All Blog Posts (229)

Singing for Literacy

I know many of you cannot access YOUTUBE from school, but I am sending this regardless.

A colleague of mine from Orange County Public Schools (Orlando FL-where I used to work) has sent me the link to a video produced by one of their middle schools.

For all of us who value literacy, books and reading, this one's for you:…

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Added by Frank W. Baker on February 25, 2010 at 3:00pm — No Comments

ALERT - Webcast TODAY - Geena Davis Speaks @ UN on Gender & Media

Geena Davis is…

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Added by David Kleeman on February 22, 2010 at 11:53am — No Comments

A Simple Comic I made for teaching

I made this simple comic for the purposes of teaching using Comic Life and the images I had handy, which happened to be in this case of my cat. This was in response to reading Maus.

Added by Liz Rohan on February 19, 2010 at 12:27pm — 1 Comment

Mobile phones and games in South Africa

This turns out to be a completely coincidental follow-on to Patrick's blog post from yesterday, but there is a very nice video piece on the MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Spotlight Blog about the work I and my colleagues have been doing in South Africa with mobile phones and games:…

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Added by Jeff Kupperman on February 17, 2010 at 10:07am — No Comments

Mobile Phones, They Just Won't Go Away

For the last few days, I have been party to three separate conversations about mobile phones and schools, and in the conversations, the only common denominators have been the shoulder shrugs that each conversation has ended in.

The use, or in some cases the possession of, a cellular phone in a classroom is often times a material disruption to the learning process. Let's face that right off the bat. Yes, we can do some truly amazing things with any…

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Added by Patrick Higgins on February 16, 2010 at 8:30am — No Comments

SpellingCity Premium Membership Now Elgible for Adopt-a-Classroom funds!

SpellingCity Premium Membership has been approved for funding by Adopt-A-Classroom.org.…

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Added by johnegood on February 13, 2010 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Custom Sentences on SpellingCity - very cool!

You can now add your own sentences on SpellingCity!

I predict this will be one of the most popular features we've introduced! To try it out, login and either edit or create a new list. There are details below of this exciting new capability.

Adding Your Own Sentences - Details

Why would a teacher or parent want to write their own sentence?… Continue

Added by johnegood on February 9, 2010 at 4:30am — No Comments

Best of MC Pop

Hello MC Poppers! By far the best idea I have taken from MCPOP is the connection I have made with Jeff Stanzler with University of Michigan Interactive Communications & Simulations (ICS). I first heard about it in one of Ryan's 'week in review' posts that linked me here to a nice description of what was happening with… Continue

Added by Jeff Osborn on February 8, 2010 at 9:30pm — 3 Comments

SpellingCity Teacher Training is Now Available. Free!

Teacher & Parent-Educator Training

Many teachers and parents learn to use SpellingCity just by using it, others prefer to start with some training. For those that prefer some training, these videos provide a solid base. Each video takes less than three minutes to view. At SpellingCity, we believe that powerful software should be easy to use.

Watch a Teacher…

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Added by johnegood on February 7, 2010 at 12:36pm — 1 Comment

New Post at Graphic Novel Resources - The Sandwalk Adventures - ( aka Eyebrow Mites, Darwin & Natural Selection ;)

Charles Darwin only took one major trip in his life, but boy was it a doozy. His voyage to the Galapagos Islands on the HMS Beagle allowed him to see extraordinary wildlife that changed… Continue

Added by Stergios Botzakis on February 5, 2010 at 5:42pm — 5 Comments

Four stunning animations on emotional and cognitive disorders

I was a juror for the youth and education category of a television festival in Germany last week, and this was our winning production.

"Troubled Lives" from Teachers' TV in the UK uses animation to lend privacy to four young people who tell of their struggles with OCD, eating disorders, Asperger's Syndrome and self-harm. The animation style also lends depth and… Continue

Added by David Kleeman on February 4, 2010 at 12:10pm — No Comments

New global web projects underway

Ten projects from the University of Michigan - Flint Technology in Education Global Program are underway right now, on topics ranging from environment and social action to literature and environmental science. All were developed by educators pursuing master's degrees at UM in the tradition of the Interactive Communications and Simulations Group and in partnership with a range of international organizations.

