CDE

Overview: This resource bank was developed by committees created through CRS 22-2-145 (media literacy) and CRS 22-2-127.8 (Social media impacts on mental health education literacy). Committees identified resources for K-12 educators, parents/families/trusted adults, community members, and youth to support teaching media literacy, the impacts of social media and the healthy use of social media. Resources include professional development opportunities, instructional strategies, research based scholarly articles, and promising program materials. Topics include: Information literacy, digital citizenship, impacts of social media on mental and physical health, internet safety, cybersecurity, and cyberbullying,

Suggest a Resource

Questions? If you have questions or suggestions for a great free resource, please email Jamie Hurley, hurley_j@cde.state.co.us.

Legend - Type of Resource
Elementary - Middle - High - Adult - Free resource Free - Professional Development

"Without It, I Wouldn't Be Here Today": LGBTQ+ Young People's Experiences in Online Spaces Online spaces offer LGBTQ+ young people opportunities to explore identities, find support, and connect with peers, but also expose them to...	#DigCitCommit Resources for teaching digital citizenship. #DigCitCommit is a coalition that consists of multiple organizations to provide educators tools to... ,	(Checkology) Newsroom to Classroom Journalist Visits Newsroom to Classroom journalist visits are an opportunity for students to receive news literacy instruction straight from the experts. These...
10 Creative Ways to Teach Media Literacy (Canva) Media education is now required in many curricula across the world. Schools are working hard to help teachers prepare students for changes in the...	AAP Family Media Plan An in depth resource for youth and families to utilize to help set healthy boundaries around Social Media use and best practices	AAP: The Good and Bad of Social Media: What Research Tells Us A list (including downloadable PDF) of the benefits of social media and the potential risks of social media. This list is a great way to highlight...
Advanced Online Safety for High School Online safety lesson tailored to high schoolers, focused on online safety, privacy, and how to respond to inappropriate or unwanted contact online...	Allsides for Schools Helping educators prepare students to participate thoughtfully in democracy – and in life. AllSides for Schools gives educators tools, resources,...	American Pshycological Association: Health Advisory on Social Media Use in Adolescence This health advisory published by the American Psychological Association explores the potential benefits and harms of social media use on...
APA Recommendations for Healthy Teen Video Viewing Science suggests multiple ways that video content, and the platforms that host it, can help or harm teens. Addressing these issues is the...	Assessment of the Impact of Social Media on the Health and Wellbeing of Adolescents and Children Social media is an important part of the lives of adolescents and children. Increased access to and use of social media has raised concerns among...	Attention, Media Use, and Children- Parenting Tip Sheet Education for parents and caregivers on digital media's affects on youth attention and tips on how to help a child have healthier interactions...
Bad News - Interactive Simulation Shows Students How Misinformation is Spread A website that offers simulations that show visitors how misinformation is spread through social media. Bad News is available in two versions. The...	Be Internet Awesome! (Google) An online resource with curriculum and activities created by Google in partnership with Family Online Safety Institute.	Brainpop: Digital Citizenship This five-month Digital Citizenship unit, features 10 BrainPOP topics: Digital etiquette, social media, media literacy, online sources,...
Brainpop: Evaluating Online Sources Lesson Plan: Is Everything on the Internet True? In this online sources lesson plan, which is adaptable for grades K-8, students use BrainPOP resources to learn how to conduct effective Internet...	Breaking the Algorithm: Redesigning Social Media for Youth Well-Being The Breaking the Algorithm (BtA) project was designed to chart a course for healthier online spaces for youth, by youth. Led by young leaders from...	C.S. Mott Children's Hospital: Kids and Digital Media Tips and strategies for keeping kids safe and informed regarding the use of digital media.
Checkology Checkology’s lessons and other resources show you how to navigate today’s challenging information landscape. You will learn how to identify...	Checkology®️ Laying the foundation for students to think critically, our free lessons help educators equip students with the tools to evaluate and interpret...	Clinical Report - The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health. This free article provides objective information (both pros and cons...
Common Sense Education - Family Engagement Toolkit Covering a range of topics -- from online safety to learning with technology -- this toolkit has helpful bilingual resources that you can use in...	Common Sense Media Literacy Resources In this collection, you'll find hand-picked, regularly updated resources to help you better understand and practice media literacy. There are...	Common Sense Media's DigCit Curriculum Common Sense Media's Digital Citizenship Curriculum has free, comprehensive lessons that address Media Balance and Well-Being, Privacy and...
Common Sense Media: Four Ways to Integrate Media Literacy in the Classroom A few framing ideas, planning tools, and media-literacy-infused project examples that can help you expand media-literacy education in your...	Crash Course: Navigating Digital Information A ten-episode course on YouTube for evaluating online information.	Create to Learn: An Introduction to Digital Literacy This book/program offers teachers with resources to guide students in analyzing, exploring, and creating media.
Critical Media Project Critical Media Project (CMP) is a free media literacy web resource for educators and students (ages 8-21) that enhances young people’s critical...	Cyber Bullyinjg Research Center for Educators Free, downloadable resources to equip educators as they help students grow in the skills and abilities to stay safe and responsible online.	Cyber Civics This Cyber Civics program can be adopted for one full school year to teach students about ethics, technical, and cognitive skills to navigate,...
