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Sarah Lavender Smith's avatar

Schools need more teachers like you!

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Adrian Neibauer's avatar

I just finished teaching a writing experience where students examined some dubious websites. In 5th grade, students get excited trying to disprove something that seems too good to be true. I used some Crash Course videos to teach them how to read horizontally and be fact-checkers. I had fun trying to dupe my students!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtN07XYqqWSKpPrtNDiCHTzU&si=xcRZpXIKoXPNvQ67

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Jenna Vandenberg's avatar

Thanks for this playlist!! I'm so glad you start teaching this in elementary. My own kids (4th and 5th grade) are starting to consume more YouTube (they don't have phones yet, but their friends sure do) and it's crazy how susceptible they are to ads, sponsorships, and dubious claims.

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Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

This is a great piece, and I love the way it artfully brings together the fraud from Zadie Smith's novel (and I agree, Smith is a wonderful writer) with fake news on TikTok. I'm reminded yet again of the challenges teachers face these days.

And thanks for the link to my piece on the Thames, Jenna!

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Jenna Vandenberg's avatar

Your writing about the Thames was just too lovely to leave out :)

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Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

That's so kind of you to say so.

BTW my next post will dip into history and myth (and birds), so it might interest you.

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Jenna Vandenberg's avatar

Yay!!

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

I actually worked with an NLP practitioner. It was life changing. I also read a lot of books on self healing, I eat healthy and meditate.

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Jenna Vandenberg's avatar

I'm so glad! I do think mindset is really important (I'm a marathon runner! Mindset is key!) and I'm glad you had a life changing experience. That's amazing!

It's the "I can cure any chronic health problem" that I find dubious. For friends that have cancer, genetic kidney disease, and chronic heart conditions, it's a problematic and frustrating message.

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

I cured my CKD.

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