| |
Reaching Students in the Digital Age
Today’s students are very much at home in an electronic world, having grown up e-mailing, texting, and surfing the Internet. And, increasingly, educators are turning to educational technology in order to engage these students.
For example, large touch screens that work with projectors and computers—called interactive whiteboards, or “action boards”—are replacing chalkboards in many classrooms. With this technology, teachers and students are able to view and interact with digital media presentations and control computer applications with the touch of a finger.
Educators are also increasingly using podcasts, which are digital audio or video files that can be played on a computer or downloaded to an MP3 device. Podcasts enable teachers to share lectures, interviews, discussions and assignments with students at any time. They can also be a tool for publishing student-generated content.
Even cell phones are being used to improve student achievement. In one recent experiment, 9th and 10th grade math students were given cell phones equipped with special programs to help with their algebra studies. The study found that the students using the phones performed 25 percent better on the end-of-year exam than students without the devices.
According to Dale Fulton, a former school superintendent for instruction and current senior vice president of curriculum development at Discovery Education, “No matter what methods teachers and administrators use to engage today’s students, high quality digital content is critical.
“Today’s classrooms are dynamic places, and teachers are challenged to spend as much time on instruction as possible,” he adds. “So when a student asks a question like ‘What does Antarctica look like?’ or ‘What does a Masai tribesman wear?,’ a library of digital media can help answer through engaging content that makes students want to learn even more.”
Fulton, whose company produces Discovery Education Streaming, the in-classroom digital video-based learning resource scientifically proven to increase academic achievement, says digital libraries are also cost-effective alternatives to expensive book and DVD libraries.
“When the scientific community decided a few years ago that Pluto was no longer a planet, all the book and DVD libraries and all the textbooks referencing the solar system were instantly out of date,” he explains. “With a digital library hosted online, content changes can be made quickly and seamlessly, making sure students and educators have the most up-to-date information.”
For more information, go to www.discoveryeducation.com. |
Comments on the Spotlight? E-mail us at education@klrn.org |
PBS Video Goes LIVE Online
Featuring PBS programs, the new online tool to watch all your favorite shows on-demand is now LIVE at pbs.org/video. Login and Tune in! Coming soon, local content featuring KLRN documentaries!
NOVA: Cracking the Maya Code
Airs Tuesday, May 5 at 8:00 p.m. on KLRN/Channel 9
This is a definitive look back at how a handful of pioneers deciphered the intricate system of hieroglyphs developed by the Maya. One of the greatest detective stories in all of archaeology, it has never been told in depth on television before. With magnificent footage of Mayan temples and art, this documentary was many years in the making and culminates in the fascinating account of this once magnificent ancient civilization's ingenious method of communication.
PBS programs in KLRN Connect
 The "Tea Party," (03:28)
The British government, determined to tax Americans, sent reduced-price tea to the Colonies. But the cargo arrived with stiff duties, and was turned away at every port, until colonists boarded the ship in Boston and threw the tea into the harbor. Grade(s) 9-12 © 1997 PBS
 Back in Time (03:28)
Inez and Jackie go to the Grim Reaker to rescue the Fearless Chef while Matt and Digit must use subtraction and rush to beat a blizzard at Glacier Point. Grade(s) 6-8 © 2005 PBS
KLRN Connect
Click and Engage
Not a subscriber of KLRN Connect? Click here
Ensure Your Teachers are Associated with the Correct School
Do you have teachers that moved to a new school within your district over the summer months?
How do you ensure their KLRN Connect usernames and passwords are assigned to the correct schools? One way is to shuffle them from one school to another. In the past, this required someone with administrative access, but that is not the case anymore! Teachers can shuffle themselves from one school to another - in five easy steps. They are as follows:
- Go to klrn.unitedstreaming.com
- Click on the Passcode Login tab
- Enter the new school's passcode (get the passcode from your school’s
admin or email mmccormick@klrn.org)
- Enter in your existing DE streaming username/password
- Click the login box
PowerPoint link that walks you through the steps above - screenshot by screenshot.
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/matt.monjan/files/2008/08/shuffling-schools.ppt
Want to Get More Involved with Your Use of KLRN Connect in the Classroom?
Click here to go to the KLRN Connect page or click on the links below. Login required.
Getting Started: Step-by-Step is a new site that provides easy to follow instructions for new users to help them log-in, learn the functionality of DE streaming and/or DE Science, and encourage them to use it frequently. With videos, training resources, integration ideas and professional development opportunities, Getting Started was built and packaged for you to pass right along to your teachers.
The Quick Start Guide
Discovery Education Science
Discovery Education Science powers your district’s elementary and middle-school science curricula with up-to-date, standards-based virtual labs, simulations, reading passages and more, coupled with a real-time assessment component that measures student’s progress.
Organized around an inquiry framework and covering Physical, Earth and Space, and Life Sciences, Discovery Education Science is designed to encourage exploration, stimulate critical thinking, and deepen understanding of science.
For a free trial login to KLRN Connect and go to My DE.
Discovery Educator Network
What is the Discovery Educator Network? Watch this video to learn more:
and then,
|
|
Discovery Educator Network Webinar Series
The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) is a global community of educators passionate about teaching with digital media, sharing resources, collaborating, and networking. With over 25,000 members providing professional development to over 250,000 educators worldwide, the DEN connects teachers both on-line and in-person. Discovery Educators have exclusive access to a wide range of resources, professional development activities, networking opportunities, exclusive Discovery Educator
events and more!