Digital Citizenship Utah Cyberbullying Teaching Resources Contains curriculum, videos and interactive games, student projects, educator training and helpful resources and tips sorted by grade level from...	Digital Citizenship Utah Digital Footprint Teaching Resources Digital Footprint Teaching Resources (Digital Citizenship Utah) contains curriculum, videos and interactive games, student projects, educator...	Digital Citizenship Utah: Media Literacy Teaching Resources Includes curriculum, videos and interactive games, student projects, educator training and helpful resources and tips sorted by grade level from...
Digital Inquiry Group: Civic Online Reasoning The COR curriculum provides free lessons and assessments that help you teach students to evaluate online information that affects them, their...	Digital Resource Center: Get Lessons ...	Does Social Media Use Cause Depression The article highlights concerns about the negative effects of social media on teenagers, particularly its link to depression. Studies show that...
Everfi Health and Wellness Curriclum Students are faced with making choices every day. With EVERFI’s digital health and wellness curriculum, kids are taught that the choices they make...	Exploring Critical Media Literacy- What is it, and why is it more important now than ever? UCLA’s Jeff Share and Doug Kellner help Neil and Carol understand why Critical Media Literacy is the gold standard in media literacy learning.	FactCheck.org FactCheck.org are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S....
Faux Paw's Cybersecurity Superstars Curriculum Faux Paw the Techno Cat’s Cybersecurity Superstars Curriculum consists of four lesson plans designed to help students in grades 1-4 learn all...	FX’s limited series Social Studies Social Studies - A limited series on Fx that was filmed in LA over the course of a school year that features a divere group of LA teens who open...	Girls4Tech Collection of STEM activities including lessons created with student-facing documents in 10 different languages
ICivics: News Literacy This unit teaches students to recognize high-standards journalism so they can make informed judgments about the information coming at them....	iKeepSafe Provides data privacy certifications to technology companies, educational resources to schools, and information to the community. Resource Bank...	International Literacy Association: Read-Alouds for Digital Literacy Fun A listing of 10 books that align with various digital citizenship skills.
International Society for Technology on Education (ISTE) ISTE provides articles, lesson plans, and other resources for teaching digital citizenship, media literacy, AI, etc.	Into the Cloud - NetSmartz Kids An interactive educational program from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The program offers age-appropriate resources to...	ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) 11 Resources to Boost Student Media Literacy Reading carefully and thinking critically have always been the basic tenets of media literacy, but those skills become more vital in the age of...
Kids & Screen Time: How to Use the 5 C's of Media Guidance The 5 C's media use guidance offers easy-to-remember, age-based tips. It's based on research and what we know supports family relationships,...	KQED Teach ...	KQED: Above the Noise Above the Noise, a YouTube series for teens, cuts through the hype and dives deep into the research behind the issues affecting their daily lives...
Learning for Justice: Digital and Civic Literacy Skills The Learning for Justice Digital Literacy Framework offers seven key areas in which students need support developing digital and civic literacy...	Literacy Week Event + Lesson Ideas (National Association for Media Literacy Education) A list of activities and lesson plans in support of Media Literacy week	Media Education Lab: Multimedia Curriculum Resources Free multimedia curriculum materials to help learners of all ages advance knowledge, skills, and competencies.
Media Lit.org Tips and ideas for parents (or grandparents) about media in the lives of children. Plus, practical pointers for introducing media literacy...	Media Power Youth Media Power Youth partners with schools and communities to help young people balance their technology use, ensuring it enhances their success in...	Media Smarts: Media Literacy 101 To help teachers introduce the key concepts of media literacy to elementary students, MediaSmarts has partnered with Companies Committed to Kids (...
MediaSmarts Cyberbullying Contains general digital citizenship resources and teaching materials. Each resource is labeled by age group.	National Alliance for Mental Health: Social Media Helpful Hints The one page document created by the National Alliance for Mental Health provides pros and cons for social media and three questions to ask...	National Association for Media Literacy Education The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) is a professional association for educators, academics, activists, and students with...
National Association for Media Literacy: A Parent's Guide to Media Literacy NAMLE and their partner Trend Micro created a parent’s guide to assist families in starting media literacy conversations at home. They focus on...	Nearpod: Digital Citizenship Week lessons Nearpod has curated free lessons you can use to teach about online safety, cyberbullying, digital literacy, and more. They compiled their most...	NetSmartz Online Safety for Middle School This presentation includes a power point presentation, and teacher guide and focuses on discusses online safety, including protecting personal...
NetSmartz: NCMEC's online safety education program Since 1998, NCMEC has operated the CyberTipline, a place where the public and electronic service providers can report suspected online and offline...	News Literacy Project The News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan education nonprofit building a national movement to create a more news-literate America. Founded in...	News Literacy Project A nonpartisan national education nonprofit, provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn and share the abilities...
