An Innovative Program Builds Awareness of Media Influence on Attitudes and Behaviors

Chris Sperry offered an engaging keynote presentation on media literacy education, sharing his experience as a high school English and Social Studies teacher at an alternative high school in Ithaca, New York.

Have critical thinking skills been pushed aside in favor of the instrumental skills required for using digital media?

Amy Jensen and I proudly announced the Journal of Media Literacy Education this evening at the Leading the Field dinner event at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit, surrounded by 50 scholars and practitioners from the U.S. and across the world. 

Sherri Hope Culver's morning address to this group included a lovely interaction where she "talked" to her alter ego,  on a video screen, exploring the tension between being "live and face-to-face" and being in cyberspace.

It's hard to believe that, at the end of this week, the Powerful Voices for Kids program will be completed--- at least for the summer.  Every day of the program --- which has run for the entire month of July-- has been a treasure, full of discoveries, challenges and pleasures! 

Can you tell how much fun I had at the Summer Institute for Teachers last week?  It was a pretty amazing experience, with 23 remarkable teachers.... from the Russell Byers Charter School in Philadelphia, the Roberts Elementary School in Wayne PA, and teachers from the National Writing Project, coming from as far away as Colorado!