The Internet teems with websites seeking to advance specific political agendas while concealing their true intent, identity, or backers. These sites often have high production values and the trappings of legitimacy (e.g., boards of directors, links to academic studies, even 501(c)(3) status). In this digital task, students are asked to evaluate such a website.

The content of both the Dutch and the English-language version of Bad News was
written by DROG (www.aboutbadnews.com), a Dutch organisation working against
the spread of disinformation, in collaboration with researchers at Cambridge
University in the United Kingdom. The visual and graphic design was done by
Gusmanson (www.gusmanson.nl).

The role of the school librarian is evolving from keeper of library materials to leader in school reform. The digital age has elevated information literacy from the mechanics of searching and finding to thinking and inquiry. To meet this challenge the library facility is reconceptualized as a learning environment and the collection as a dynamic process of curation and access. Library staff, including paraprofessionals, student peers, and parent volunteers are viewed as instructional support. Allocated budgets are supplemented by funding sources such as grants and donations. The school librarian, trained in Action Research, can realize the library as learning center as she systematically collects evidence, sets priorities, and constructs a Strategic Plan. This module brings together the processes of action research, including identifying a problem in practice, formulating a research question, collecting and analyzing data to conduct a Community Scan and School Library Needs Assessment. She will apply her findings to building a Strategic Plan that will transform the school library into a learning center, or improve its existing functions.

The COR curriculum provides free lessons and assessments that help you teach students to evaluate online information that affects them, their communities, and the world.

The COR curriculum provides free lessons and assessments that help you teach students to evaluate online information that affects them, their communities, and the world.

The COR curriculum provides free lessons and assessments that help you teach students to evaluate online information that affects them, their communities, and the world.

This resource is published by Civix.Ctrl-F is a unit created by Civix, a Canadian organization developed to support civics and media literacy education. This unit teaches students how to verify facts and information when reading informational text online.

When we have a question or are searching for sources, we likely turn to a search engine to help us find answers. We often click on the first result—perhaps because sifting through all the results takes time, or because we assume the first result is the most trustworthy. But the first result is not always the best place to start. Spending a little more time scanning search results can help us make a more informed choice about where to go first.

This lesson introduces students to click restraint, a strategy that involves resisting the urge to immediately click on the first search result. Instead, students scan the results to make a more informed choice about where to go first.

Common Sense Education has created the Deep Fakes and Democracy lesson plan to educate students on how misinformation influences the Democratic process. Common Sense also has a broader section on Hoaxes and Fakes in the Common Sense K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum: https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/hoaxes-and-fakes

**This resource is published by Common Sense Education as part of The Common Sense K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum.

Interactive lessons and activities for all students! Use digital citizenship lesson plans to address timely topics and prepare students to take ownership of their digital lives. Browse lessons by grade and topic below, or see an overview of the curriculum. Students will learn news and media literacy skills to better assist them with reading and navigating content online.

**This resource is published by Common Sense Education.The Common Sense K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum is a free research-based curriculum.

Prepare your students for tomorrow's headlines with our free news & media literacy activities and inquiry-based lessons lessons.

From viral trends to breaking news on social media, students must learn to navigate a noisy, biased, and challenging world. But with the right support, they can learn to be critical and not cynical, to practice empathy, and to speak up, not sit back. This collection of Common Sense's free news & media literacy lessons, videos, and classroom activities will help you get started teaching these important and complex ideas in the classroom.

News and Media Literacy Resource Center is a curated collection of free quality teaching resources that cover news literacy, media literacy and social/cultural literacy.

**This resource is published by Common Sense Education as part of The Common Sense K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum.

Cornell Social Media Lab and Common Sense Education collaborated to create Social Media TestDrive, a simulated social media environment where young people can practice and prepare for real-life experiences in the digital world.

Through modules that focus on realistic dilemmas and scenarios, students practice how to respond to situations they will encounter when they become social media users. Each module has a guided activity, a free play section, and reflection questions that help solidify digital citizenship skills and habits. Social Media TestDrive aligns with middle school lessons in the Common Sense Digital Citizenship Curriculum.

**This resource is published by Common Sense Education as part of The Common Sense K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum.

This resource is published by cyber.org.Cyber Society is a resource that explores how cyber affects our everyday lives and how to become more educated members of our cyber society. The content lives on an LMS that is maintained by CYBER.ORG. This link will take you to an informational page where you can request access to the rest of the content.

This is a hyperdoc with links to a variety of videos and resources around the concept of digital citizenship. It includes definitions, how-to videos, and links to resources about how to handle cyberbullying.

Hello and welcome to the Digital Citizenship Toolkit. Have you ever wondered if your phone is listening to you? Do you ever look to the Internet for the answer to a question, and hours later, find that you are more confused than before? Have you argued with a friend or relative about a meme? Have you been tempted to share your own thoughts and feelings online, but resisted for fear of trolls? This book delves into these issues and more.

The information revolution of the 21st century is as significant and transformative as the industrial revolution of the 19th century. In this unit, students – and by proxy their families – will learn about the challenges of our current information landscape and how to navigate them. This unit is split into four modules. These modules can be done sequentially or stand on their own, depending on students’ needs and teachers’ timeframes. In this module (1 of 4), students analyze their own use of online social media platforms and learn how filter bubbles and confirmation bias shape the content of their media environment. 

**This resource is published by Learning for Justice.Digital and Civic Literacy Skills is an online website created by Learning for Justice and is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The website includes videos and lessons for students to learn digital and civic literacy skills.

