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Personally I have become very suspicious of news lately. The skeptic in me is showing. On social media, I hesitate to click through to a website for fear of ad invasion or some pop-up wanting me to sign up, and then there’s the creepy fact that everything you search becomes part of your history and everyone knows. I placed an order on Jet.com and for a week, every website I went to popped up a Jet.com ad. Really? Modern day commercials geared to who some cyberspace robot thinks I am.
How do we protect our children in these times of everything is news, real or fake? When the topic came up, I originally thought I didn’t need to worry about it. Our school district has safety blocks in place; however, lots of fake news sites have ways of circumventing these blocks. And in the name of good research, my students were finding them. Time for a talk.
Armed with chart paper, I wanted to find out what my students already knew about the difference between fake and real news stories. Here’s what we came up with.
Then I asked my students to pick a story on the internet that they are interested in investigating and write about their findings. One student made an interesting discovery when she wanted to find out if Donald Trump supports LGBT rights. She was confused by the reports and the images of Trump holding an LGBT flag. Which is true? In this case, both. So now we are on to another issue, what do we believe by the actions and the words of a person in politics? My response was yes, it’s confusing, so write about that!
Kevin Hodgson tweeted a Google slide show that he created for his students. I plan to show this next week to keep the conversation open.
I don’t have all the answers. This world of news at our fingertips, real or fake or just plain confusing, can be daunting. I want my students to be discerning citizens. So I keep the doors open. We wonder. We question. We look for answers.
Please add your link to the conversation below.
Reflections on the Teche 
[…] I have NOT YET taught this but I so appreciate that Margaret Simon has posed this for today’s conversation and you can read more posts at “Reflections on the Teche” here. […]
Love the list that you and your students came up with. When I’m invited to speak at schools about nonfiction writing I always discuss what is and is not a reliable source…so nice to see that your students are becoming educated (and skeptical) about what they find on the internets.
Such a great topic, Margaret. I’m wondering if we need more conversation about / around our thinking when we see or hear extreme statements and then also a discussion about restraint. Should we wait until more information is available or do we rush to get decision/ action without all the needed information?
I’m also hoping you update your list as your students work through these issues!
I am watching CNN this morning and it’s all about this fake news epidemic. And to think our president-elect is responsible for perpetuating many of these reports. Who can we trust?
[…] post is part of “DigiLit Sunday,” hosted by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. This week’s topic is Real V. Fake News. Please be sure to visit Margaret’s blog to […]
As Fran mentioned, I think this is a huge topic that we will be revisiting often in the months to come. The list you and your students made and awareness of the problem are good first steps. To be continued…
Thank you for placing this topic in front of us. It is not just evaluating websites, by discerning the truth…and that gets harder and harder for all of to do.
should be…but discerning the truth…
[…] Read more on this topic on Margaret Simon’s blog Reflection on the Teche. […]
So many interesting points and questions to consider! I’m also troubled by “who owns the news”? Why do some stories get told and others don’t? Sometimes the news being told and shared seems to fit with the corporate agenda of the owners of the news- the channel, the paper, etc. No easy answers.
[…] true. Margaret Simon shares how her students think about and validate their sources in her post, DigiLitSunday: Fake or Real? And they discovered that the truth is not easy to assess — a person in articles may say one […]
[…] true. Margaret Simon shares how her students think about and validate their sources in her post, DigiLitSunday: Fake or Real? And they discovered that the truth is not easy to assess — a person in articles may say one […]
Margaret, this is an important topic for sure. Our students need to know the difference between real and fake news. In fact, adults need to know that too. I heard so much on the news the other day. It seems that there is a site called Buzz Feed that is reporting fake news but since I never go there, I can’t substantiate this. Last week, NYEDChat had Newsela guest moderate with Ted Palenski. We discussed Tackling Tough Topics. It seems that the election was one of those tough topics that most agreed was difficult to discuss with students. Some voiced that their students were troubled by that news and behaviors displayed as many of us also have reported.