Well, I guess you could say Miss Honey is back. It's the last day before break, and it's raining instead of snowing. Over the weekend I had a glass of wine, some Ethiopian food, and even a few bites of ice cream. I can no longer blame the weather or my lack of sugar and alcohol for my problems, so I guess it's time to put on my cheerful face. My job as a teacher is complex because my curriculum and content are always shifting. Yes, we read Of Mice and Men in English 2 every year, but I'm also constantly thinking about how to engage my students with the world around them, how to create lessons and experiences that will benefit them beyond the walls of my classroom. I wrote last week about the proliferation of fake news in our world today, and today I'm bringing awareness of that problem to my students. I've been using Kelly Gallagher's Article of the Week in my English 2 class this year. The students are generally grumpy about this because in this one weekly assignment they are required to read analytically, think critically, and write responsively. It's hard work, but it's necessary work that will hopefully engage them with relevant and timely topics as well as improve their reading, writing, and thinking skills. So far this year we've read about Colin Kaepernick, the billionaire space race, and the new war on cancer, to name a few. Today's assigned article is about Facebook's response to fake news. We'll discuss this in depth next week, and hopefully my students will be encouraged to look at the world around them a bit more critically. (Hopefully they will not be inspired to move to Macadonia and start their own fake news empire.) Additionally, we'll conquer the topic in my communications class. Each week these students participate in a "Freaky Friday" discussion (Okay, so it's not Friday, but we'll be flexible because it's the day before a break.) I give them a task or a topic, and I set them in small groups to practice their communication skills. Sometimes they are discussing a current event. Sometimes they are working together to improve outlines for a public presentation. Sometimes they are collaborating on a summary of a TED Talk. At the end of each discussion they must reflect on their role as a communicator. (Did I listen well? Did I ask relevant questions? Did I participate without dominating?) Today we're digging into fake news. We're going to watch a news clip from CNN, read some articles, and then discuss together the impact of this fake news on the world around us. My goal nearly always is awareness. I'm amazed every week at the things I mistakenly assume my students already know. Many don't know how to properly greet a teacher in an email, 99% didn't know the definition of "omniscient," and while many do know they need to capitalize proper nouns, that doesn't mean they always follow the rule. So I certainly can't expect them to know that fake news stories are lurking around every corner. I want to do my part to raise the next generation of informed voters, so today this is the work I do.
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September 2020
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