RTL Workshops for Teachers/Caregivers and Families

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For over 30 years, public television has offered high quality children’s programs that have excelled in meeting the educational and developmental needs of young children. Ready to Learn builds on this tradition and provides professional development training in the form of workshops designed for teachers, childcare providers and families. These workshops explain how to use the powerful tool of television to teach developmental skills including language/literacy, social and emotional development, cultural/social diversity and music/art appreciation.

The key to successful use of PBS programs is use of the Ready to Learn triangle, which is explained in the workshop –

1. VIEW selected programs with children
2. READ a book that reinforces the program’s child development theme
3. DO content related hands-on activities.

Each workshop begins with a discussion on media literacy. We focus on the impact of television on young minds and offer the Ready to Learn educational programs as a safe haven for children. All PBS educational programs are designed by or advised by experts in the field of early childhood education. It is important to distinguish Ready to Learn’s use of television from that of a babysitter. We echo pediatricians’ advise for children to view no more than two hours of television per week. We also encourage responsible and active viewing of television.

Ready to Learn workshops have proven to be highly effective for promoting literacy and healthy television viewing habits. A 1999 University of Alabama study found that parents who had attended a Ready to Learn workshop:

• read to their children 35% more often and 20% longer each week
  
• engaged in hands-on projects with their children related to the books they were reading twice as often, and
  
• took their children to the library 67% more and made 76% more trips to bookstores each month than did non-attendees.

A study from the University of Kansas concludes:

“Watching Between the Lions significantly improves early reading skills. Kindergartners who watched as few as 8.5 hours of Between the Lions raised their test scores 64 percent in many early reading skills, while those who did not watch the program raised their scores by 25 percent.”

This study was conducted without follow-up activities and books. The impact will only increase with such reinforcement, as advocated by Ready to Learn.

Click here to view a list of workshops that are available.

For more information contact:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Ready to Learn Coordinator, WNIN
812-423-2973

 

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