Archery: Using Media To Get Kids Outside, Into STEM, and More

Aug. 20, 2016 Update Adding this report on the acceleration of archery as a sport for young girls, from the resource rich data gleaned from the fabulous Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. … [Read more...]

Dot Complicated: Holiday Media Management

Nov. 19, 2013 Ditch the tantalizing Instagram food shots and showy status updates. Halt turkey tweeting. Spare the live streaming of the family fest. MAYbe use the Pinterest prep cheat sheets if you … [Read more...]

Talking to Kids About Headline News; The Positive Social Media Lens

Talking with Kids About Ukraine: Resource Roundup March 10, 2022 Update-Russia's Invasion of Ukraine As parents and educators grapple with urgent headlines, grisly visuals and untenable war crimes … [Read more...]

Digital Detox, Blog Hiatus, and Fresh New Focus for 2013

Jan. 2013-Shaping Youth has taken a first ever, full month long blog hiatus until Feb. 1, 2013. You can follow our posts on Twitter in the interim while we unplug the blog to repower the system … [Read more...]

Sesame Street Takes On Bullying in Shows, Talking Points

Oct. 18, 2011 “Look at those feet!” Big Bird is told. “They’re ridiculous!” --“They are?”As he tries to get accepted into the “Good Bird Club,” he shifts from “happy to be me” to hanging his feathered … [Read more...]

Reading Rockets Kids Into Their Future (Pt.1: Kalimah Priforce)

Aug. 18, 2011 Virtual show of hands, please... If it’s not on the "must read" summer reading list for back to school prep, how many kids cracked a classic this season? How ‘bout a kidlit … [Read more...]

The LAMP Shines Light on Media Literacy: NAMLE Recap

Aug. 5, 2011 In internet time, the couple of weeks that have passed since NAMLE  (the Nat'l Assoc of Media Literacy Educators' conference) may SEEM like a virtual eternity or 'old news' as digital … [Read more...]

Harry Potter Alliance: Using Pop Culture Pervasiveness Positively

July 17, 2011 No, I haven’t seen the Harry Potter grand finale yet.Yes, it’s been covered from every angle, dominating Twitter streams, Facebook status lines and yielding the largest weekend box … [Read more...]

Is There A “Decline” In Kids Reading Or Is It Just Shifting Forms?

Nov. 16, 2010 When I lobbed the “what do you read just for fun” query at some middle and high school kids recently, reactions ran the gamut from quizzical, “what do you mean by “for fun” to … [Read more...]

COPPA: Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Filing

July 1, 2010 For those mumbling, "COPPA schmoppa, there goes Amy into policy wonk land, please translate media jargon into usable tidbits" I'll offer a few primers... What is COPPA? Why do we … [Read more...]

Free Media Finds That Are Priceless Year-Round

Dec. 16, 2009 Got gifts? Not sure when we jumped from “Black Friday/Cyber Monday” to bold-type headlines of “last minute gifts!”---but I’m still holding my own on the ‘haven’t stepped in a mall’ … [Read more...]

HopeLab Launches “Sticky Notes” Blog To Make Their Thinking Visible

May 31, 2009 I know our friends at HopeLab have been active on Twitter and their own Facebook group and use SlideShare and all that, but as I’ve said many a time, microblogging and 140 character sound … [Read more...]

SmartyCard’s Summer Challenge With Scholastic: Heads Up for Fall!

May 28, 2009 I was just about to post an in-depth review and analysis of the merits and watch-worthy aspects of the new SmartyCard.com "learn and earn" kids' program for 3rd-6th graders,  when I … [Read more...]

The MySpace Mom Skates, While The Teen Hangs? No Justice There!

Not to get all soapbox-ey, but since we’ve been talking about digital ethics and online immersive behavior a lot lately, I’ve gotta toss this one out there… Yesterday’s … [Read more...]