• Calendar
• Featured Teaching Resources
• National Conference Update
• Classroom Connections
• Download This
• Around the Media World

HOT OFF THE PRESS: CML's 2005 SPRING CATALOG

CML's new 2005 Spring Catalog is on its way to you filled with the BEST 300 books, videos, DVDs, curriculum kits, CDRoms, posters...for teaching media literacy from preK to college! Check out the new special resource collections for language arts and social studies plus topic collections for health, gender, kids making media - and more! And do note - your purchase from the CML catalog through GPN Educational Media directly supports CONNECT newsletter, our website and the leadership of CML in the media literacy field. Don't go anywhere else! All products are also online at www.medialit.org/catalog

If you haven't received your catalog via snail mail send an e-mail to gpn@unl.edu.

CALENDAR

April 8: 2005 Student Video Discovery Awards deadline. High school, community college and university students submit CDs of video clips of their best work, and to be judged by a panel of journalism and video production experts. Finalists will be selected in April and winners honored at a ceremony at the National Education Computing Conference (NECC), June 27-29, in Philadelphia. Visit http://www.eschoolnews.com/vda/ for more information.

April 13-15: Turn Beauty Inside Out , 2005 Girls Leadership Conference, Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City. The goal of the grassroots Turn Beauty Inside Out Campaign which is run by Mind on the Media, is to influence people of all ages to not only ask why aren't women and girls portrayed positively in movies but to give them resources, knowledge and skills so that they can create their own opportunities. Girls ages 8-16 and Parents and mentors are encouraged to participate. The conference includes a variety of active learning workshops and dialogue with media & entertainment industry professionals. More information on the conference and registration at http://www.motm.org/

Friday, April 15, 2005: 3rd annual Northeast Media Literacy Conference 2005 - The Northeast Media Literacy Alliance and the Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut, in conjunction with the national Alliance for a Media Literate America and the Action Coalition for Media Education present: Growing Up in a Mass Media World: Empowering Children and Youth to Grow from Being Critical Consumers of Media To Being Creative Communicators through the Media. Workshops and presentations from top US and international presenters, screenings, and bookstore. More information on the conference and registration at http://www.medialit.uconn.edu/

FEATURED TEACHING RESOURCES

WOMEN IN MEDIA HELPS FOCUS WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

March is Women's History Month — time to check your resource shelf to see if you're missing any new or classic teaching materials and background books that would help you and your students explore the history of women in media. Use the following checklist for placing an order to CML/GPN to fill the gaps in your collection. Follow the links for more details on each title, including Tables of Contents, reviews and other related resources.

• She Says: Women in News — Video documentary on women journalists' role in changing the agenda of news; interviews with Judy Woodruff, Nina Totenburg, Carole Simpson, Helen Thomas and more! Includes short teacher's guide.
• Women Who Run the Show — Mollie Gregory's fascinating account of the rise of women in the Hollywood workplace from the 1970's to 2000.
• Great Women of Film — Stunning full-page color portraits with profiles of 30 women who have broken through barriers of the movie industry.
• Gender Setting — An inspiring tour of research and monitoring projects on women's media issues around the world. Covers advertising, news coverage, employment.
• Break the Lies that Bind: Sexism in the Media — A collection of 6 lesson plans exploring women in the news, technology opportunities, images in advertising and more!
• Playing Unfair: The Media Image of the Female Athlete — Five 5-7 minute video segments pose sharp questions about how the media trivialize and sexualize female athletes, thus perpetuating classic gender stereotypes of women athletes and women's sporting events.
• Gender, Race and Class in Media — Includes classic and provocative essays by leading authors (Gloria Steinem, Jean Kilbourne and others) on issues of women's representation in media.

Check out the new titles and more in the current issue of New For You!

ONLINE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN FOR NATIONAL CONFERENCE IN JUNE

On-line registration is now open and available for the largest, most prestigious and broad-based gathering of media literacy educators in the U.S. — the National Media Education Conference 2005 — June 25-28 in San Francisco! Sponsored by the Alliance for a Media Literacy America (AMLA), it's an every-two year event that provides critical professional development, invaluable networking and the opportunity to meet, hear, and exchange views with some of the top media education experts from the U.S., Canada and around the world during more than 75 conference events, including keynotes, workshops, preconference seminars, special interest caucuses and meals.

Register today to get the Early Bird Discount and save! Make sure you're a current member of AMLA and save another $50! Registration is easy online with a credit card.

This year's theme — "Giving Voice to a Diverse Nation" — explores the vital role of media literacy education in enabling all individuals in our increasingly diverse society to:

• Participate fully in our information and media-saturated culture
  
• Be accurately represented in and by media
  
• Acquire the skills, access and opportunities to tell their stories and hear their stories told
  

An outstanding group of featured speakers will address the conference theme from a variety of perspectives — historical, multicultural, educational and activist. By attending designated sessions, educators can earn CEUs through a special arrangement with California State University-Northridge, or graduate credit through Appalachian State University.

