but it doesn't go far enough.  We need to include a section on internet searching...and maybe we start with some basic power searches for freshmen, but then build on this  each year with the more sophisticated search techniques.  As part of this unit I also have lately tried to engage students in a conversation about the importance of being informed members of a democratic society...and the role fake news can have in society, and in an election.  So, there were many features on this cool tool that I plan to use.  Paul Horner's site had some good information, I especially liked the News Examiner and the article, "5 Ways Fake News Websites are Evolving."  The confusion between fake and real news and the impact this has readers was fascinating.  I thought the Advanced Google Search Cheat Sheet was wonderful...and hope to use a version of this in my library.  I envision having students doing a  "think, pair, share" activity using a chart that has them exploring various search results from different search engines, or using different search strategies.  I have been doing this myself and the results are fascinating.

I am planning to share the benefits of the "Way Back Machine" with my teachers...lots of great applications for this tool!  And Twitter Analytics as well...and then there are the tips on how to verify photos and videos!  As I tell my students, borrowing from Spiderman, with "great power comes great responsibility."