Panwapa Word of the day is......PING PONG!

What a great word to learn in five languages! Panwapa is Sesame Workshop's new multimedia project, teaching Global Citizenship to 4- to 8-year-olds. That is a complex curriculum, and it's sorely needed. I think this is a very good effort, and I know it will just keep getting better. See for yourself at www.panwapa.com.
This is my avatar and my Panwapa home - I live on a boat! And as you can see from my Panwapa Island flag, I like rice, dogs, books, riding my scooter, playing the piano, and making shadow puppets! Every child who registers as a citizen of Panwapa makes their own avatar who represents them in this world. Try it - it's fun, and I guarantee you, that little avatar is irresistible!

Come and Find Panwapa Island!

These are the irresistible avatars that kids are building to represent themselves on Panwapa Island! We tested these all over the world - the appeal is universal. This avatar was designed by Geoffrey Fowler, and he nailed it.

Click on the link below to hear the title song, which, as I've mentioned previously in this space, I think is a commercial, compelling sing-a-long, which is key because we embodied the Global Citizenship curriculum in the words. I will confess, though, that I almost didn't post this because of the terrible quality - they need to allocate more bandwidth to these streaming videos. We spent a lot of time and money creating these original muppet characters - it's a shame to have them look like this. Nonetheless, enjoy the song! SONG: Come and Find Panwapa Island

Word of the Day on Panwapa? ORIGAMI!

I have been spending more time this week on the Panwapa Island site, which is Sesame Workshop's new broadband site, designed to teach global citizenship. I've written about it previously in this space Check out Panwapa Island

It has been a very gratifying week as I've heard from a number of former Sesame colleagues who want to know what I think, or who are hoping I'm happy with the site. As one person put - "I am eager to know what you think about it because there's so much of you in it."

Raising children as global citizens who are aware of the broader world and who accept their responsibilities as citizens of that world is indeed a passion of mine. I feel so privileged to have been able to work on a project as rich and full of promise as this one. And, our team worked long and hard to create Panwapa across three types of media (video, broadband, and print) It was not easy, but they persisted, and the outcome reflects their effort and dedication.

And on the subject of what I think? I like it very much. My one regret is that we wrote very catchy, compelling songs for this project. They are irresistibly singable, in my view, and the lyrics embody the curriculum that we were trying to teach. Any virtual world is somewhat daunting when you first try to enter - whether you're a kid visiting Panwapa or an adult first encountering Second Life. And, since this is a rich media site and there is often loading time when children need to wait. I wish that the songs were present from the moment you click on the world, and there for you to sing while you are waiting for data to load. It's a missed opportunity, but there is plenty of time to fix it. This is a five-year project, and it will continue to expand, develop and roll out in additional territories. I have no doubt it will get better as it goes.

Teachers and caregivers - there are materials available if you are interested in using this media. Like the website itself, everything has been produced in five languages - Arabic, English, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish. Click on the "For Caregivers" button on the Panwapa site to learn how to use this highly engaging content with your children.

Mourning THE UPSIDE DOWN SHOW

One of my most enjoyable creative experiences in recent years was traveling twice to Australia to oversee production of the pilot and then the early episodes of The Upside Down Show. This extraordinary show teaches creativity via imaginary play (with powerful literacy, vocabulary, and mathematical concepts thrown in along the way) for preschoolers. Actually, describing the audience as "preschoolers" sells it far short. Creators and performers David Collins and Shane Dundas are so uniquely talented that these episodes tickle older brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents as well! And the awards reflect this success. The Upside Down Show has won an Emmy Award, a Parents' Choice Award, and Australia's Logie (the equivalent of the Emmy) for "Best Children's Program."

Sadly, although at its debut it was instantly one of Noggin's top-rated shows, this brilliant program is caught in the politics and economics of the increasing consolidation of the children's media industry. Nickelodeon/Noggin do not own the show outright, as it is partially financed and owned by the company that created it, Sesame Workshop. My hunch is that Nick is simply not willing to put their powerful promotional machine behind making a hit out of a property that they do not own outright. Sesame Workshop, on the other hand, is too uncomfortable with any kind of conflict to take the kind of aggressive approach that I believe it should to reclaim those rights and find another way to finance and continue to produce the show. And so, this exceptional piece of educational programming (in my opinion as radical and ground-breaking as Sesame Street was back when it was created back in 1968) will disappear with just the barest hint of a whimper.

The Upside Down show airs on Noggin daiily at 7:30 am and 3pm ET/PT. Since the folks at Nickelodeon show no sign of getting it out on DVD, I'd strongly advise that you tape it and keep it for posterity (as well as any occasion when you might want to entertain and stimulate the imaginations of young children).

I recently stumbled across this long chain of parents talking about the show and how it has benefitted their children. In particular, check out the July 8 entry re child with Asperger's Syndrome. Although the show is not going to have the longevity it so richly deserves, at least, reading these words, I know that we accomplished what we set out to do.
UpsideDownShow Parent Chat Boards

Madeleine L'Engle on Writing for Children

There is nothing that annoys me more than how little respect people have for children's media. I will meet someone at a cocktail party, and when they ask me what I do, and I reply, "I'm a television producer." That always elicits a bright, engaged reaction, "REALLY? What do you produce?"

When I say I make television for kids and teens, the response is a dull "Oh." End of conversation. As if great story-making for kids is any easier than it is for adults, especially because the budgets are exponentially smaller! I am proud of my craft and resent the assumption that because I try to change the world for kids with meaningful media, I'm somehow not "in the game."

The brilliant writer Madeleine L'Engle wrote books for both audiences. Her adult books, both prose and poetry, explore issues of faith and spirituality. I have been thinking about her work all day, and tonight I pulled one of her books, WALKING ON WATER: REFLECTIONS ON FAITH AND ART, from the shelf. It has a wonderful passage about this topic.

One summer I taught a class in Techniques of Fiction at a midwestern university. About half way through the course, one of the students came up to me after class and said, "I do hope you're going to teach us something about writing for children. That's really why I'm taking this course."
"What have I been teaching you?"
"Well - writing."
"Don't you write when you write for children?"
"Well - but isn't it different?"

No, it is not different. The techniques of fiction are the techniques of fiction. They hold as true for Beatrix Potter as they do for Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Characterization, style, and theme are as important in a children's book as in a novel for grown-ups. Taste, as always, will differ (spinach vs. beets). A child is not likely to identify with the characters in Faulkner's "Sanctuary." Books like "A Wrinkle in Time" may seem to difficult to some parents. But if a book is not good enough for a grown-up, it is not good enough for a child.