And who doesn't want to visit San Francisco? With its rich diversity of people and neighborhoods and its tradition of tolerance — to say nothing of its spectacular beauty — San Francisco is the perfect setting for this year's conference. Amazingly low hotel rates have been secured at the Parc Renaissance in the heart of the city. Rates are good both before and after — make it a family vacation!

CML staff will have many roles at the conference including organizing the bookstore, chairing panels and offering the preconference seminar, Media Literacy 101. We hope you'll join us for these stimulating four days in San Francisco — register today!

SCHOLARSHIPS for National Media Education Conference 2005
This year, the Alliance for a Media Literate America, with the support of the Department of Education's Arts in Education Development and Dissemination project, will offer a small number of scholarships to teachers in U.S. Title I public schools. Scholarships equivalent to $385.00 will cover the early bird full conference registration fees and a one-year AMLA membership. Scholarship applicants must fill out a questionnaire about how they intend to use the information they will receive at the conference. Scholarship recipients will also be required to fill out a similar post-conference survey. For more information, including criteria for determining applicant selection, a scholarship application form and complete application directions, contact Susan Davis Cushing.

NMEC 2005 will take place in San Francisco, June 25-28. For up-to-date information and a registration form, go to www.AMLAinfo.org.

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS

In each issue of Connect, we highlight lesson plans that relate to media literacy topics.

Irregularly Scheduled Programming: Exploring the Role of Television in Major Events by Creating Original Programming, from the New York Times. In this lesson students explore how real life events influence and shape television programming.

Related Teaching Resources:

• How TV Changed America's Mind
  
• Creating Television: Conversations with the People Behind 50 Years of American TV
  
• Stay Tuned: Television's Unforgettable Moments
  
• We Interrupt this Broadcast
  
• Teaching TV Production in a Digital World
  
• Creating History Documentaries: A Step-by-Step Guide to Video Projects in the Social Studies Classroom
  
• How To Make Your Own Great Videos With Just A Camcorder
  
• Kid-Vid: Fun-Damentals of Video Instruction
  
• Lights, Camera...Action!
  

DOWNLOAD THIS

New Kaiser Brief: Offers Latest Statistics on Media and Kids
"The Effects of Electronic Media on Children Ages Zero to Six: A History of Research", an new Issue Brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation offers a truly fine summary of the research on media and children conducted over the past few decades — all in a manageable 16 pages! If you're looking for statistics on children's viewing habits or citations from well-documented research for grant applications or research papers, this handy Issue Brief should be your first stop. And in terms of our growing understanding of how media impacts children (and it's not all negative!), this summary is well worth a read and refresher. Download today.

Report: Update on Internet in the Schools
In a new report from the Department of Education, "Toward a New Golden Age in American Education: How the Internet, the Law and Today's Students are Revolutionizing Expectation," the majority of U.S. schools have access to the Internet, but most are not using it to its full capacity. The report urges K-12 schools to incorporate more computer technology into classrooms, curriculum and school administration. Download the report.

Surprising Findings of Teen Web Use
A study by the Nielsen Norman Group found that, contrary to stereotype, teens as a group are not as adept as adults in navigating the Web. Additional findings in the study: 1) Some Web site features tend to turn off teens: complex or incomplete content, long downloading times and confusing navigation. 2) Teens tolerate ads more than adults, though overkill is a risk. 3) Teens tend to be apprehensive about downloading plug-ins and clicking on unknown links. The main reason: They fear viruses. 4) The word "kid" is a teen-repellent. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20050131/1b_teens31.art.htm

AROUND THE MEDIA WORLD

Kraft cuts back on some kid-targeted advertising
With increasing coverage of the connections of children's health and media exposure, a few companies have begun to take steps towards improving their image. Kraft Foods, the nation's largest food company, has voluntarily announced that beginning in 2006 it will curb its advertising of many popular snack food items to children under 11. However, Kraft will not stop all promotions to young children; it will still use cartoon characters in its products and packaging, and offer contests, prizes and other promotions as well as games on its Web sites. More information: http://www.marketingpower.com/content24681.php

Toys vs. Consumer Electronics
Between cell phones and digital cameras, kids toys are getting very high tech as evidenced at the 2005 Toy Fair in NYC in February. One exciting new product is U-Flix, from Mattel, which bundles together a plastic digital video camera with production software, allowing kids to shoot and edit movies on PCs and watch their productions on TV at home — all for under $100. For more on the toy fair, read LA Times coverage.