Workshops increase the value of kids' TV programs
To help get young children ready to learn, Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) offers workshops that expand the learning opportunities provided by the Wisconsin PBS Kids broadcast schedule.
Through RTL workshops, teachers, parents and child-care providers discover how to help children learn through viewing, reading and action. Photo by JIM GILL
WPT broadcasts seven hours of nonviolent, educational, commercial-free children's programming each weekday. To further enhance the lives of Wisconsin's children, WPT partners - the University of Wisconsin-Extension and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board - reach out beyond TV through Ready to Learn (RTL) workshops.
"We teach parents and teachers that kids should watch a program, then turn it off and get busy reading books, taking action, learning more about what they've just seen," explains Kristina Stadler, a RTL coordinator. "This 'view-read-do' learning model helps them to create a bigger, clearer picture than the one on TV."
Through free RTL workshops, parents, teachers and child-care providers receive materials to extend the educational value of the programs and the tools to help prepare young children for formal learning by the time they begin kindergarten.
Workshops explain the curriculum within the programs, provide examples of how to apply the lessons in the programs, stress the importance of adults and children watching television together, and introduce ideas for media literacy and critical viewing.
Each session provides participants with information on selecting developmentally appropriate television programs and transforming passive TV viewing into a more meaningful interactive experience.
Deb Tuszkiewicz, a Kenosha child-care provider and workshop participant, says, "Giving us tools we can actually use with our kids helps us enormously."
RTL workshops are made possible through Ready to Learn grants from the U.S. Department of Education. —Lynn Brockmeyer
More Learning…
A 2004 evaluation found that as a result of workshop participation:
- Families read books together 35% more often and for 20% longer periods, about 46 minutes more each week.
- Children watched 40% less TV.
- Children watched 25% more educational programs that prepared them for school.
- Parents discussed TV programs with children 50% more often.
- Families made more frequent trips to the library and bookstore.
…Through RTL Workshops
- 1,190 adults participated in 68 community-based RTL workshops.
- Participants reported using RTL information and materials with approximately 8,912 children. They also reported reaching children in rural areas from families with limited English proficiency, with behavioral and physical disabilities, and from homes with low literacy levels.
- 600 free books per month were distributed in partnership with the First Book reading project.
For more information: www.wpt.org/kids/; WPT Community Outreach Manager Lynne Blinkenberg, (608) 265-6331, blinkenberg@wpt.org