Students will learn the potential costs and benefits of social media, digital consumption, and our relationship with technology as a society in the three-week lesson. This inquiry based unit of study will answer the following questions:

Essential Question: How can we use science fiction’s ability to predict the future to help humanity?

Supportive Questions 1: What predictions of future development has science fiction accurately made in the past? This can include technology, privacy, medicine, social justice, political, environmental, education, and economic.

Supportive Question 2: What predictions for future development in contemporary science fiction are positive for the future of humanity? What factors need to begin in your lifetime to make these predictions reality?

Supportive Question 3: What predictions for future development in contemporary science fiction are negative for the future of humanity? What factors need to begin in your lifetime to stop these negative outcomes?

In 2016, Oxford Dictionaries chose "post-truth" as the word of the year. As literacy has shifted from published hardcopy to an online landscape, it is more important than ever to engage and empower students in navigating the complicated battleground of fake news verses responsible, fact-based news. In this multi-day lesson, students will 1) examine terms associated with “fake news” and evaluate sources for their reliability and authenticity, and 2) develop a set of norms for responsible use of online news sources that spans academic and personal interaction with media.Cover image: "Fake news" by pixel2013 from Pixabay.com

Unit OverviewThis unit focuses on the various modes of local, national and world news. Students will read, evaluate and integrate multiple sources of information to gain perspective and understanding of a variety of news events. Through a structured instructional sequence, students will gain knowledge about current news, discuss the events, analyze news sources, identify bias and write brief news articles or reports based on research. The unifying theme, What’s News? will guide students as they discuss the essential question, How does the news influence us?A variety of focus texts and resources are suggested. Depending on your class and available resources, other texts may easily be substituted. Teachers may develop a customized instructional sequence with alternate news articles appropriate to the needs and make-up of the community/school population.It is important teachers prepare fully by reading all resources and consider their students when planning to implement this unit. Time frames may vary depending on the daily amount of instructional time allotted, the student group and the degree of teacher support required for students to meet with success.Teacher Note: The news of today can be very graphic and disturbing. It is important you intentionally select articles and news that do not deal with violence of any kind but that does engage 5th graders. Remember to consciously be aware of this aspect of the news for the general public. Included in this plan are a variety of “kid friendly” news sites to access. You could write a letter to the parents of your class informing them of the unit’s intent and your plan for implementing it. For guidance, watch the TVO video about TKN and Media Literacy video at the bottom of the home page www.teachingkidsnews.com.The lesson models in this unit feature best practices using informational texts to address Common Core State Standards. Included are examples of text dependent questions and sample responses to guide instruction. Students will engage with technology and practice effective listening and speaking skills in collaborative groups to identify key ideas and concepts and to build deeper understanding.Additional Planning and Preparation:Read the entire unit model, associated texts, and resources.Note vocabulary, phrases, concepts, and terminology that may be challenging.Organize the class in groups or pairs for cooperative work and discussion.Access and bookmark web resources your students will use.You many choose to infuse ‘bigger’ questions into discussion such as:What does it take to overcome challenges?How do we face challenges?What kinds of challenges do we face?Are life always challenges necessary to succeed?Universal Design Principles and strategies for English Learners:Organize the class in groups and pairs for discussion and cooperative work.Use multiple modes of presentation to allow acquisition and integration of knowledge and to increase interest and motivation.Offer students choice of tasks and modes of response.Considering using a word processing program or template for students to keep notes such as Google note taking tools.IMPORTANT NOTE: No text model or website referenced in this unit has undergone a formal review. Before using any of these materials, local school systems should conduct a formal approval review to determine their appropriateness. Teachers should always adhere to Acceptable Use Policy enforced by their local school system.Text Models For Lessons and Lesson Seedshttp://teachingkidsnews.comhttps://theconnectedclassroom.wikispaces.com/NewsInterdisciplinary ConnectionsSocial Studies/Geography/Science/Health/Current EventsAdditional ResourcesTeacher ResourcesDaily News at http://www.nwf.orgWashington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ecologists-track-dc-ospreys-long-journey-home--from-south-america-to-the-anacostia/2014/04/18/78a5dd18-c3fc-11e3-b195-dd0c1174052c_story.htmlPair these three articles – take down nest, bird rebuilds, rebuild, take down, build platform:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/osprey-nest-blocking-md-traffic-camera-removed/2014/04/19/64623da8-c7fb-11e3-b708-471bae3cb10c_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-installs-nesting-platform-for-osprey/2014/04/24/c4c49eda-cbd8-11e3-b81a-6fff56bc591e_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-considers-nesting-platform-for-ospreys/2014/04/23/b82cf0f0-cb10-11e3-b81a-6fff56bc591e_story.htmlREADWORKShttps://www.readworks.org/passages/new-letter-alphabethttps://www.readworks.org/node/2219 batshttps://www.readworks.org/passages/classical-music-wolfgang-amadeus-mozarthttps://www.readworks.org/passages/cool-be-kind-0https://www.readworks.org/passages/endangered-animals-glancehttps://www.readworks.org/passages/finger-foodhttps://www.readworks.org/passages/homemadehttps://www.readworks.org/passages/meet-soldierScience Fridayhttp://auburnpub.com/science-friday-return-of-the-condor/article_54c3335a-cc67-11e3-acda-001a4bcf887a.htmlTime for Kids           https://www.timeforkids.com/NIEhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/http://helenair.com/news/local/th-graders-keep-abreast-of-current-events-school-issues/article_8dad9ea4-cc39-11e3-8e63-001a4bcf887a.htmlhttp://www.nwf.org