Voted the best professional development website in 2007 by the Association of Educational Publishers, this website is a place to connect to other educators across the globe. Here, all users
can read the blogs and discussion boards. Discovery Educators (any educator that has a Discovery account) have the ability to comment on the blogs, post to the discussion boards, and register
for Discovery Educator Network events. http://community.discoveryeducation.com/
PBS TeacherLine of Texas
PBS TeacherLine courses are approved by the Texas State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) and count towards required CPE hours.
District course licensing and ELL/ESL courses are now available! Contact us for more information: hcustard@klru.org, 512.232.9406.
Special station pricing is available for individual course registrations. Call Malinda McCormick at 210.270.9000, to register for your course at lower rates than nationally advertised!
Take our free, two-hour orientation course, Practice Learning Online with TeacherLine*, to prepare for online learning. Enter the course through your My Courses page.
At the end of this course, you will be familiar with:
- The importance of time management and the self-discipline required to be a successful online learner.
- Skills for navigating course content quickly and efficiently.
- Strategies to improve the quality of your participation in an online learning community.
- Where to go for help.
- Resources available through PBS TeacherLine.
*In order to take the free orientation course, you must first join PBS TeacherLine. Join for free.
PBS TeacherLine courses are approved by the Texas State Board for Educator Certification
(SBEC) and count towards required CPE hours.
District course licensing and ELL/ESL courses are now available! Contact us for more information: hcustard@klru.org, 512-232-9406.
Special station pricing is available for individual course registrations. Call Malinda McCormick at
210-270-9000, to register for your course at lower rates than nationally advertised!
PBS TeacherLine Courses
If you’ve never taken an online course, now is the time! PBS TeacherLine's high quality, standards-based graduate-level courses offer teachers the professional development opportunities in an accessible online format that makes learning fun, flexible and collaborative. Earn training or graduate credit while gaining strategies and resources to bring directly to your classroom.
Fall Term courses are open for enrollment, so browse our catalog to choose the one that's right
for you! Below are two favorites:
 = Teacher Favorite
 = Classroom Link
SCIE125 Fostering Cooperative Learning, Inquiry, and Critical Thinking in Elementary
Subjects: Science, Instructional Technology, Instructional Strategies
Grades: 1-4
Hours: 30
Course Description:
Learn to meet national science standards by helping students develop the skills necessary to analyze ideas, think critically, and communicate clearly. Create lessons and activities that support collaboration, inquiry, and critical thinking.
SCIE120 Scientific Inquiry and Field Work: Discovering with Technology for Grades 6-8
Subjects: Science, Instructional Technology, Instructional Strategies
Grades: 6th Grade-8th Grade
Hours: 30
Course Description:
Keep your students engaged by incorporating current technology into your science curriculum. Visit Web sites that enable students to collect and analyze data using online equipment and learn high-tech strategies that allow them to record and analyze information, investigate the results, and share their findings. Then, design a unit plan for an ecosystem field trip.
SCIE520 Teaching High School Biology - Special Collection: Teachers' Domain, produced by WGBH Boston
Subjects: Science
Grades: 9-12
Hours: 45
Learn inquiry-based approaches to teaching standards-based science topics, including genetics, evolution, and cell biology. Gain practice using multimedia to explore novel learning environments and methodologies that foster student interest, involve them in the research process, advance their critical thinking skills, and develop their conceptual understanding.
PBS TeacherLine Peer Connection
Get Connected!
In the drive to improve teaching practice and student achievement, many schools and districts are turning to instructional coaches to support school-wide improvement and enhance classroom
practice. Coaches require high level resources and professional development so they can lead the way in reform initiatives and deliver on specific district instructional and student performance goals.
At PBS TeacherLine, we support professional development from the classroom forward. Our new
PBS TeacherLine Peer Connection service will help you build a customized, practical professional development program for your teachers by providing sustained and targeted support for coaches.
Lesson Plans and other resources for the classroom
Are you looking for ways to incorporate digital media into your teaching?
PBS Teachers is introducing a series of FREE monthly webinars featuring leading education technology experts, authors, or producers of PBS programs who will share ideas on using digital media to engage students in rich learning experiences.
PBS Teachers May Webinar
 PBS Teachers and Classroom 2.0 are delighted to have Jean-Michel Cousteau, famed explorer, environmentalist, educator, filmmaker, and executive producer and host of the PBS series JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU: OCEAN ADVENTURES as our guest for "Diving into the Digital World of Marine Science," the next webinar in the PBS Teachers LIVE! series. Please mark your calendars for Monday, May 4 at 8 p.m. EDT for this upcoming free webinar.
Teachers! Share your Story
Tell us how you use PBS KIDS literacy resources in the classroom, and you could be a
presenter for the PBS Teacher July 2009 Webinar.
|
|
Learning.now
Learning.now is a weblog that explores how new technology and Internet culture affect how educators teach and children learn. It will offer a continuing look at how new technology such as wikis, blogs, vlogs, RSS, podcasts, social networking sites, and the always-on culture of the Internet are impacting teacher and students' lives both inside and out of the classroom. Learning.now also wants to hear from you, and welcomes your participation on the site and your feedback.
Looking for more? Try PBS Teachers Advanced Search
|
|
|
|
Would you like to write an upcoming Spotlight article? Contact:
Malinda McCormick
Director of School Services
|
|
|
