Boosting Student Performance — It’s About Relationships

By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor, eSchool News, May 8, 2013 — “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like,” says Rita Pierson, a veteran educator and recent TED Talks Education speaker. According to Pierson, connecting with students on a real, human level is the key to improving student performance.

Pierson, who’s been a professional educator for 40 years, has worked at every level of the public school spectrum from elementary through high school. Having been in education for such a long time, she says she’s witnessed many changes, all aimed at school improvement and boosting student performance.

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Teach Mama tips on silent independent reading

Make silent reading more meaningful by following these three simple tips provided by Teach Mama. According to Amy Mascott, any parent can do these simple things to support their child’s independent reading at home. Check out the video below:

Teachmama, a Youtube partner of PBS Parents, is a blog focused on providing tips to parents for teaching their kids.  Check out her other great ideas for teaching math, science, and digital literacy.

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How teachers are using technology at home and school

By eSchool News Staff, March 1, 2012 –  A survey by the Pew Research Center, who polled more than 2,400  of U.S. middle and high school teachers, finds that ed tech has become central to their profession. At the same time, the internet, mobile phones, and social media have brought new challenges to teachers—and they report striking differences in access between lower and higher-income students and schools.

Brief, the survey found:

• 92 percent of these teachers said the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to access content, resources, and materials.

• 69 percent said the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to share ideas with other teachers.

• 67 percent said the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to interact with parents, and 57 percent said it has had such an impact on their interaction with students.

The survey found that ed-tech tools are widely used in classrooms and assignments, and a majority of teachers are satisfied with the ed-tech support and resources they receive from their schools. However, it also found that teachers of the lowest-income students face more challenges in using ed-tech tools in their classrooms.

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New teacher survey shows digital resources support classroom learning

PBS LearningMedia’s new survey of teachers found that teachers are embracing digital resources to propel learning in the classroom.  Check out this inforgraphic with some really interesting findings.

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Happy Digital Learning Day!

    Happy Digital Learning Day everyone!!!  WGBY is proud to support Digital Learning Day, a campaign shines a spotlight on innovative teaching practices in order to build momentum around the effective use of technology inside and outside of PreK-12 classrooms.

With over 20,000 classroom-ready, curriculum-targeted digital resources for PreK-12 educators, PBS LearningMedia is committed to supporting digital learning 365 days a year.  Explore our new collections from Masterpiece, Martha Speaks, and NOVA’s Making Stuff with David Pogue.

Tell us your story: how is digital learning making a difference in your classroom?

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Should “Happy Birthday” be Protected by Copyright?

You know how chain restaurants always sing some weird unknown birthday tune, instead of the actual Happy Birthday song we know and love? It’s because “Happy Birthday To You” is protected by COPYRIGHT!   They are legally not allowed to sing it in public, and neither are you. Copyright was originally created for two reasons: to protect the original creators so they could benefit from their work AND have creative works enter the Public Domain. Unfortunately, the whole system has gotten out of whack with copyright extensions that extend far beyond the life of the creator. The current holder of the Happy Birthday copyright is the Warner Music Group and the original creators of the song stopped having birthdays a long time ago because they’re dead. It makes you wonder if copyright law hasn’t deviated a bit from it’s original intentions. Or maybe you just shouldn’t celebrate your birthday in a Red Lobster.

Check out this really interesting video from PBS Idea Channel that explores the Happy Birthday copyright:

We thought this video would make a great topic for student debates.  What constitutes public domain/free use versus protection of intellectual property?  For more great discussion starters, visit the PBS Idea Channel on Youtube.

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Are Printed Textbooks Obsolete?

By staff and wire service, eSchool News -- Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Oct. 2 called for the nation to move as fast as possible away from printed textbooks and toward digital ones. “Over the next few years, textbooks should be obsolete,” he declared.

It’s not just a matter of keeping up with the times, Duncan said in remarks to the National Press Club. It’s about keeping up with other countries whose students are leaving their American counterparts in the dust.

South Korea, which consistently outperforms the U.S. when it comes to educational outcomes, is moving far faster than the U.S. in adopting digital learning environments. One of the most wired countries in the world, South Korea has set a goal to go fully digital with its textbooks by 2015.

“The world is changing,” Duncan said. “This has to be where we go as a country.”

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From eSchool News: Free Resources for Teaching About the Election

By Laura Devaney, Managing Editor, eSchool News — The 2012 presidential election is drawing near, and educators across the country are using campaign efforts as a chance to teach students about the democratic process, the major issues in the race, and how these issues might affect students now and in the future.

Lots of free resources exist to help teachers incorporate the election into their lesson plans. Here are just a few of these digital tools and interactive resources for teaching about the election.

BrainPOP – Offers games, quizzes and more

CNN — offers a number of useful tools for teaching about the election, including an animated look at the election process, etc.

MTV — offers Fantasy Election letting students build a “dream team” of ideal political candidates and other interactive activities

PBS LearningMedia launched the Election 2012 Collection, a compilation of election-focused digital resources available to K-12 classrooms and educators nationwide

Pearson — offers free help to teachers and students as the 2012 election approaches

Rand McNally has released Play the Election and other related games

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Bill Gates Sees Game-based Learning the Wave of the Future

By eSchool News Staff, July 27, 2012 — There are many in the teaching profession who question the reliance on computers and computer activities to achieve educational goals. In computer giant Bill Gates’ vision of the classrooms of the future, students are grouped according to skill set. One cluster huddles around a computer terminal, playing an educational game or working on a simulator. Another works with a human teacher getting direct instruction, while another gets a digital lesson delivered from their teacher’s avatar.

Read the full article by clicking here.

What do you think?  Is this type of technology the future for education?

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Survey Results from a PBS LearningMedia Survey on Teaching with Technology

Source: PBS LearningMedia

This past year, PBS LearningMediaannounced findings from a national survey of teachers grades pre-K-12 that sheds light on the rising role of technology in America’s classrooms, as well as barriers teachers face to accessing the “right” digital resources.  Ninety-one percent of teachers surveyed reported having access to computers in their classrooms, but only 22 percent said they have the right level of technology. 

While the vast majority of teachers have access to computers, less than two-thirds (59 percent) have access to an interactive whiteboard, a newer technology that can be used more broadly for classroom lessons.  Teachers in affluent districts are also twice as likely to have access to tablets as teachers in middle and lower income districts.  Still, teachers’ opinion about the ability of tech to enhance learning is universal; 93 percent believe that interactive whiteboards enrich classroom education and 81 percent feel the same way about tablets.  This attitude towards technology transcends grade level, the income levels of the student population and the types of communities where they teach.    

According to the survey, tech resources used most often in the classroom include:  websites (56 percent), online images (44 percent) and online games or activities (43 percent).  Increasing student motivation (77 percent), reinforcing and expanding on content being taught (76 percent) and responding to a variety of learning styles (76 percent) are the top three reasons teachers use technology in the classroom.  

We’d love to hear from you.  What kinds of technology do you have in your classroom.  What do you think are your biggest challenges when incorporating technology into your teaching?

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