Weekly Coaching Communication
Make it a great day -- every day!
24 - 28 April 2017
On the Standards Front . . .
"Avoiding the Fake News Trap" -- Addressing an issue with research and citing sources
In an "Education Update" from ASCD, the issue of fake news is discussed: April 2017 | Volume 59 | Number 4 "Avoiding the Fake News Trap" by Wayne D'Orio. I am offering the opening paragraphs to you here; however, if you would like to read the entire article, please let me know, and I can provide a copy of it to you.
"Avoiding the Fake News Trap" by Wayne D'Orio.
With fake news on the rise, students must learn to vet what they read.
Media literacy is a perennial problem with a timely twist. For decades, teachers have felt the need to make sure students can accurately judge and analyze the information they consume, whether it comes from newspapers, television, or most likely in 2017, social media.
But in the last year, this issue went from a typical teacher interest to a national concern with the onslaught of "fake news." These fabricated stories with no factual basis are often published on websites masquerading as legitimate news organizations. Fake news was rampant during the presidential election, but when an armed man stormed a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor looking for the child sex slave ring purported to be run by Hillary Clinton and her campaign chair John Podesta, it became impossible to ignore the seriousness of the problem. Right before that incident, Stanford University unveiled the summary of a study that proved what many teachers already knew: teens are not good judges of news.
"There's a tsunami of information" available at students' fingertips, says Janice Schachter, who teaches news literacy at Northport High School in Long Island, New York. This flood can overwhelm kids who are trying to discern what's valid, what's biased, and what's plain fake.
Adding to the problem, experts say, is the trend of politicians calling stories they disagree with "fake news."
"Many assume that because young people are fluent in social media, they are equally perceptive about what they find there," notes the Stanford report "Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning." However, "our work shows the opposite" to be true.
Polling nearly 8,000 students from middle school to college, the Stanford researchers found that most middle school students could distinguish between a news story and a traditional ad, but so-called native advertising threw them off. More than 80 percent believed that an ad labeled "sponsored content" was a real news story. Four of every 10 high school students said a picture posted on a photo sharing site of deformed daisies near a nuclear power plant provided "strong evidence" that the power plant caused the flowers' deformities. These students did not consider who posted the photo, whether there was any proof that it was taken near the power plant, or whether the conditions near the plant could have had any bearing on the flowers' unusual growth.
"We've got to start getting kids to realize the Internet is not the encyclopedia," says Frank W. Baker, a national media literacy consultant. "The Stanford study, I hope, is an eye-opener for educators."
Shifting Mindsets Cuts Suspensions in Half in 70 minutes By Dustin Bindreiff
In November we wrote a post about the impact the mindset of a teacher can have about a student’s problem behavior. Related to this, Stanford researchers Jason Okonofua, David Paunesku and Gregory Walton recently published researchdemonstrating the power of teacher mindsets on student behavior.
The researchers used a brief online intervention to encourage teachers to adopt an empathic mindset about discipline. This brief training cut the suspension rates at five middle schools by 50%!
The researchers conducted a series of experiments exploring teacher mindsets about behavior. The first one examined whether a targeted message about empathic discipline would change teachers’ approach to discipline. A group of elementary teachers were assigned a brief article, one that encouraged them that “good teacher–student relationships are critical for students to learn self-control” (empathic mindset) a second group read an article encouraging them to remember “punishment is critical for teachers to take control of the classroom” (punitive mindset).
Then the researchers had the teachers review three incidents of minor problem behavior. Those that read the empathic mindset article gave responses that were less punitive and more empathic. These teachers were also less likely than the other group to label the student a troublemaker. The researchers concluded that educators “...can be encouraged to take an empathic approach to discipline and that students report that such treatment motivates better behavior.”
Next the team worked with middle school math teachers to understand the impact of these shifts. In this longitudinal randomized control trial the teachers participated in two online training modules totalling 70 minutes. As a result “students whose math teacher received the empathic-mindset intervention were half as likely to be suspended over the school year”.
The researchers highlight some important implementation elements that likely contributed greatly to the effectiveness of such a brief intervention. As we work to transfer research from experimental setting to larger contexts it is important to pay particular attention to the details. In this case the researchers highlight the importance treating the teachers receiving the intervention “as experts and agents of positive change not as recipients of remediation.” The teachers were encouraged to elaborate on material in order to allow them to take ownership of the message, connect it to their own practice and advocate for it to others.
It is exciting to see how effectively and efficiently we can shift mindsets about behavior. However it is important to remember that handing your colleagues an article about empathic discipline while highlighting spiraling suspension rates and outside pressures to address them is not likely to elicit the degree of ownership and motivation that these researchers were able to elicit.
As we discussed in November, changing how we as adults view problem behavior has important implications for how we respond to our students. It is important to remember, behavior is a form of communication and as the graphic shows if we can maintain a Growth Mindset about student behavior we can remain focused on teaching them more constructive ways to get their needs met and build their skills. As this important research confirms when teachers adopt a growth mindset about student behavior they have less need to rely on suspension.
Coaching Schedule -- see Google Calendar for specific "Busy" times **schedule subject to change**
LINK to Mr. Libolt's Weekly Calendar & Communication
Monday, 24 April -- NO SCHOOL -- PROFESSIONAL LEARNING ALL DAY
Tuesday, 25 April
- IC Team MTG @ MS -- Learning Maps
- 11:25 - 11:45 HS Model Syllable Types w/ Barbara Leete
Wednesday, 26 April -- Staff MTGs 7:45 - 8:15 AM -- Late Start Schedule
- 9:00 AM Interviews
- 11:25 - 11:45 HS Model Syllable Types w/ Barbara Leete
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Thursday, 27 April -- EARLY OUT -- PTCs
- 9:25 - 9:45 HS Model Syllable Types w/ Barbara Leete
- IC Team MTG 12:30 -3:30 PM -- Learning Maps
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Friday, 28 April
- 9:00 AM Interviews
- 9:30 - 10:30 AM Dr. Eisenbach -- Holocaust Survivor Streamed Live
- 12:00 - 3:30 PM IC Task MTG
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
ARCHIVE LINKS
Click on the link to access 2015-16 prior weekly communications.
Pope's IC Weekly Communication Archive & Index 2016-17
Click on the link to access 2016-17 prior weekly communications.
IC/Principal Weekly Meeting Notes
Click on the link to view the Friday notes.
Contact Information
Center Point - Urbana CSD
Email: epopenhagen@cpuschools.org
Phone: 319-849-1102+91015
Twitter: @Epopenhagen