TYO Recommends: February 17, 2012
TYO celebrates international Social Media Week with some links demonstrating the power of social media in the classroom and elsewhere, as well as some informative and interesting articles linking childhood education with the use of media.
Compassion in Conflict: Spanish photographer Samuel Aranda touched hearts around the world with his PHOTO of a woman clad in a burka and clutching her loved one shortly after protests in Yemen. Huffington Post reports, by capturing the compassion in conflict, Aranda’s photo went viral and was posted in the New York Times as a lasting symbol of the Arab Spring.
Wiki goes Worldly: Creators of Wikipedia have disclosed plans to expand Wiki services and entries available in ARABIC. The pilot program in Cairo seeks to get the ball rolling by acquiring additional university student editors under the guidance of faculty advisers from Cairo University and Ain Shams University to increase entries in the world’s fifth most common language.
Pupils for Peace: The United Nations looks to education as a tool for stimulating social development and encouraging peace in zones of conflict. High-lighting education as “socially transformative,” findings from Lebanon, Nepal, and Sierra Leone are discussed in this brief PODCAST with Kathryn Herzog.
Connected in the Classroom: NBC News selects the top five WEBSITES for educators to use in the classroom. Choices include Popplet, a snazzy media-rich and presentation portal; Vuvox, a hotspot for digital creativity; Myna, for all your music-infused media needs; Linoit, an online bulletin board eye-catching enough for visual learners; and Flipsnack, a sophisticated converter system that turns classroom projects into fun flip-books.
A Bank by any other Name: In honor of Valentine’s Day this week, launching the day before Valentine’s Day, LOVE UNDER APARTHEID chronicles the trials and tribulations of love across the Bank, giving a voice to relationships between Jews and non-Jews in Palestine and Israel. Features coverage on the site’s debut video satire, the hilarious and heart-wrenching “Checkpoint Date.” “All these stories are connected because they first begin with a couple who fell in love,” Ms.Tania Keilani, the site’s founder, adds. “And everyone loves a good love story.” What happens when dinner isn't the only check you have to worry about?
Silent, but deadly: As U.S. congressional debates rage on healthcare and birth control, an even more startling battle is being WAGED amongst the nation’s education institutions. A silent but deadly fissure is widening between schooling for the highest and lowest brackets of American society threatening to not only expand the distance of the gulf between America’s rich and poor, but also the depth of an abyss that jeopardizes the future of all of America’s youth.
The Push to Plug In: Not yet convinced of the staying power of social media? As the president unrolls the 2013 budget and schools get on the watch for ways to increase learning opportunities in the classroom, Birth to Thrive Online points practitioners to new social media CAMPAIGNS for early learning at the pre-kindergarten level with the #B25 Strong Foundations.
From Books to Briefcases: The World Education Blog reveals best practices in developing basic skills and the effects on the maturation of workplace skills over time. Drawing on EVIDENCE from language learning, classroom participation, and “sensitive periods” most fertile for honing developmental skills, Helen Abadzi, Senior Education Specialist at the Global Partnership for Education unveils factors influencing the shaping of skills in reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic.