It's Not Reading Rainbow...But Close

Some people can make anything an adorable learning experience, and this is perfectly evidenced by LeVar Burton's latest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. In a segment called "Tweeting Rainbow," Burton explained Twitter to a bunch of adorable children. They listened wide-eyed as he explained re-tweeting as "wanting the whole world to know how incredible [a great tweet] is" and favoriting by giving one little boy a large gold star.

He also tried to decipher some celebrity tweets, with mixed results on Snoop Dogg's "put ya face in tha mayo." It's interesting that Burton has embraced technology so much, releasing an app and turning to Kickstarter to relaunch Reading Rainbow. From his description of a tweet as "a passport into how a person is thinking or feeling at any given moment," it's possible that he views Twitter as a way to foster literacy and education, rather than impeding it.

While it would be easy for LeVar to have launched a campaign for Reading Rainbow based on rejecting technology, he instead seems to view it as a way to promote reading. This seems like a smart strategy, as social media isn't going anywhere soon and it is, of course, a text-based medium.

Burton also has his own Twitter, which he seems to use primarily to wish his followers "good morning, y'all" and "happy Friday, y'all." It's pretty darn cute.