How to Plan a Comprehensive Professional Development Strategy
If you’re struggling to motivate yourself and you feel as though you’re stuck in a career rut, then it’s time for you to take action. Some of the most inspirational figures of this generation swear by planning for a brighter future. They don’t necessarily believe in luck. Instead, they work on their skills, plans, and […]
Supreme Court Term Limits: A Featured Controversy from Issues & Controversies
Featured in Issues & Controversies: Supreme Court Term Limits: Should U.S. Supreme Court Justices Have Term Limits? SUPPORTERS ARGUE U.S. Supreme Court justices have become too powerful and too divorced from the will of the American people. Term limits would depoliticize the confirmation process, ensure a diversity of viewpoints among justices, and make the Court […]
How to Incorporate News Literacy into Any Curriculum and Be Confident in Evaluating News Content from Any Source
Though media and information literacy have been taught in various pedagogical settings in the past, the task had mostly fallen to those whose training was directly related to it, such as librarians and professors of media literacy or mass communications. However, today, the proliferation of misinformation has forced educators in totally different fields to address […]
Teaching About Conspiracy Theories and Memes: The Internet’s Most Outlandish and Compelling Content
In this blog series, I have referred several times to the concept of “modern challenges” to teaching news literacy, and at the risk of sounding repetitive, I will refer again to this blog’s topic as a “modern challenge.” There are many modern challenges because so many aspects of our information environment are new. Two particular […]
Facing Polarization Head-On: Strategies for Discussing Difficult Political Topics When Teaching News Literacy
There are a number of challenges to teaching news literacy today, not least of which is that news literacy inherently involves reading, well, the news. As we all know, our current news environment is highly polarizing, which is one of the very reasons it is important to teach news literacy. Consequently, teaching about bias and […]
You Say Fake News, I Say Misinformation: What’s in a Term
Why Is the Term “Fake News” Problematic? You may have heard the term “fake news” in recent years used to describe misrepresented or falsified information. The problem of inaccurate and unreliable information spreading, particularly online over social media, is indeed significant. However, the term “fake news” is problematic for several reasons. While some users may […]
How to Evaluate Any News Content for Reliability and Bias
The modern information landscape is flooded with thousands of news and “news-like” sources. The sheer volume of these sources presents a unique challenge to each one of us being news literate ourselves. A common complaint these days from individual news consumers (including educators) is “I don’t know what to trust anymore.” However, none of us (especially […]
2020 Presidential Race: A Featured Controversy from Issues & Controversies
Featured in Issues & Controversies: 2020 PRESIDENTIAL RACE: Should Voters Reelect President Donald Trump (R)? SUPPORTERS ARGUE Donald Trump has successfully bolstered the U.S. economy, fought for American workers through trade deals, projected strength on the international stage, protected the nation’s borders, and safeguarded religious freedom. Attacks against his character and capabilities have been hysterical […]
SEL & Beyond: Responsible Decision-Making
Welcome to the sixth blog post of our six-part blog/workshop series on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for grades K–12. One of the most trusted sources for knowledge about high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning is The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). This post will focus on CASEL’s SEL competency: Responsible Decision-Making […]
SEL & Beyond: Relationship Skills
Welcome to the fifth blog post of our six-part blog/workshop series on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for grades K–12. One of the most trusted sources for knowledge about high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning is The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). This post will focus on CASEL’s SEL competency: Relationship Skills […]
SEL & Beyond: Social Awareness
Welcome to the fourth blog post of our six-part blog/workshop series on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for grades K–12. One of the most trusted sources for knowledge about high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning is The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). This post will focus on CASEL’s SEL competency Social Awareness […]
SEL & Beyond: Social Awareness “Perspective Detective” Strategy
Perspective Detective Grades K–12 Competencies addressed: Self-Awareness – Self-Management – Social Awareness – Relationship Skills – Decision Making Purpose Supporting students in seeing things from another person’s perspective. By explicitly teaching students to be more conscious of other people’s feelings and experiences, we can create a more accepting and respectful space. Procedure Define empathy and […]
