Media Literacy News

Schools, parents divided on expelling cellphones
This could soon be the rule at all 560 public schools in Toronto, where officials are mulling a cellphone ban in classrooms and hallways that could be approved as early as April.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/177052

Fight web hate with critical thinking, panel says
Developing “critical thinking” skills in children and young people – and putting the computer where parents can see it – are probably the best ways to protect kids against “cyber-bullying,” sexual predators, and hate on the Internet, experts agreed at a recent panel discussion co-sponsored by B’nai Brith Canada.
http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=11097

Newest slang keeps teachers and parents on their toes
In fact, there is a mammoth lexicon of words and phrases, growing furiously all the time, to express all things teen. Much of it, say those in the know, comes straight from hip hop and rap music, music videos and the Internet, where places like MySpace.com serve as verbal crockpots teens spoon into, every time they open their mouths.
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007701280304

It only looks like the girls have gone wild
"We don't have good evidence that it is increasing. We think it's not getting worse," said Margaret Zahn, lead investigator for the Girls Study Group, a panel of experts assembled by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. "The media [approach] is always, 'If it bleeds, it leads.' I do wish the media would be more careful about how these things are reported."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/07028/757491.stm