How news literacy prepares Oklahoma students for civic engagement
In an event hosted by the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, the News Literacy Project’s Hannah Covington and local educator Amanda Kordeliski discussed how news literacy instruction can help students become informed, engaged citizens.
Ahead of the November midterm elections, the panel, “Preparing students for a digital democracy” featured insights from educators and students from across Oklahoma.
Research shows that students who are taught news literacy are more likely to engage in civic behaviors like pushing back against misinformation.
Here are some of the insights shared by Covington, who develops educational resources for the News Literacy Project; and Kordeliski, director of libraries for Norman Public Schools. Norman schools are part of the News Literacy Project’s District Fellowship, a three-year grant program that helps districts implement news literacy instruction.
Information as civic agency
Covington: “Information is the basis of civic action. It’s the basis of civic agency. It’s the basis of making decisions for yourself… If you don’t know how to recognize credibility when you see it and how to distinguish credible information from low-quality information, that’s disempowering as a citizen.”
The information environment is making kids cynical
Kordeliski: “Kids have completely flipped from 2010, when I first started teaching, where ‘if it was on the internet, it was true, to ‘anything that we see or hear is most likely fake.’ …I’m afraid we’re going to lose the thread of what’s actually true, and so sometimes kids just block everything out and they’re just going to say, ‘I don’t trust anything.’”
Overcoming challenges to teaching news literacy
Kordeliski: “Teachers recognize that media literacy is an essential skill, especially librarians. But then when you ask the follow-up question: ‘How much of this do you get to teach?’ The answer is almost always zero… I’m not saying that the answer is mandated [instructional] minutes but understanding the importance of cross-curricular and how everything connects to be able to get that in. Because when students are asking for it and teachers are saying it’s important but there’s no time in the day, we need to reorganize to figure out how to get it to work.”
Keeping up with changes in AI
Covington: “We know that even just a little bit of this instruction makes a difference, and it makes students care more about credibility. It makes them more civically engaged… Even though AI is changing under foot — it feels like every day — these skills are really durable and they’re transferrable.”
About the News Literacy Project
The News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan education nonprofit that works with teachers, school districts, states and community partners like libraries and after-school clubs to ensure students in all 50 states receive news literacy instruction before they graduate from high school. Learn more at www.newslit.org.
