Business Editors
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 1, 2004
New York City educational nonprofit Global Kids, Inc.(TM) and NewsHour Extra, the student web site for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, are launching a new youth-led Web site, Newz Crew (www.NewzCrew.org), on March 1, 2004. The site will combine Global Kids' unique, interactive approach to public policy education, youth leadership and online learning with NewsHour's stories and background reports, to stimulate rich online dialogues involving youth in the United States and around the world.
Students from Canarsie High School in Brooklyn, members of Global Kids' Power of Citizenry Leadership Program, were integral in creating Newz Crew. They will now manage the message boards and guide the site. The Newz Crew site also will feature a 'Teachers' Lounge' that will provide educators with curricular materials related to current events and enable them to involve their classes in the site's dialogues. Articles and lesson plans, written and produced by NewsHour Extra and Global Kids, will be made available to educators and youth twice per month. The best of the dialogues will be posted in the 'Featured Dialogue' section of the Newz Crew Web site.
Newz Crew is Global Kids' second major online dialogue in the past two years. The first dialogue, Everything After: a 9.11 Youth Circle (www.ea911.org), provided youth from New York City and around the world with an opportunity to explore their thoughts and emotions about the September 11 attacks and aftermath. The dialogues apply Global Kids' highly effective Youth Circle approach, a sophisticated and innovative technique assigning participants to their own small, time-limited dialogue in which only members can post but anyone can read.
Newz Crew and the Youth Circles are structurally unique among online youth dialogues in five ways: Only a small number of active participants per group are involved (restricted membership); Participants begin and end at the same time (short, shared timeframe); Participants adhere to a set of expectations (ground rules); The dialogues are guided with a soft touch (indirect facilitation); and Global Kids youth leaders develop the project and monitor individual groups (youth monitors). By following these guidelines, youth experience a meaningful, constructive and dynamic interaction with peers around the world, encountering new ideas and perspectives in what the New York Times has called, "the antithesis of stereotypical teen chat."
Newz Crew is supported with funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and the Time Warner Foundation. In January 2004, a beta group was established and launched with two dozen students from around the country, who discussed such issues as the situation in Iraq, the Democratic primary, and education reform. The site is scheduled to run for two years.
About Global Kids, Inc.
Founded in 1989 and incorporated as an independent not-for-profit organization in 1993, Global Kids empowers New York City youth with the knowledge, skills, values and experiences needed to become global citizens and community leaders. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Through professional development initiatives, Global Kids provides educators with strategies for integrating experiential learning methods and international issues into urban classrooms. In 2002-2003, Global Kids reached almost 9,000 teens and educators, and ninety-six percent of the high school seniors who participated in the leadership program are now enrolled in college.
Grounded in Global Kids' Power of Citizenry Leadership model, the Global Kids Online Leadership Program integrates the use of the Internet into Global Kids' youth leadership development, media literacy, and civic engagement programming, enabling the organization to reach a wider audience and narrow the digital divide.
About NewsHour Extra
NewsHour Extra is the NewsHour's award-winning current events Web site for students and teachers. Founded in 1997, it provides students with the background and context necessary to make connections between what students are studying in school, and what's happening in the world. Extra looks at the news stories developed by the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer through the eyes of young people.
Through its partnerships with the National Council for Social Studies, NewsHour Extra provides teachers with innovative and practical lesson plans for teaching current events.
No comments:
Post a Comment