The kids are going back to school!
Whether you’re a public librarian, catching your breath after a crazy summer, or a school librarian, gearing up for a busy school year, the Public Awareness Committee is here to help you help the kids you serve!
Launched in the wake of the 2016 election, ALSC’s Post-Election Resource is a living document that covers topics such as “Grassroots Organizing and Mobilizing” to “Resources for Media Literacy.” To highlight this amazing resource, the Public Awareness Committee has been showcasing a different section of the Post-Election Resource each month (check out Marika’s and Andrea’s great posts to find out more!)
Since school is back in session, we thought this would be a good time to again highlight the “Resources for Media Literacy” section, focusing on fake news and our role in equipping children with the skills they need to navigate the deluge of information that comes their way.
Flex your fake-news fighting muscles and check out these great resources, along with a few quick examples of how they might be used:
In this article, Joyce Valenza crafts a thorough compilation of news literacy resources. The “Resources for a post truth teaching kit” section provides helpful links that offer examples of exercises that can be used with youth (the exercise provided by Katherine Schulten in Skills and Strategies – Fake News vs. Real News: Determining the Reliability of Sources is a valuable one that can easily be done in both public and school library settings.)
Check out this link and encourage the youth you serve to add one of these extensions to their browsers. (Thanks for such a valuable resource list, Skokie Public Library!)
Post the “Breaking News Consumers Handbook” checklist in your library, along with examples of fake and reliable news stories for your tweens and teens to identify as part of a passive program.
What are you doing to help youth become more news literate this school year? We’d love to hear from you and learn from you in the comments below as, together, we work to create a better future for children through libraries.
Skye Corey, Youth Services Librarian at Meridian Library District (ID), is writing this post for the Public Awareness Committee. She can be reached at scorey@mld.org.