Educator Innovator

Fake News has been described as a type of propaganda that consists of misinformation, disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and broadcast news media or online social media. We have seen this moniker rise to the national level of discussion around media and information literacy education, and critical thinking. This webinar addresses how the term fake news is being used in popular lexicon. Panelists share their perspectives on what further conceptualization and actions are needed for educators to successfully navigate today’s evolving media climate, with a view towards developing modes of instruction for addressing mis- and dis-information campaigns in the media, and cultivating our students’ greater media discernment.

Join Nicole Mirra and Antero Garcia for a conversation about their recent article, “Civic Participation Reimagined: Youth Interrogation and Innovation in the Multimodal Public Sphere,” in which they discuss connected teaching, Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), and visions for the future of democracy. They are joined by the co-founders of Marginal Syllabus, Remi Kalir and Joe Dillon, for a discussion of the text, which is the featured article this month for Writing Our Civic Futures, which explores a range of scholarship on civic engagement and supports their web annotation at Educator Innovator.

In this “make-with-me” episode, NAMLE’s Jaclyn Siegel and Caitlin Barry will provide examples of media literacy activities that can be implemented in History and English classrooms, grades 6-12. They will cover activities relating to news media, social media, stereotypes in the media, and video production. Viewers will receive lesson activity examples and resources to use in their own classroom!

With a small twist of fate, any hero could become a villain, and any villain, a hero. That was the premise of 2016’s Twist Fate Challenge, a month-long challenge for youth ages 13-17 that kicked off during last year’s Teen Tech Week. A collaborative partnership between DeviantArt and Wattpad with the Young Adult Library Association and the National Writing Project as part of the Connected Learning Alliance, the challenge prompted youth to pick a story and character, and create an alternate scenario where a famous hero is the villain, or an infamous villain, the hero. They worked in their favorite modes and mediums, including pictures, written stories, comic panels, illustrations, etc. Now finalists’ work is included in a published book! The Twist Fate book contains contributions from 60 deviants and 40 more from Wattpad chosen from thousands of participants. In this conversation, members of the editorial team will discuss their experiences engaging with youth submissions in such a wide range of genres and de

In this conversation, we use storytelling and discussion to explore the ways in which making can excite and empower traditionally underserved populations. We hope to show what equity-minded maker education looks like in action, and provide guidance for educators looking for ways to authentically engage all members of their community through making.

Creating and starting a makerspace is an exciting venture; you build a team and purchase new equipment. There are a lot of resources (people and articles) that describe how emergent makerspaces can get off the ground. Once your makerspace has been open for a few years, you begin to experience challenges that are distinctly different from those start-up challenges, and there are very few, if any, resources that describe what this new, “post-emergent” phase entails. Three labs in the YOUmedia Learning Labs Network will lead you through a workshop where they present and talk through a framework that supports makerspaces in thinking through what this phase involves, and how to not be caught off guard by those challenges.

For this conversation, we are joined by Kira Baker Doyle, author of the new book, Transformative Teachers: Teacher Leadership and Learning in a Connected World, which follows civic-minded educators who are using twenty-first-century participatory practices and connected technologies to organize change from the ground up. In this 3-part series, we explore what it means to be a transformative teacher, along with how and why educators are instrumental in the creation of a more just and equitable future.

For this conversation, we are joined by Kira Baker Doyle, author of the new book, Transformative Teachers: Teacher Leadership and Learning in a Connected World, which follows civic-minded educators who are using twenty-first-century participatory practices and connected technologies to organize change from the ground up. This is the 2nd episode in a 3-part series, where we explore what it means to be a transformative teacher, along with how and why educators are instrumental in the creation of a more just and equitable future.

Summer is a lovely time to reflect on the past school year and (after a lengthy break) start thinking about the Fall. Making lasting changes to practice and systems is one of the toughest goals to reach. In order to tackle those challenges, questions are a lovely place to start, and inquiry is one of the best tools. Join Diana Laufenberg and friends/colleagues to discuss the questions posed by James Ryan in Wait, What? as a frame to think about changes in your schools and classrooms.

