Combat Disinformation

I have been seeing posts about politicians who claim that the Afghan refugees that are coming to the US are unvetted and that many are possible terrorists. One way to combat propaganda is to recognize the techniques propagandists use: 1. Activate emotion 2. Respond to audience needs 3. Simplify information 4. Attack opponents.

One report:

Fox News Report

This Fox news story does all of these things and more:  (#1) Fear is stoked with a warning of a terrorist attack and words like “surrender,” “vulnerable,” and “abandon” generate paranoia and anger. (#2) It plays to peoples’ anti-immigration Nationalist beliefs. (#3) It simplifies info: the vetting is "haphazard"—what evidence is produced? (#4) Opponents are attacked—in this case, Biden, Muslims, and POC. There are some who want attacks rather than evidence so it responds to needs, as well.

 

This is an example of disinformation, which is purposefully designed to misinform.

A quick Google search will provide accurate details:

Reuters Report

 

Confirmation bias is one reason people won’t check for the facts but will accept claims like this without question. Everyone naturally gravitates to information that confirms what they already believe. The problem is that NOT seeking the truth is not only wrong, but it can cause great harm. For example, when Afghan refugees come to this country, there will be people who believe these claims, and they will try to hurt them and justify their actions by thinking they are taking out “suicide bombers.” A recent example of this is when politicians referred to Covid as the “China Virus” or “Wuhan Virus.” Attacks on Asians rose by 6 percent in 2020. Judgments and statements, especially by leaders, must be evidence-based.

Nothing good ever comes from a lie. I learned that from watching soap operas.

Another way to combat disinformation is to be aware of your bias. Try an implicit bias test:

Bias Tests

So What? Reflection

I started back to school this week and the one thing that I keep saying to my colleagues when asked about my summer is how much I enjoy being a student. The catchphrase when I was in school to become a librarian was that the goal of librarians was to prepare students to become "life-long learners" and I believe that is what I am. The YA literature course was a dream come true for me because it presented me with so many great books to read. I never considered the class to be work either. Even the written assignments were something I enjoyed doing because reading instruction and literature are such strong interests of mine. 

Many of the books that I read this summer were ones that I previously purchased for my library, so I am eager to promote them this year. I would love to go into classes to do book talks and our school is now doing video announcements each morning so I am going to ask if I can do short books talks and book promos on the announcements. I would love to do a lesson with students so that they can do book talks for the announcements as well. I look forward to seeing how this can snowball into other book promoting ideas.

The class readings also empowered me as they supported my own opinions about literacy. I often look to knowledgeable people for confirmation, so the readings encouraged me to speak up. I hope I can use this empowerment to advocate more for in-class reading time and for financial support for classroom libraries. I would also love to be a resource for teachers to use for reading support for struggling students. I have worked with students in my previous elementary school positions, but I have not had the opportunity at the high school where I currently work. So much of my time is spent troubleshooting Chromebooks and I think it is a waste considering I could be helping with reading instruction. 

I am a teacher/librarian who reads, and I feel like I got a boost this summer to read even more YA books this year. I learned that I can move from one book to another one without needing a lot of time in between books to say goodbye to the characters that I grew to care about. This was a push that I needed as a reader as I have a hard time letting go and moving forward. I realized this past week that as a student who never struggled with reading, I was never really pushed as a reader when I was in school. It is an interesting realization to make at this stage of my life, but I think it is a good one. All students and "life-long learners" need to be pushed and challenged.

Conferring

I thought Ripp's post was very helpful and I appreciated her links to the files. I had two thoughts. First, my negative thought, which is, what to do with the bad attitude students who refuse to do any work, let alone read a book. I know they are out there and my mind always goes to them. Is it possible that the conferring and the wonderful book suggestions just suck them all in and they become voracious readers? I have no experience with this so I don't know. I just observe these students and hear teachers tell about them. I know that building personal relationships with students is the first step to success. I just wonder what happens when a teacher hits a seemingly immovable wall with a student. It worries me.

One thought I had about adapting Ripp's suggestions with middle school students is that from my experience students this age love to share the books they enjoy with others. I feel like the conferring sheet could be adapted to a sheet that could be made public if a student chooses. The sheet shows the reader's progress, what skills they worked on, and how they ranked the book from beginning to end. This information is rarely shared in a book promo. I wonder if being able to relate to a book's readers would add another enticement for a student to choose the book.