The readings that caught my attention and made me think deeply in preparing for class were the Stanford Study and American Indian Perspectives readings. The Stanford Study was interesting for me to learn about because I definitely pertain to the group of people who believe everything they see and often forget to take a step back and look at their sources. In my classroom I would definitely use the language modeled in the article of “reading horizontally not vertically” because I think that is a perfect visual for what checking for fake news is. Honestly, I would not know how to approach that without a visual like that. I also think categorizing it as learning about thoughtful engagement in society could be helpful for students to apply it to the real world. Connecting it back to society is important and also takes away notions that we might be talking about the fake news they hear about with Trump etc.
The American Indian Perspectives article was especially impactful for me because it made me aware of my ignorance to the treatment of Native people in children’s literature. Before this, I never payed attention to the assigned role of the Native American as the “faceless, nameless” Indian who is always the supporting player in the story. What this reading pointed out to me was that and also that the Pilgrims would not have survived without the knowledge of the Native Americans who were accustomed with the natural resources with the land around them. I think it could also be interesting to compare and contrast with students the rituals of giving thanks that pertain to the Native Americans and of the Pilgrims. I love the idea that students can write their own “Thanksgiving Address” and by learning about both in an equal amount of time, students could get the idea that one group did not a supporting role to another.