COLLECT + CONNECT

Article A professional article loaded with resources and book recommendations.  A News– and Media Literacy–Themed Mixtape for Tough Times  from School Library Journal.  SOURCE: slj.com WEBSITE An easy-to-use glossary of terms and a handy infographic describing types of misleading news . Both of these and more from  EAVI: Media Literacy for Citizenship . SOURCE: eavi.eu Disclaimer: The South Dakota State Library does not endorse any service, product, or recommendation listed in this post.

Sometimes teachers and other staff don't even know the school library has a professional collection so be sure to communicate that with your stakeholders. Here are some ideas:  Send an email with an image of the book, a brief summary, and a reason WHY they should check it out.  Book talk it! Create a video book talk or find one online to share.  Display a poster or the book/resource itself in the teacher's lounge, workroom, mailroom, etc. Feature it in your library newsletter, blog, website, etc. Remember pictures are worth a thousand words so add a linkable cover image. Host a book study or book club. Drop a note to specific teachers you think would benefit most. This feels personal and (most) people appreciate that. Up your customer service game by hand-delivering the book/resource. Go the extra mile and throw in a little token of goodness. One of my favs? Those pre-packaged lens cleaning wipes that you can get from big box stores. We ALL have screens and it feels nice to wip

The News Literacy Project  (NLP) is a nonpartisan national education nonprofit that provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn, and share the abilities needed to be smart, active consumers of news and information. I've been blown away with the content. Visit the  Educators page to get see all there is to dive into but I'll list a few specific resources below that have been most valuable to me as a learner and a teacher. The Sift The Sift  is NLP’s free weekly newsletter specifically for educators and the content is stellar. The newsletter explores timely examples of misinformation, addresses press topics, and explores social media trends and issues. It also includes links, discussion prompts, and activities for use in the classroom. Is That a Fact? Is That a Fact?  is NLP's podcast which features experts that help listeners understand the impact of misinformation, social media policies, the importance of trust in the news to our democracy.

I wanted to share both an idea and a link to a previous post with additional resources to help you educate others about the importance of Native American heritage and culture. So the idea... DIGITAL CHOICE BOARDS These learning menus are a pretty great way to not only integrate digital literacy into the library curriculum but to amplify student voice and choice while also diving into core content. A digital choice board is essentially a hyperdoc. I challenge you to complete the choice board I made to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. 😊 To learn how to make your own choice board using Google Slides, take a look at this video from EdTech Classroom.  It's a short, easy-to-understand video with some tips and tricks and a free template you can use. In fact, I used the creator's template to make my choice board.

News literacy is said to be the acquisition of critical-thinking skills for analyzing and judging the reliability of news and information, differentiating among facts, opinions, and assertions in the media we consume, create, and distribute.  The term media literacy is synonymous with news literacy.   News literacy is best taught in cross-curricular, inquiry-based formats, and at all grade levels. librariandesignshare.org The Stanford History Education Group released a free curriculum called Civic Online Reasoning (COR). COR is modeled after methods used by professional fact-checkers. The COR curriculum provides free lessons and assessments that help librarians and other types of educators teach students to evaluate online information that affects them, their communities, and the world. The evaluation process is based on three main questions: Who is behind the information? What’s the evidence? What do other sources say? COR encourages lateral reading - the act of verifying what yo