For this conversation, we are joined by Kira Baker Doyle, author of the new book, Transformative Teachers: Teacher Leadership and Learning in a Connected World, which follows civic-minded educators who are using twenty-first-century participatory practices and connected technologies to organize change from the ground up. In this 3-part series, we explore what it means to be a transformative teacher, along with how and why educators are instrumental in the creation of a more just and equitable future.

For this conversation, we are joined by Bronwyn Clare LaMay, author of Personal Narrative, Revised: Writing Love and Agency in the High School Classroom (2016, Teachers College Press and National Writing Project). Guests explore how students and teachers can bring their whole selves to the classroom and how drawing on their personal experiences via narrative writing can lead to a richer exploration of literature and other academic subjects. We dive deeper into Chapter 5 of the book, titled "Revising Narrative Truth," in collaboration with the organizers of Marginal Syllabus; this conversation kicked off a week-long “annotathon” hosted by Marginal Syllabus.

Join Kim Jaxon, Tom Fox, and writing mentors, Brittany DeLacy and Geoff Bogan, as they explain, theorize, and discuss why large, epic learning spaces are not only just as good, but perhaps even better learning environments than smaller courses. We offer two examples—a large, freshman composition course and a large scale writing program—to argue the affordances of designing for epic learning environments.

Recognizing that teacher leadership has become a hot educational topic, and that many organizations are working to grow and foster it and to put it to work to improve teaching and learning, the National Writing Project hosts this conversation with leaders from three teacher leadership development organizations in order to explore key questions about teacher leadership: what is it? How is it fostered? And what good does it do in the world?

In today’s world, how do we best build and maintain democratic societies that are pluralistic, open, and resilient to violence? What can we learn from history to help us in this inquiry? Join staff and teachers of Facing History and Ourselves in a conversation about lessons for democracy today from a case study on the Holocaust.

Last month, in an Educator Innovator webinar titled “Growing Up American-Muslim: Challenges and Opportunities in the Classroom & Beyond,” teachers and youth convened to discuss the experiences of American-Muslim students and teachers across geographic and educational contexts. In this webinar we are joined by authors of By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism (2016, NYU Press) and dive deeper into this topic by looking at a related chapter called “Storytelling and Surveillance: The Precarious Public of American Muslim Youth.”

The term “fake news” has been dominating the media, but what does it mean and why does it matter for youth? In this interactive webinar, experts from The LAMP, a nationally-recognized leader in media literacy education, breaks down key terms and ideas for understanding “fake news” with basic media literacy principles. We also introduce some free tools and activities that educators can use to help students deconstruct and critique “fake news” stories in the media.

We live in contentious and divisive times that have affected specific communities in very real ways. In particular, rampant stereotyping of Muslims in the United States today, coupled with surveillance and privacy concerns, have the power to paralyze, damage and isolate young American Muslim in classroom settings. Inadequate understanding of Islam also makes it difficult for educators to help students move past such stereotyping in productive ways. In this webinar, educators, scholars and students convene to discuss the experiences of American Muslim students and teachers inside and out of the classroom. Participants will consider the impact of Islamophobia, how—and if—to tackle politics in the classroom, how to create safe spaces for students from all backgrounds, and ways to support diverse learning.

Did you love Letters to the Next President? Are you looking for ways to keep students energized about issues that matter to them? Join us for a discussion with educators who are using the first 100 days of the new administration to continue (and start!) conversations, projects and civic action around issues important to students. The first 100 days goes through the end of April, so there’s plenty of time to get inspired.

How can you engage teens to be Changemakers? KidsTales.org, a nonprofit founded by a kid for kids, presents their changemaking story and explores how to create, engage, and sustain teen changemakers. Kidstales.org brings creative writing workshops, taught by teen instructors, to 8 to 12 year old kids that do not have access to writing experiences outside of school. During a Kids Tales workshop, kids spend a week creating their very own short story. At the end of the week, the stories are assembled in a collection and self-published as a real, physical anthology. This past summer Kids Tales taught workshops in five countries, serving 400 kids and engaging 100 teen writing instructors.

This webinar highlights strategies for representing multiple perspectives and addressing difficult topics, and discusses criteria for selecting and using primary sources in instruction, including thinking about audience, historical context, and point of view.