About This Webinar
Students today encounter biased, emotionally charged, and harmful messages at increasingly young ages—often before they have the social-emotional development or critical awareness to evaluate what they see and hear. By ages 6–7, children begin internalizing messages about intelligence, worth, power, race, and gender roles. When unaddressed, these early influences can shape students’ confidence, mental health, peer relationships, and behavior at school, with effects that become more pronounced as students move into adolescence.
This webinar is designed for teachers seeking practical, developmentally appropriate ways to support student wellness while addressing bias and harmful influences beginning in K–5 settings. Participants will explore how young students encounter and respond to online content, how these experiences show up in classrooms and school culture, and how early instruction can strengthen social-emotional growth, empathy, and resilience. The session also connects elementary experiences to challenges educators see in grades 6–12—such as peer conflict, identity-based harm, and harmful online influences—while highlighting resources that support older students and families.
Participants will be introduced to Developing & Using Critical Comprehension (DUCC), an evidence-based, K–5 curriculum aligned with ISTE, CASEL, and Common Core State Standards. Lessons can be embedded into reading and writing, science, social studies, and civics, supporting academic goals while strengthening emotional self-awareness and healthy responses to online content. The free curriculum has been reviewed and approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics and is used in classrooms across 27 U.S. states and Canada.
Teachers will guide students in recognizing how online content is designed to persuade or manipulate. These lessons disrupt cycles that spread stereotypes and harmful messaging. The curriculum combines critical comprehension with social-emotional learning to help students reflect and talk about how online content makes them feel.
Participants will leave with a ready-to-use curriculum and strategies for engaging families in conversations about digital behavior, mental health, and gender equity. By laying these foundations in K–5 classrooms, educators can foster school cultures where K-12 students critically engage with digital content, challenge biased messaging, support equity for all peers, and grow into responsible citizens.
Want more sessions to choose from? Check out all of the free, for-credit webinars in Share My Lesson's Summer of Learning 2026 series.
