Davelamorte Videos

Today I spoke with comic artist, podcaster, and teaching artist Jerzy Drozd. I first became a fan of Jerzy through his podcast Art and Story, which he produces with fellow teaching artist Mark Rudolph. For the past few years Jerzy has been leading classes and workshops for both teachers and students. Jerzy and I discussed his work in the classroom, including the workshops he recently led at the John F. Kennedy Center. We talk about visual literacy, comics in the classroom, and how teachers can use comic book making to turn their students from consumers into creators. Finally we talk about his upcoming comic confrence for kids called Kids Read Comics coming up June 12th-13th in Chelsea, Michigan. Find out more about Jerzy from the links bellow:Jerzy Drozd's Personal Blog - http://jdrozd.blogspot.com/ Kids Read Comics - http://mlatcomics.com/krc/ The Art and Story Podcast - http://www.cvcomics.com/artandstory/If you want to contribute links, stories, ideas or comments you can leave me a message on any of the sites bellow. http://delicious.com/teachingforthefuture http://www.twitter.com/davelamorte http://www.teachingforthefuture.com

For the last few episodes we have been discussing YouTube in theory, almost at a distance. I have even read some comments on blogs like 7 Inch Cinema saying that I'm being a little abstract. To fix this, today we are going to be looking at some YouTube videos for kids. I will admit that YouTube was definitely not designed for kids and teachers. I know that YouTube filters content, but often I find that I'm too young for the videos. Despite all that, today we're going to get a little deeper and we're going to be looking at a few specific videos. In this episode we go over some recommended videos. Before we get into that I continue the Better Know A Listener series with an interview with Aaron "The Art Guy" Smith. Aaron is the edu-blogger/podcaster behind on of my favorite sights, The Academic Aesthetic.com. If you are interested in technology education and/or art education you can find interesting information and web tools from Aaron. Though this is the end of our current series about YouTube, we will continue to compile a list of recommended videos. If you have a favorite YouTube video for kids and teens, leave a link to the video and your site so that I can give you credit. Suggested Viewing Chocolate Rain (Played during the intro)Digital EthnographyTeacherTube on YouTube Cry Me a VerbTeacherTube - 50 States and Capitals cartoon song Did You Know 2.0 (Thanks Aarron) Signing Time Thanks Made Loud & Freya's Mom CaseySilent Miaow aka Amanda Baggs see her blog at http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/ Links 7 Inch Cinema Vid to Mp3 Teacher Tube

During a session at PodCamp NYC 2 led by Christine Cavalier, I had a revelation about the way we look at YouTube. Christine's session was all about "how to raise kids in this digital world" and there were a lot of interesting ideas brought up. Christine talked a lot about becoming digitally literate so that we can speak to the digital natives in our lives. She also drew a lot from ELL education, and made the case that we should teach technology in the same way we teach children to speak and interact in an English(American) culture. As I figured it would the conversation led to the recent controversy surrounding a staged video of a group of girls beating up a younger classmate. One of the attendees, Aldon Hynes, talked about the dangers of social networking as a tool for bullying and abuse. I don't want to misquote anyone, so I'm going to do my best to paraphrase what I heard and hopefully if I'm off base someone can come on the show and correct me or just fix and inaccuracies in the comments. Aldon talked about how a lack of proper modeling/teaching/supervision led to the assalt/video and how it had the potential to ruin the lives of everyone involved because these kids didn't understand to scope of their actions and the permanence of the Internet. It was at the moment that I realized that most of the people in the room not only spoke a different "technological language" than many young people, but that we are not even part of the same paradigm. Aldon's comments made me realize that kids are operating under different social codes, norms, and perspectives about how to use social media/networking/the Interwebs. Which brings me back to Christine Cavalier's point about teaching digital skills and responsibility like it is a language. Just as everyone thinks and sees the world through the lens of their native language, the "digital natives" in our lives see the world through their own lens. To better explain this idea I wanted to talk to someone who understands young people, particularly teens, and the role of social media in the lives of kids. Vanessa Van Petten is a blogger, author, podcaster, and life coach who teaches parents to better understand their teens.

In this episode we begin the first episode of our two part series on reluctant readers. We talk about the many new approaches teachers, administrators, and librarians are using to get young people to read. In this episode we talk about some of the controversy over some of the tactics being used to entice young people to spend more time in the library. Also I talk to Mike Mole` as part of our new 'Better Know a Listener Series'. In this short interview we discuss his experience with building accessibility into software at IBM. You can find Mike at his blog at The Fair Life of Mike Mole`. If you are interested in being our next listener/guest for this episode you can leave a comment on Teaching for the Future.com or email me at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com. Citations: Corbett, Sue (2008, March, 22). Picture this: Teachers are using comics, now called 'graphic novels,' to captivate reluctant readers. MiamiHerald.com, Retrieved 2008, March, 25, from http://www.miamiherald.com/tropical_life/story/464872.html (2007, October, 27). Kids Spending Even More Time Playing Video Games. Kotaku. Retrieved 2008, March, 25, from http://kotaku.com/gaming/kids-today/kids-spending-even-more-time-playing-video-games-311560.php (2008, March, 24). Most Challenged Books Include 'Beloved' and 'The Chocolate War'. Washington Post.com, Retrieved 2008, March, 25, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301503.html O'Crowley, Peggy (2008, April, 1). Once upon a time, in the 21st century. NJ.com. Retrieved 2008, April, 4, from http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1207028247273570.xml&coll=1 Strauss, Valerie (2008, March, 24). Author Works To Prevent Reading's 'Death Spiral'. Washington Post.com, Retrieved 2008, March, 25, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301756.html Strauss, Valerie (2008, March, 24). Two Pros Offer Tips for Adults to Help Children Choose the Right Stuff to Read. Washington Post.com, Retrieved 2008, March, 25, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301755.html?sub=AR Strauss, Valerie (2008, March, 24). Question for the Ages: What BooksWhen?. Washington Post.com, Retrieved 2008, March, 25, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301756.html