Information is the most fundamental element of democracy. It is the basis for citizens’ understanding of the world around them; how we analyze social issues, assess challenges, determine political priorities, form opinions and evaluate our options. We must move beyond the unhelpful term “fake news” and teach students to more precisely identify the many types of misleading, inaccurate and false information that they encounter. Explore motivations behind different types of propagators of misinformation and learn fact-checking skills and tools to help encourage student learning. By gaining a deeper understanding of misinformation, you can help students become less susceptible to it and more likely to prioritize reliable, standards-based sources of news and information.
In today’s era of punditry and polarization, intellectual humility – the ability to acknowledge what you do not know and how you might be wrong – is in short supply. This is a problem that we as educators can address. In this workshop, you will learn findings from recent research about intellectual humility in adolescence, discussing what it is, what its benefits are, and how it can be fostered in the classroom.
At the heart of this workshop is an experience of Reflective Structured Dialogue - an approach to difficult conversations that has been used around the world in classrooms and communities for 30 years. This dialogue will lead you through questions about your own experiences of teaching in a pandemic and give you an opportunity to connect with others. After the dialogue you will discuss the impact of certain conversational structures and how you might use them in your classroom to make difficult conversations more meaningful, nuanced, and constructive.
