[YL] YouthLearn Newsletter, Issue 118

Tue Sep 11 16:36:17 EDT 2007

YouthLearn
Newsletter, Issue 118 - September 11, 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 

Support Builds for Teaching New Skills
"Proponents of educational technology for years have been saying that schools need to focus more on teaching so-called '21st-century skills,' such as problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. Now, it appears momentum is finally building on Capitol Hill to encourage such reforms: The chairman of the House education committee says he hopes to push legislation renewing the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) through Congress this fall, and one of the key changes to the law he plans to propose is incentives for states to develop more rigorous standards that reflect the needs of 21st-century learners."
URL: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=7332 <http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=7332> 

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Funding 

Grants for Community, Health and Education Projects
"The RGK Foundation is offering grants up to $25,000 for community, education and health projects including youth development, community improvement, abuse prevention and educational enrichment programs." Letters of inquiry are accepted year-round.
URL: http://www.rgkfoundation.org/guidelines.php <http://www.rgkfoundation.org/guidelines.php> 
Referred by: Connect for Kids

State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grants
"With the generous support of the State Farm Companies Foundation, Youth Service America is offering the annual State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grant for youth across the United States and Canada (select provinces). These grants of up to $1,000 support youth (ages 5-25), teachers, or school-based service-learning coordinators in implementing service-learning projects for Global Youth Service Day 2008." Deadline: October 16.
URL: http://www.YSA.org/awards <http://www.ysa.org/awards> 

LEGO Children's Fund
"The Foundation awards grants to qualified tax-exempt organizations... with specific, identifiable needs primarily in these areas of support: Early childhood education and development; Technology and communication projects that advance learning opportunities; Sport or athletic programs that concentrate on under-served youth.... There are no restrictions on grant amounts up to the quarterly allocation. Typical awards, however, are between USD $500 and USD $5,000." Next application deadline: November 1.
URL: http://www.legochildrensfund.org/Guidelines.html <http://www.legochildrensfund.org/Guidelines.html> 

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Resources 

Youth Interview Mentors that Matter
"Who are the significant adults in the lives of teenagers, beyond the home and classroom? How do they reach out to youth, and why? In the first six months of 2007, youth across the nation gave their answers, as they interviewed, photographed, and publicly honored 'Mentors That Matter' in four cities (Chicago, Providence, San Francisco, and Tampa). They nominated people from all walks of life-artists, coaches, public officials, even a school bus driver and a hair stylist-who show that they care about 'other people's children.'" This What Kids Can Do initiative was sponsored by the MetLife Foundation.
URL: http://www.wkcd.org/featurestories/2007/09_pass_it_on/index.html <http://www.wkcd.org/featurestories/2007/09_pass_it_on/index.html> 

Teaching for Social Justice
"The new issue of Urban Education Journal, 'Teaching for Social Justice,' from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, asks: how can we, as educators, confront the social injustices entangled in a wide range of social tragedies including racism, classism, homophobia, sexism, ableism, and environmental injustice? The articles included tackle a wide range of issues and share a theme of searching, and struggling for re-engagement in the meanings, ways of teaching, learning, and speaking about social justice in education. The 'searches' in this issue fall into two categories: investigations into how teachers become social justice practitioners, and analyses and arguments regarding the discourses surrounding teaching for social justice."
URL: http://www.urbanedjournal.org/ <http://www.urbanedjournal.org/> 
Referred by: PEN Weekly NewsBlast

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Activities 

Rights of the Child - Youth Essay Contest
"The Campaign Youth Outreach Committee is pleased to launch its first nationwide CRC Essay Contest which will run from now until October 1. The purpose of the contest is: to raise awareness of the Convention on the Rights of the Child among youth; to engage youth in thoughtful reflection on the possible benefits of U.S. Ratification of the CRC; and to provide youth with the opportunity to express and share their thoughts on the CRC and possible benefits of U.S. ratification." For more information on the contest and to download the Essay Contest Guidelines and Application, see the website.
URL: http://www.childrightscampaign.org/essaycontest.htm <http://www.childrightscampaign.org/essaycontest.htm> 
Referred by: GlobalEdNews

Lesson Plans that Build Racial Understanding
"A set of four lesson plans on race and diversity can now be downloaded by educators at no cost. Designed for high school teachers, and suitable for youth leaders in non-school settings, the lessons are designed to promote greater understanding of differences among high school students. The activities in the four lessons have been tested with high school students in Chicago and have been found to open up constructive dialogue among students... Each of the lessons is completely self-contained and can usually be completed during a 45-minute class period. One whole-class activity causes students to examine issues of identity and then commit to making personal changes in behavior. Another lesson utilizes personal stories to reflect on the Thanksgiving holiday and on Americans' acceptance of difference."
URL: http://www.racebridges.net/schools?mw1 <http://www.racebridges.net/schools?mw1> 
Referred by: PEN Weekly NewsBlast

In Which Direction is My Collection? - a YouthLearn Photo Editing and Webpage Project
A collection is more than simply a set of objects; the relationships among the objects tell a story. A story about a collection could be about things in your room, people in your community, hip-hop slang or ways to give directions. Because almost anything can fit into a collection, projects focusing on collections give you the flexibility to reinforce curriculum goals ranging from vocabulary, math, and science to art and technology. In this project, kids decide on a topic, create or assemble a collection of information or items related to that topic, and build a Web page to show off the collection. This example incorporates digital photography and photo editing to create a collection of imaginary road signs to reinforce vocabulary building and synonyms. Don't limit yourself to our topic, however. You can do the project with text alone, replace the photography module with one on computer drawing, or create a multimedia presentation as the end product instead of a Web page.
URL: http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/activities/multimedia/collection.asp <http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/activities/multimedia/collection.asp>  <http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/activities/thinking/interview.html> 

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> . 

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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