News Literacy Project Resource Library The News Literacy Project’s resource library includes lesson plans, classroom activities, posters and infographics, quizzes, training materials,...	News Literacy Project's Framework for Teaching News Literacy The Framework for Teaching News Literacy is designed to support educators in working toward this mission by providing common standards, essential...	News Literacy Project's Gradeband Expectations for News Literacy The News Literacy Project developed this living document to accompany our Framework for Teaching News Literacy as a guide of scaffolded skills,...
NewseumEd: Media Literacy Free resources on fighting fake news and developing your students' media literacy skills. These are some highlights from NewseumEd's activities,...	NewsLitNation®️ Professional Learning An innovative platform for media and news literacy educators, NewsLitNation Professional Learning offers free, on-demand lessons on quality...	NPR: In Case You Missed It: Media Literacy 101 The podcasters discuss media literacy and how it should be taught. We also discuss what you need to know if you didn't learn about it in school....
Open Education Resources (OER) Let's Get Social: Analyzing Social Media Platforms This unit engages students in a variety of activities that analyze and reflect on the role of social media in our everyday lives. This includes...	Open Education Resources (OER) Social Media and Mental Health Learning Module This is a learning module on the effects of social media on mental health, intended for secondary education students. This module has been created...	PEN America Media Literacy Toolkit PEN America’s Knowing the News project offers media literacy trainings to equip the public to identify and prevent the spread of false and...
Pikes Peak Rising 360 : Social Media Resources This website created by the El Paso County Public health provides a variety of educational resources which supports regional efforts to enhance...	Planning Together: A Playbook for Student Personal Device Policies This Playbook aims to assist school districts and school leaders as they develop or revise their policies to guide the presence and use of...	Project Look Sharp A curriculum for teachers for incorporating media documents into instruction.
Project Look Sharp Infographics Infographics on all topics related to media literacy including media analysis and media decoding.	Recommendations for Industry: Teens and AI Recommendations for adults on how to navigate AI with teens.	Ruff Ruffman: Humble Media Genius (PBS Kids) A set of videos for children to explore digital media literacy. It was the winner of a Parents’ Choice Gold Award and includes resources for...
RumorGuard The News Literacy Project’s RumorGuard platform highlights misinformation and stops it in its tracks. RumorGuard fact-checks timely examples of...	Schmoop Media Literacy This core of courses teaches students to identify bias and determine the legitimacy of digital media by introducing them to fundamentals of mass...	School phone policies and their association with mental wellbeing, phone use, and social media use (SMART Schools): a cross-sectional observational study School phone policies and their association with mental wellbeing, phone use, and social media use (SMART Schools): a cross-sectional...
Screenagers Documentary Series There are four movies in the Screenagers series (Elementary Age, Middle/High School Age, Mental Health Focus and Vaping/Drug/Alcohol Focus) that...	Snopes Snopes’ fact-checking and original investigative reporting lights the way to evidence-based and contextualized analysis. They always link to and...	Social Media and Mental Health: Are You Addicted to Social Media? Human beings are social creatures. We need the companionship of others to thrive in life, and the strength of our connections has a huge impact on...
Social Media and Youth Mental Health: The US Surgeon General's Advisory This Advisory calls attention to the growing concerns about the effects of social media on youth mental health. It explores and describes the...	Social Media, Cyberbullying, and Online Safety Glossary A comprehensive list of terms that pertain to social media, cyberbullying, and online safety. The list is updated periodically to stay up to date...	Teach Good Digital Citizenship With Great Books A list of books to raise students' awareness and understanding of digital citizenship.
Teacher.org: 20 of the Best Anti-Bullying Picture Books for Teachers Provides a list of books appropriate for students in preschool through fifth-grade.	Teaching Digital Citizenship with Picture Story Books A list of books to raise students' awareness and understanding of digital citizenship.	Teaching Tolerance: Digital and Civic Literacy Offers a framework for teaching digital literacy with seven key areas for developing digital and civic literacy skills. These include online...
The Anxious Generation Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then...	The Media Education Lab The Media Education Lab is a public benefit corporation that advances the practice of media literacy education through leadership development,...	The Real Fake News: How to Spot Misinformation and Disinformation Online An article that explains difference between misinformation and disinformation and defines several other terms such as deepfake, manipulated...
The Sift®️ The Sift is a free weekly newsletter for educators delivered during the school year that offers a rundown of the latest topics in news literacy —...	The Smart Talk A free tool that helps families set digital safety ground rules together.	The Social Dilemma: Social Media and Your Mental Health The article highlights the mental health risks of social media use, particularly anxiety, depression, and self-esteem issues. Despite these...
Tik Tok Tips for Teens Tips for teens on how to use Tik Tok in a safe way. This is developed by the folks at the Cyberbullying Research Center	We Are Teachers: 28 Must Read Anti-Bullying Books for Kids Contains reviews of books appropriate for students at all grade levels.	We Teach NYC Media Literacy Toolkit This collection provided by NYC Department of Education shares resources designed to inspire students to think critically about the complex...
Webliteracy for Student Fact-Checkers A guide for students on how to check the veracity of information they find on the internet.