[YL] YouthLearn Newsletter, Issue 112

Tue Jun 5 22:36:20 EDT 2007

YouthLearn
Newsletter, Issue 112 - June 5, 2007

The YouthLearn Newsletter compiles the latest entries to the YouthLearn News Blog. This innovative service to the YouthLearn community highlights youth, education, and technology news, tools, and resources. We hope this assists you in your important work. Please feel free to share this resource with friends and colleagues, and visit the News Blog often! http://news.youthlearn.org <http://news.youthlearn.org> 

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News 

Extended Day, Quality Afterschool Programs Learn from Each Other
"Across the nation, school district officials, education policy makers, lawmakers and community leaders are considering extending the school day as a way to bolster students' academic performance, improve their science, math and technology learning, and better prepare them to compete in the global economy." This feature in the latest issue of Afterschool Advocate takes a look at what some communities are doing, and touches on the challenges, tensions, and opportunities depending on how the learning programs are structured. Notes Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant, "The critical question in extending the school day is how the added time will be used."
URL: http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/advocate/PDFS/Issue_8-5_FINAL.pdf <http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/advocate/PDFS/Issue_8-5_FINAL.pdf> 

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Funding 

The Big Read
"The Institute of Museum and Library Services, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, have announced the third deadline for the Big Read program. The purpose of the program is to revitalize the role of literature in American popular culture. Grants ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 each are available to encourage local communities to inspire literary reading through the program... Approximately 120 organizations of varying sizes across the United States will be selected in this funding cycle. Funded activities should be scheduled to take place between January and June 2008." Deadline: July 31, 2007
URL: http://www.neabigread.org/ <http://www.neabigread.org/> 
Referred by: Foundation Center

Award for schools that act as community centers
Applications for the 2007 Richard Riley Award from the Knowledge Works Foundation and the American Architectural Foundation are due July 9, 2007. Eligibility: Elementary and secondary public school officials, teachers, and students. "This award recognizes design and educational excellence in 'schools as centers of community,' and the winning school will receive a $10,000 prize. Schools that serve as centers of community provide a rich array of social, civic, recreational, and artistic opportunities to the broader community and to students, often clustering educational and municipal buildings together. These additional services and opportunities often improve student achievement and help maximize local tax dollars."
URL: http://www.richardrileyaward.org/en/Index.asp <http://www.richardrileyaward.org/en/Index.asp> 
Referred by: eSchool News

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Resources 

AnimAction Gallery of Youth Media
Promoting 'Awareness through Animation,' this organization provides professional development and curriculum for animation projects. Their gallery of media works is a great source of youth-produced public service announcements.
URL: http://www.animaction.com <http://www.animaction.com> 

Afterschool Training Toolkit for Technology
"Make the most of afterschool with fun activities that engage students and extend technology learning!" The Afterschool Training Toolkit for Technology has been published online by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). In this resource, "you will find what the research says about promising practices that work, ways to implement them in your afterschool program, sample lessons, and illustrative videos." YouthLearn Director Tony Streit has been working with SEDL for the past three years on development of this toolkit, which includes YouthLearn links and resources.
URL: http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/technology/ <http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/technology/> 

Tools for Mentoring Adolescents
"For new approaches and insights, ideas for engaging community members, and resources for building stronger mentor-mentee relationships with teens, check out these tools from the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota and the Search Institute."
URL: http://www.mentoringworks.org/Training_Institute_Tools_and_Resources.html <http://www.mentoringworks.org/Training_Institute_Tools_and_Resources.html> 
Referred by: Connect for Kids

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Research 

The Effort Effect: Overcoming "Learned Helplessness"
"In Stanford Magazine, Marina Krakovsky describes psychology professor Carol Dweck's work on achievement motivation. Originally fascinated in graduate school by the research on "learned helplessness", Dweck and others observed that people who believe intelligence is fixed do not achieve as well as those who believe intelligence is malleable. What fascinated them most was children who put forth lots of effort and didn't make negative attributions when they failed. This approach contrasts with the born-smart, performance-oriented belief system. Children in this camp, even if they're very good at things, tend to crumble when they encounter frustration and failure. They see each task as a challenge to their self-image, and each setback as a personal threat. They tend to pursue only challenges they think they can ace and avoid risks and other growth experiences. Long term, the belief that ability is fixed undermines effort and stunts achievement."
URL: http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html <http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html> 
Referred by: PEN Weekly NewsBlast

We welcome your feedback!

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YouthLearn
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This newsletter is produced by the YouthLearn Initiative at EDC especially for
members of the YouthLearn discussion group. Every two weeks, the newsletter is
compiled from the entries in the YouthLearn News Blog <http://news.youthlearn.org/> , including summaries
from various sources that YouthLearn staff periodically review.

Past newsletters are archived at http://www.youthlearn.org/resources/newsletter/index.html <http://www.youthlearn.org/resources/newsletter/index.html> . 

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