Tech is the Talk At NCTE

This School Library Journal article references Commission on Media director William Kist and his new book.

Read About NCTE Media Literacy Award 2009 Recipient

Ohio University professor Guofang Wang has been honored by the NCTE Assembly on Media with its 2009 Media Literacy Award. The award was given at the recently completed NCTE Annual Conference in Philadelphia. You can read about her via her portfolio here.

Mobile Devices In The Classroom

From District Administration magazine: some districts and administrators are realizing the untapped potential of cell phones. It’s part of an “anytime, anywhere” learning movement that leaves laptops and even smaller netbooks behind, proponents say, in favor of more mobile, affordable and reliable handheld devices—from “smartphones,” which can run operating systems such as Windows Mobile and a host of software, to iPods, known more for playing audio and video but adaptable to more interactive applications through new educational platforms.

Research: Comic books can be a valid tool for improving literacy

Critics should stop tugging on Superman's cape -- comic books can be just as sophisticated as other forms of literature, a U.S. researcher says. Carol L. Tilley, a professor of library and information science at the University of Illinois at Champaign says children benefit from reading comics at least as much as they do from reading other types of books. Details from UPI.

Teaching The New Writing

Read excerpts from Teaching The New Writing, this innovative guide, in which teachers share their stories, successful practices, and vivid examples of their students' creative and expository writing from online and multimedia projects such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, electronic poetry, and more.

News & Media Literacy Curriculum

The Newspaper Assn. of America (NAA) Foundation, with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has developed High Five, a news/media literacy curriculum for middle schools, in an effort to address concerns about student achievement.

Virtual Communities: The WoW Factor (THE Journal)

The online role-playing game WORLD OF WARCRAFT serves many purposes for one daring group of educators, according to this piece in the current issue (November/December 2009) of T.H.E. JOURNAL. The game is part networking, part idea sharing, part academic inquiry--and a total thrill ride.

National Forum on Common Standards- December 2

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) would like to invite you to a National Forum on Common Core State Standards on Wednesday, December 2^nd from 1:30-3:00 p.m. at 101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC. The purpose of this meeting will be to (1) provide an update on the Common Core State Standards Initiative, (2) discuss the process for developing the K-12 standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics, (3) outline elements of state adoption of the common standards, and (4) gather your input and feedback on initiative. Additionally, a graphic display of the standards development process is now available here. We look forward to seeing you next month. Advanced RSVP is not required for this event. If you have any questions, please contact commonstandards@ccsso.org or visit www.corestandards.org.(NOTE: as of this posting, it is not yet known if this event will be streamed LIVE or carried by CSPAN)

NCTE New Media Gallery: Don't Miss It

New Media Gallery --Friday November 20 Convention Center/Room 202A, Level 2

9:30am Media Literacy Made Easy: Integrating Media and Technology into an English Classroom

11:00am News Literacy: Helping Students Learn to Read Between The Lines

12:30pm The English Classroom at Science Leadership Academy

2:30pm 21st Century Literacy Education: Report from the Media Education Lab

4:00pm The Deep End of Engagement: Teaching Media Literacy with Graphic Novels

Complete list of presentation descriptions and presenters can be found here.

Online Photo Archive Enables Teaching With Primary Sources

In this brief column from the current issue of EDUTOPIA magazine, the author says that analyzing photographs inspires both visual literacy and critical thinking in students.

History based video games: designed to inspire further study

Game developers, according to the Reuters news service, hope that history-based video games will inspire more interest in subjects as diverse as Leonardo da Vinci and World War II. Recognizing that the games help with technical, critical-thinking and literacy skills, some libraries are including the games in their collections. "My hope is that bringing the idea of these types of characters into more popular culture will arouse some people's curiosities to investigate further and learn more," a game designer said.

Hate reading text online? There IS a better way...

Details can be found in this news story from the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, via Yahoo news.

Drawn Into Manga

Reading manga is different than reading a book, even different than reading comics, but manga can get kids reading. NCTE Commission on Media member Peter Gutierrez is quoted here.

School Librarians Lead the Social Networking Pack Among Educators

Media specialists are more likely to join social networking sites than teachers and principals—and they’re more likely to adopt a variety of content-sharing tools for personal, professional, and classroom use, says a new report.

Teaching The Facebook Generation (Business Week)

A marketing professor at Champlain College writes in Business Week online: young people may seem like social media mavens, and employers may expect them to be, but students need to learn how to exploit digital tools.

Use of Web 2.0 tools increases student collaboration, say educators

More educators in New Jersey are utilizing the tools of Web 2.0 technology, which allows students shared access to content and more collaborative learning. While some educators caution about the downside to the latest technology -- like its propensity for distracting students -- others say wiki pages, classroom blogs, video conferences and online chats help students learn how to be creative and prepare them for college and the real world.

Ed videogames mix cool with purpose

Also of Interest Educators focus on dropout prevention Blackboard works on Google integration Budget cuts threaten Missouri virtual school Study: 2 in 5 teachers 'disheartened' with profession Teens sue district in suggestive pix flap

A growing number of children, reports the New York Times, are playing educational video games as part of their school curriculum, in after-school programs, or via the web from home.