Fake News/Media Literacy Overview

I did a series of lessons this past week with my sixth graders on the idea of Fake News and Media Literacy, and how to become a more active and critical media consumer. This is all part of our Digital Lives unit.

While many of my young students had heard the term “Fake News,” much of the connection was the uttering of the president’s critique of news organizations (you know, the ones that hold him accountable). Trump’s use of the term unsurprisingly co-opts the word and muddies the need for readers of all ages needing more filters for truth.

I put a call out on Twitter, asking for lesson plans and ideas around teaching Fake News for upper elementary/middle school students, and many people shared links and resources. I am very grateful for all of those friends who went out of their way to dig up and share out ideas. Thank you, all.

My aim is to:

  • Define and discuss the concept of Fake News
  • Provide some context
  • Think through some strategies of critical reading

While much of the shared resources was aimed at older kids, I was able to supplement and strengthen a presentation I had created last year for our Digital Lives unit. For example, the slides around vocabulary comes directly from A. Hinton Sainz, who is working on a series of units herself.

In the coming days, I’ll share out the activity that my students were working on to show some understanding of ways to filter through the raft of Fake News in the digital world.

Peace (it’s real),
Kevin

One Comment
  1. Thank you for sharing your excellent resource, Kevin. It’s such a massive area and we could probably create 10 separate resources and still have aspects uncovered. It’s always interesting to see what others have focused on.

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