Teaching for the Future: Episode 36: Our Country, Our Truck?

Next week I will be talking to Colin, Chris, and Irene from No One's Listening on the podcast. If you are not already a subscriber to their podcast I would go to their page and subscribe now. No One's Listening is a Podcast/Radio show that deals with all aspects of media literacy and media culture. If you have any questions for the crew at No One's Listening leave them in the comments on this post and I'll ask as many as I can.

Today I talk about some great new tools from the Web and the Boston Public Library, a huge step for the One Laptop Per Child project, and how Chevy's poorly executed comercial is just another teachable moment for Teaching for the Future.

Thanks to Jesse Thorn from The Sound of Young America for the great promo and for all his support.

News:

NickNeg signs up Libya for 1.2 million 2B1 laptops from Engadget: Libya has signed an agreement to purchase $250 million dollars worth of laptops from the One Laptop Per Child Foundation. Many argue that technology alone can turn a child's education around this is an important first step for Libya and Nicholas Negroponte.

Creating the Walled Garden from Miguel Guhlin: Miguel Guhlin talks about a new media technology that can be used on your schools intranet and can be used without exposing your classroom to the open web.

Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0: Part 1, Part 2 from Solution Watch: If your interested in free internet based tools that you can use in your classroom or in your own professional development and research this is a great article to check out.

BPL does online library card registration from Library Techtonics: Andrea Mercado talks about the Boston Public Library's new temporary online library service. Now anyone over the age of 13 in the Boston area can use the Library's services over the web for six monthes. This gives you full access to audio, video, and library databases. I love the internet.

Promo: This week I hung out with some of my fellow New England Podcasters. Check them out at NewEnglandPodcasting.com

In-Depth:
There has been a lot of talk and outrage over the new ad for Chevy's Silverado that uses a song by John Mellencamp behind images of Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 9/11, and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Not only is this ad a shameless used of Patriotism, but it is also a great lesson in media literacy. Despite the over the top ad, we can turn this into a teachable moment. For more info check out some of the coverage of this ad from Slate.com, the NY Times, and see the video at Jalopnik. I think Chevy could learn a lot from Rocketboom.

If you have a podcast I'd love to hear about it, so feel free to email at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com or send me an audio message through Odeo

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