Before You Start
Teachers and librarians who have done Media Mentorship projects at their schools have found that media literacy isn't a lesson, it's a lifestyle. Here are the top things they think you should consider before diving in, including sample phrases to use when disagreements arise over what's true, what to consider when planning fact-checking activities, and the importance of getting school and district approval.
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Teacher Moves for Navigating – and Preventing – Heated Moments in Information Literacy Instruction
Teaching students to build resilience to misinformation is a critical skill that will serve them throughout their lives. These tips help you consider how you can build trust with students, no matter their beliefs, and avoid alienating messages as you work together to answer big questions about who you can trust and what is true.
Make the goal of your media and information literacy lessons explicit.
A common goal that everyone can agree on will help students see how these lessons are relevant to their lives. Decide your “why” for these lessons with students to increase their staying power. This can also be helpful for you if your work is challenged by families or school leaders. “We are learning to navigate our media because it’s around us all the time.” “The quality of our lives is based on decisions that we make. You can't make good decisions if you don't have good information.”
Make what you are not trying to do explicit.
People who push back against this instruction are afraid educators are telling students what to believe. Make it clear that what students believe is their own business. What you’re interested in is giving them the skills to find the information they need to decide what to trust for themselves. “You can believe what you want to believe. I’m not trying to change your mind.” “You should know where your information comes from. If it comes from a major newspaper, you should know that. If it comes from a source known for spreading misinformation, you should know that.”
Recognize that what counts as a trustworthy source will change depending on the information needed.
People come to know things in a variety of ways, and the topic at hand will determine which ways you’re most interested in. Evaluating sources based on whether they’re in a position to know about a specific topic will help you avoid painting sources as all good or all bad, which can alienate students who identify with sources the class may label as untrustworthy. “Is this source in a ‘position to know’ about this topic?” “Does this mean it’s the worst source in the world? No. Does this mean it’s always wrong about everything? No. It does mean that we probably want to find a better source for this specific topic."
When questionable information is shared, talk it out.
When a student shares information that you're not sure about, ask questions to find out more about their thinking and lean on the lessons above to work through it together. Regardless of what you find out, you will have helped them expand their thinking and proven yourself as a partner, not a judge, in their thought process. Many of these conversations can make a difference. “I haven’t heard that. Let’s see what we can find out.” “I wonder if there is stronger evidence that would make that claim seem more reasonable?” “Where did you hear that? Is that source in a position to know?”
When disagreements arise, focus on the evidence, not the belief.
Our beliefs are supported by a variety of different pieces of evidence. When one or more pieces of that evidence turn out to be false or misleading, we can feel like our overall belief is being attacked, which shuts down conversation. Avoid this by differentiating the two with students, and keep the focus on evaluating the evidence. “It’s not that what you’re trying to prove is wrong. You could have a point. But you can’t make that point with this evidence. I’m still open to you showing me that your idea is reasonable. But you have to bring me different evidence.” “What we found out doesn’t mean this is settled for all time. We’re open to new information coming to light. But for now, we shouldn’t share this.” “I wouldn’t want someone to discount your idea because of how it’s presented. I want people to take you seriously. In order to be taken seriously, you have to know where your evidence came from and what other people have said about it. Let’s look into that, and then you can decide if it still seems reasonable.”
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Dos & Don’ts for Selecting Examples for Fact-Checking Practice
The examples you select help students practice important skills, and also help them form deeper understandings about their online information environments. That second part is important – if the examples you chose do not model the online environment well, it can lead to wrong student impressions. Here are some tips to avoid these wrong impressions:
DO make sure at least half your examples turn out true or mostly true.
Students often believe, wrongly, that most things online are false. They’re not. The vast majority of things seen online are true. Let students be as surprised by the truths they would have dismissed as the falsehoods they would have believed. Otherwise you may unintentionally end up teaching cynicism.
DO mix simple examples – examples where just getting to the Google search page tells you what’s up – in with more complex ones.
If every example is a ten-minute slog, then you’re teaching students that this is a skill they will never have time to apply in a real world setting. We don’t want them to think fact-checking is a long and arduous process when the reality is that in many cases it takes 30 seconds.
DO pick at least some examples where students are likely to be fooled.
They may be able to guess many, but part of the lesson is unseating the student’s idea that they can “spot” misinformation, and being surprised (both by true, false, and somewhere in-between) is the best entry point. Ideally, you want students to spend less time relying on their own intuitions – it is not their job to “spot” misinformation – and slightly more time doing quick checks.
DO choose material that produces strong student beliefs about likely veracity.
This is often the hardest element, since student background knowledge varies widely. But the habit we are building is fact-checking their assumptions about a piece of content, so examples need to generate initial assumptions – either directly or through a bit of narrative set-up by the teacher. Examples where the response is “I don’t really have an opinion on this, so I couldn’t say” can’t build the habit.
DON’T open cans of worms you can’t close up in the allotted time.
While it might seem engaging to have students check misinformation about the Holocaust or debunk false statistics about immigrant crime, you could be introducing them to harmful ideas and sites without having time to fully address issues raised. Such activities belong in longer, focused modules, not bellringers.
Now that you know what kind of examples to look for, where can you find them? Here are some resources:
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Importance of Building & District Approval
If you think families or others in your community will have concerns about this work, we recommend you inquire within your school building and district for the process for adopting and using new materials. Getting formal approval has a few benefits:
Creates transparency.
Being transparent about lesson content and objectives makes it easier to respond to misunderstandings.
From the classroom:
A parent came into school upset about a project on social media. The administrative staff she met with was able to show her the project materials on the class website. Once the parent saw the details, their concerns were alleviated.
Secures support.
If you have approval from your building and district, they will be able to support you in responding to concerns.
From the classroom:
A teacher who thought there may be concerns about Media Mentorship in her community presented the materials to their district's Curriculum Coordinating Committee to get them approved before starting instruction. This provided peace of mind that they would have help responding to any questions that might arise.