In this week's "3 Quick Things," I share a final project for Phase One of our career inquiry, review the awesome fake news game Factious, and share my absolute love of The Sun is Also a Star.
Let's face it: no matter how much we preach the importance of checking our sources, students don't listen. The fact is, they think they're smarter than that. OF COURSE they would never believe that a false story reported on social media was true; what kind of idiots do we think they are? However, the bottom line is that most students aren't as savvy as picking truth from fiction as they think they are, and the only way to prove it to them is to dupe them.
Enter Factious, a current events game that mixes fact with fiction. Students are presented with snippets of actual news stories--both the real and the fake ones--and then tasked with determining whether those stories are real or fake. The stories are believable, and students can even go so far as to check the sources before deciding on the veracity of a story. But the best part, in my opinion, is the explanations that pop up after students make their decisions; there's this delightful video-gamey noise, followed by some hard-core fact-checking knowledge. It's definitely worth the time, both to help students learn something new and to politely remind them that they may not be the experts in fake news that they believe themselves to be.
Natasha and Daniel are high school seniors in New York City who should have their whole lives spread out at their feet; instead, each of them is facing an earth-shattering decision. For Daniel, the weight of his parents' expectations regarding college are enough to bring him to his knees; for Natasha, waking up tomorrow in a different country after deportation is a real possibility. This book takes the reader on a crazy ride through a single day in these characters' lives, and while you're wondering whether love can truly conquer all, you're also seeing how the lives of so many seemingly disconnected people are actually intertwined. Yoon's perfectly crafted story sheds a fresh light on YA romance, letting readers see that every person is fighting a hard battle, no matter how "together" everything seems. The best part is, just like in life, there are no neat bows tying up the ending; readers are left wondering whether logic, love, or something in-between will win in the end. For any readers who love LOVE but want to cut through the sappy, Nicola Yoon's The Sun is Also a Star will definitely fit the bill.
As the days get cooler, there's no better place to warm up than in your library! I hope you enjoy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Your Library
"Day in the Life" Career Inquiry Project
Part of my inquiry continuum for grades 9-12 involves a 10th grade career inquiry (I've shared our lesson plan, but it is definitely a work in progress, so check back for more later!). We try to go in-depth into the subject throughout the school year, weaving in inquiry and digital citizenship skills wherever they fit with the teacher's coursework. The idea is that students make big decisions at the start of their junior year that greatly impact their post-secondary plans; why not get them super-prepared through inquiry? Throughout the year, we focus on three distinct phases:- Career - what do you want do with your life?
- College/Training - how do you get to your chosen career?
- Plans for junior year - what steps can you take now to get you to your future?
The first phase of the project, the career phase, definitely takes the longest, as it's the students' first chance to review research skills and begin collecting resources. By the time they get to the final project, they have searched for sources, practiced question-making, and reviewed types of notes (quote/paraphrase/summary). In an inquiry project that can tend to feel a bit dull, I didn't want their final project to feel like just another report. Thus, I was SUPER EXCITED to hear about Matt Miller's Instagram template on a recent episode of the Google Teacher Tribe podcast (all you GTTribers will understand the "super excited" significance). Why not, instead of having students write a paper, have them work in a medium that they're used to, one that was created to capture scenes from a person's day?
Armed with that idea, along with the Alice Keeler webcam extension and the Unsplash Photos add-on, I set about modifying the template to meet our needs. Sophomores are now working on their "Day in the Life" Instagram stories, where they are practicing digital citizenship skills by ethically using photos, sharpening their 21st century skills by making use of digital tools to tell a story, and honing their inquiry skills as they use the speaker notes of each slide to synthesize their research. I'm excited to see the results, but I've been as equally excited to hear the student chatter about what types of pictures they should take, how to set the scene, and how to use different digital tools to explain what they've learned.
If you're interested in doing a similar project, click here to make a copy of Matt Miller's template that I updated with our directions. I hope it helps!
Factious
Let's face it: no matter how much we preach the importance of checking our sources, students don't listen. The fact is, they think they're smarter than that. OF COURSE they would never believe that a false story reported on social media was true; what kind of idiots do we think they are? However, the bottom line is that most students aren't as savvy as picking truth from fiction as they think they are, and the only way to prove it to them is to dupe them.
Enter Factious, a current events game that mixes fact with fiction. Students are presented with snippets of actual news stories--both the real and the fake ones--and then tasked with determining whether those stories are real or fake. The stories are believable, and students can even go so far as to check the sources before deciding on the veracity of a story. But the best part, in my opinion, is the explanations that pop up after students make their decisions; there's this delightful video-gamey noise, followed by some hard-core fact-checking knowledge. It's definitely worth the time, both to help students learn something new and to politely remind them that they may not be the experts in fake news that they believe themselves to be.The Sun is Also a Star, Nicola Yoon
I'll admit that I'm not a romance fan. I try to read widely to offer suggestions for all students, but my brain has recently been grinding to a halt when I'm asked for a good teenage love story. That's why I was so pleasantly surprised when I sat down with Nicola Yoon's The Sun is Also a Star and immediately got sucked into a reading coma (i.e. a long period of time where I lost all abilities to the book down).
As the days get cooler, there's no better place to warm up than in your library! I hope you enjoy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Your Library
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