[YL] YouthLearn Newsletter, Issue 114

Tue Jul 10 23:56:55 EDT 2007

YouthLearn
Newsletter, Issue 114 - July 10, 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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Funding 

Make it Your Own Awards for Community Change
"We recognize that improving our communities takes ongoing commitment and persistent action. That's why we're funding people who join together to create innovative ideas and solutions that can lay the groundwork for long-term social change... We're looking for passionate individuals, or individuals working with small, local organizations or groups, who reside in one of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico, to submit an idea for one of these same locations (no international projects)... Twenty finalists will receive a $10,000 grant to help make their idea a reality. The final four (chosen by the votes of our online community) will get an additional $25,000 grant." Brief applications are being accepted online through August 8.
URL: http://www.casefoundation.org/make-it-your-own/awards <http://www.casefoundation.org/make-it-your-own/awards> 

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Resources 

Lighting the Way: Photography for Visually Impaired Students
"What would children who are blind show us about the world if they learned to take pictures? The question first occurred to photographer Tony Deifell in 1991, soon after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he studied anthropology. A year later, he sought an answer by setting up an experimental photography program, called Sound Shadows, at Governor Morehead School for the Blind, in Raleigh, North Carolina... not long after Sound Shadows got under way, Sheila Breitweiser, the school's superintendent at the time, received a package from a student in the program that demonstrated the project's benefits. With her first roll of film, Leuwynda Forbes, then eighteen, had aimed her mechanical eye at cracks in the school's sidewalks. Deifell was dismayed at first, thinking that precious film had been wasted on accidental exposures. Then he saw the note Forbes had attached to one of the photographs, a message for Breitweiser that read, 'Since you are sighted, you may not notice these cracks. They are a big problem, since my white cane gets stuck in them.' The cracks were promptly fixed." 
URL: http://www.edutopia.org/lighting-way <http://www.edutopia.org/lighting-way> 

Chapin Hall Webinar Focuses on Youth Workforce Development
The Forum for Youth Investment Program Manager Elizabeth Gaines presented in this Web conference "to explore the challenges and solutions for disadvantaged youth entering the workforce. Elizabeth shared the Ready by 21 Framework which focuses on the importance of 21st century skills and the systems coordination that must happen to get those skills to the young people that need them. She also shared some promising state policy examples." At this site you can link to a recording of the Web conference, view panelist PowerPoint presentations, and read the audience Q & A log. You can also see a related Forum issue brief on Ready for Work.
URL: http://www.forumfyi.org <http://www.forumfyi.org/_docdisp_page.cfm?LID=8A83512F-FF1B-40FE-AEEE17EC836F0E99&CID=51571667-7830-4001-BE63D56B630C66B2#LETTER.BLOCK7> 

ESL Social Network/Portal Debuts
"English as a second language (ESL) startup AppleESL.com (Hollywood, CA) has unveiled a new ESL Web portal of the same name, which provides teachers and students with online and downloadable tools, materials, activity templates, lesson plans, and audio and video files. Leveraging the successful model of social media sites such as YouTube, AppleESL.com lets users share, update, and download the audio and video. The goal of such an approach is to keep instruction materials fresh and constantly renewed."
URL: http://www.appleesl.com/appleesl/esl.nsf/home?OpenForm <http://www.appleesl.com/appleesl/esl.nsf/home?OpenForm> 
Referred by: T.H.E. Journal

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Research 

The Neuroscience of Joyful Education
"Most children can't wait to start kindergarten and they approach the beginning of school with awe and anticipation. Kindergartners and first graders often talk passionately about what they learn and do in school. Unfortunately, the current emphasis on standardized testing and rote learning encroaches upon many students' joy... The truth is that when we scrub joy and comfort from the classroom, we distance our students from effective information processing and long-term memory storage. Instead of taking pleasure from learning, students become bored, anxious, and anything but engaged... Current brain-based research suggests that superior learning takes place when classroom experiences are enjoyable and relevant to students' lives, interests, and experiences. Many education theorists, writes Judy Willis in Educational Leadership magazine, have proposed that students retain what they learn when the learning is associated with strong positive emotion."
URL: http://www.publiceducation.org/20070706_ASCDjoyfuleducation.asp <http://www.publiceducation.org/20070706_ASCDjoyfuleducation.asp> 
Referred by: PEN Weekly NewsBlast

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Activities 

Build Your Own Zoo - a YouthLearn Project to Introduce Presentations
Inspiration is a software program that helps people organize their thoughts and make simple presentations. In this project, you'll introduce kids to the basic features of Inspiration and have them create a web map to present ideas for their own zoo.
URL: http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/activities/multimedia/zoo.asp <http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/activities/multimedia/zoo.asp> 

We welcome your feedback!

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YouthLearn
http://www.youthlearn.org <http://www.youthlearn.org/> 

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> . 

YouthLearn is a project of the nonprofit Education Development Center, Inc. <http://www.edc.org/> 
Designed for youth development professionals, teachers, educators, and other
caring adults, YouthLearn provides resources and tools for developing effective
learning programs enhanced with technology, particularly in out-of-school settings.

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