Pretty exciting stuff,… Continue

Added by Jeff Kupperman on February 3, 2010 at 9:23am — 2 Comments

FTC Unveils New Ad Literacy Web Site for Tweens

Everywhere you look, you see advertisements—not just on TV and online, but on buses, buildings, and scoreboards. Many ads target kids ages 8 to 12. Do your students have the critical thinking skills to understand ads, what they’re saying, and what they want kids to do?

To help you equip your students with these valuable skills, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, has launched a campaign to teach kids about… Continue

Added by Frank W. Baker on January 31, 2010 at 6:21pm — No Comments

Black History Month Programming on PBS (long)

http://pressroom.pbs.org/filefolder/Black_History_Month_2010_rls_1.12.10.doc

NOTE: not all programs listed here air on the dates and times listed; check local listings for the time and channel.

Frank Baker

PBS Explores African-American Contributions to History and Society

An Impressive Array of New and Encore Programming Before and During Black… Continue

Added by Frank W. Baker on January 30, 2010 at 2:08pm — No Comments

Will the iPad Breathe Life Into Digital Comics?

From CNET: But what about books that depend on color, art, and illustration? Indeed, what about graphic novels and comic books? That seems to be where the iPad could really shine and knock all of the other e-book readers out of the competition.

Added by Frank W. Baker on January 27, 2010 at 10:18pm — No Comments

Taking Advantage of Popular Culture

I have recently revised three popular resources on The Media Literacy Clearinghouse web site:
Using Super Bowl Ads In The Classroom (the game is Sunday February 7)
Diet (Weight Loss) Advertising
Marketing the Movies During Awards Season (the Oscars are Sunday March 7)

Take a look; share with a colleague; let me know what you think.

Added by Frank W. Baker on January 27, 2010 at 9:33am — No Comments

Digital Nation Workshops for the Digital Nation

Parents and teachers can now develop more confidence in understanding the complex digital culture that children and young people are growing up with, thanks to the Digital Workshops, a new initiative developed by Renee Hobbs and her colleagues at the Media Education Lab, in collaboration with WGBH Frontline.

Over a single generation, the Web and digital media have remade nearly every aspect… Continue

Added by Frank W. Baker on January 26, 2010 at 6:57am — No Comments

Want Better Journalism? Boost News Literacy

Excerpt: There’s a lesson here for all of us who worry about the quality of journalism today: Citizens armed with the power of discernment will do more to rescue journalism than any dozen panels of veteran editors ruminating about their golden years in power and musing about better business models.

Unfortunately, most Millennial Generation students have been deprived of a good civics class. They’re… Continue

Added by Frank W. Baker on January 14, 2010 at 6:56pm — No Comments

New text: Curriculum 21: Essential Education For A Changing World

ASCD has just published "Curriculum 21- Essential Education for A Changing World." I think this new text should be on the desk of every principal. (In fact, many ASCD members will be receiving it during the month of January.) It was edited by Heidi Hayes Jacobs. (Full disclosure: the book includes a chapter I wrote on media literacy). Happy New Year and happy… Continue

Added by Frank W. Baker on December 31, 2009 at 1:12pm — 2 Comments

Special Ed Teacher Uses Superheroes To Engage Students

A Kentucky special-education teacher says a classroom unit about superheroes helps engage and focus his students in academic learning. Middle-school teacher Jeremy Belcher says that creating background stories for superheroes helps with writing skills, while graphs and charts detailing the heroes' powers help with science and math. "We go full class periods with them totally focused and into what they're doing," Belcher said. Details… Continue

Added by Frank W. Baker on December 31, 2009 at 11:45am — No Comments