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 self-picked selection? An online virtual book club? An augmented reality fairytale? A graphic novel? Meaningful manga? Um, a poolside magazine, status line or text message? While some … [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 educators scurry about to start up a NEW school year having picked from an infovore smorgasbord of critical thinking workshops... ...But that's part of the problem in our quick … [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 office on record with one out of four tickets sold going ka-ching for the wizard boy.And maybe it'll be worthy of the 3D hyped up media zeal, but like the Twilight series or any other … [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 disturbing, “I don’t have TIME to read for fun" or "I have too much school work”…and yet their nose-in-the-text-screen antics tells another story by sheer observation. Kids are CONSTANTLY … [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 need it? (see DigitalAds.org for an interactive show-n-tell which all ages can grok for an 'aha' moment on food and beverage marketing targeting kids in the digital age) Who are … [Read more...]