Oct. 4, 2012 Ask any kindergartener to assess the debates last night and you’d probably hear simple reactions like: “He smiles more” or “He looks nicer” or “He looks like he didn’t study”…and frankly, they wouldn’t be too far off the national polls, from a stagecrafting and telegenic reverb perspective. Of course, if you focus on content, Romney would quickly lose the … [Read more...]
May 22, 2014 Adding this article from The Guardian Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare; a non-gamer's guide and Jinny Gudmundsen's Common Sense Media's post, "10 Most Violent Video Games and 10+ Alternatives as it's important to reinforce that Memorial Day is about honoring the fallen in "RL" (real life) vs on a leader board.Critical thinking, parental pre-screening and co-viewing … [Read more...]
Dec. 29, 2009 Last night I watched ‘The Hangover’ rated R, which I’d heard described by several YOUNG teens (meaning unable to buy a ticket unless sneaking in via diff. multiplex theater) as ‘hilarious,' and ‘over the top’ and wanted to see where the kid appeal was coming from and try to ‘relate’ to why this movie was a ‘favorite’ on many a Facebook page. I'm not here to … [Read more...]
Feb. 12, 2009 Media literacy rule number one: Watch for extreme headlines that command attention. I could've gone with 'Fatal Attraction' or any other number of sensationalist eyecatchers. As you can surmise, this is about the role of media feeding the pop culture zeitgeist like the Venus Flytrap plant in the Little Shop of Horrors, singing, "Feeeeeeed me." Valentine’s Day … [Read more...]
As MyDebates.org gives kids a MySpace forum for Social Studies classrooms to attempt to instill a civic sense of ‘how it all works’ with “Who won? Who lost?’ Who made the stronger case?” it makes me ponder if we're perhaps asking kids the wrong question entirely. I'm all for teaching kids how to watch a debate, and giving media literacy … [Read more...]
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