[YL] YouthLearn Newsletter, Issue 115

Tue Jul 24 21:28:38 EDT 2007

YouthLearn
Newsletter, Issue 115 - July 24, 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 

Candidates field questions from YouTube
"Democratic presidential candidates were pelted Monday night with scores of questions from the people who will decide which of them becomes the Democratic nominee... The debate -- a first-of-its-kind forum that had voters framing questions through the Internet video site, YouTube -- featured often anguished questions and equally passionate responses from the candidates, who for the first time spent two hours together contending with the frustrations and worries of ordinary voters.... 'The fact that the political conversation is shifting off the airwaves and online is a hugely empowering dynamic that ultimately helps young people,' said Adrian Talbott, a co-founder of Generation Engage. The group, which seeks to bring more young, non-college youth into the political process, hosted debate-watching parties last night in New York, Miami and San Jose."
URL: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/07/23/candidates_field_questions_from_you_tube <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/07/23/candidates_field_questions_from_you_tube/> 

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Funding 

Best Buy Teach Awards to Schools for Creative Uses of Technology
"Through the Best Buy Teach Award program, Best Buy will present $3.5 million in total awards to more than fifteen hundred schools in the United States. The Best Buy Teach Award program recognizes creative uses of interactive technology in K-12 classrooms. Winning Teach Award programs focus on kids using technology to learn standards-based curriculum rather than on teaching students to use technology or educators using technology that children are not able to use hands-on. The purpose of the Best Buy Teach Award program is to reward schools for the successful interactive programs they have launched using available technology."
URL: http://communications.bestbuy.com/communityrelations/teach.asp <http://communications.bestbuy.com/communityrelations/teach.asp> 
Referred by: Foundation Center

Youth Venture Grants
"Socially conscious young people from the United States between the ages of 12 and 20 years old are encouraged to apply for micro-grants of up to US$1,000 from the Youth Service America (YSA) Youth Venture Program to create sustainable social ventures. Ventures must be youth-led and designed to be a lasting, sustainable asset to the community. Example possibilities include: a youth centre designed to keep youth out of trouble with music and art programmes, an anti-peer pressure education campaign, a bike repair shop with a vocational training programme, or an assembly programme touring inner city schools combining music with anti-drug/violence performances."
URL: http://www.genv.net/en-us/region/ysa <http://www.genv.net/en-us/region/ysa> 

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Resources 

Reaching out to Diverse Families
"Family involvement in schools is often limited to a small group of parents who seem to do everything. Culturally diverse families may not feel they fit in at the school or have a different perspective on what it means to be involved, so they are often left out of school activities. How can schools move beyond a limited level of family involvement and encourage all families to become more active in their children's schools and education? A strategy brief from the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) helps answer this question. It discusses strategies helpful to schools that want to broaden and deepen involvement beyond the traditional fundraising or party-planning activities. In 'Reaching Out to Diverse Populations: What Can Schools Do to Foster Family-School Connections', author Chris Ferguson says that research has indicated that parents, regardless of their ethnicity, culture, or economic status are interested in their children's education."
URL: http://www.sedl.org/connections/research-briefs.html <http://www.sedl.org/connections/research-briefs.html> 
Referred by: PEN Weekly NewsBlast

Using TANF to Finance Out-of-School Time Initiatives
"Quality out-of-school time programs are important elements of an effective system of community supports and services for families and children. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program can be a vital source of funding for maintaining, improving, and expanding out-of-school time initiatives. This brief is designed to help policymakers and program developers understand the opportunities and challenges of effectively using TANF funding to support out-of-school time initiatives. It presents general considerations for using TANF to finance out-of-school time initiatives in light of reauthorization, explores three strategies for using TANF funding and considerations for each strategy, and provides examples of innovative state approaches."
URL: http://www.financeproject.org/publications/TANFtoFinanceOST.pdf 
Referred by: Promising Practices in Afterschool

<http://www.forumfyi.org/_docdisp_page.cfm?LID=8A83512F-FF1B-40FE-AEEE17EC836F0E99&CID=51571667-7830-4001-BE63D56B630C66B2#LETTER.BLOCK7> 

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Research 

Study Calls for Stronger Role for Arts in Afterschool
"A new study of the role of arts in afterschool programs, drawing on data from a nationwide survey of 21st Century Community Learning Center grantees, concludes that state and local arts organizations need to take a stronger role in initiating partnerships with afterschool programs. The publication of the study was a joint project of Americans for the Arts and the Afterschool and Community Learning Network... The authors surveyed a stratified random sample of 21st Century grantees. They found that afterschool providers strongly support including arts programming in their afterschool curricula. When asked to identify the most effective methods of incorporating the arts, respondents gave the highest marks to two approaches: providing workshops, field trips, story telling experiences, and development of plays; and providing musical instruments and individual or group lessons as an introduction to skills and genres of music."
URL: http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/news_events.cfm?story_id=4000630 <http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/news_events.cfm?story_id=4000630> 

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Activities 

Seven Steps for Digital Storytelling
There have never been more forums for shooting and sharing video with others - the YouTube Presidential debate being the newest example. To support youth and the educators who work with them on media-making activities, the Adobe Digital Kids Club website offers this useful guide to digital storytelling, with detailed descriptions of the seven process steps. This guide divides the steps into four phases-pre-production, production, post-production, and distribution-and identifies the length of time, processes, and technology associated with each step. "The technology tools, resources, and skills needed vary with each phase, but following these process steps will help your students translate their imagination and talents into exemplar digital stories worth the time and energy spent creating them." 
URL: http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/storytelling/sevensteps.html <http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/storytelling/sevensteps.html> 

We welcome your feedback!

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This newsletter is produced by the YouthLearn Initiative at EDC especially for
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compiled from the entries in the YouthLearn News Blog <http://news.youthlearn.org/> , including summaries
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