Georgia Public Broadcasting

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Education Worth Sharing

May 2011

We’re continuing to tweak our website to better serve you. (You can read more about the website upgrades in our Explore What’s New section.)

We want to hear from you!
Summertime is coming! It's a time to relax, recharge, and, for many of us, catch up on professional development and research new ideas and themes for the coming year. An educator's job is never done!

What are you doing to prepare your students for the summer? What are some ways you plan to recharge for your students? What tips can you offer new teachers for the summer break?

Let us know and we'll share your great ideas in next month's issue of the GPB Education Newsletter! Email us education@gpb.org or find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Meet Our Southern Education Reporting Team

GPB is the home for the new Southern Education Desk. GPB is leading a consortium of public media stations in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Our mission is to be the place where people come to find useful, practical information on education; a clearinghouse for resources and research, as well as a forum for participation in a reasoned discussion on the challenges of education in the southern United States.

Public radio and television have a well-deserved reputation for unbiased, fact-based reporting. That will continue on the Southern Education Desk, but in the age of new media, we also seek to provide a home for user-generated content as well as a place for our communities to find and engage with fresh viewpoints and new sources of information and data.

We will have 8 regional reporters providing in-depth feature stories on a broad range of education issues, from K-12 to secondary to adult learning along with Race to the Top coverage. Our GPB team consists of Managing Editor Duncan Moon (pictured left) and Education reporter Maura Walz, (pictured right) each based in Georgia.

We are interested in your thoughts about important education topics in your community and would like you to participate by completing the survey at the link below to give us information and insight on these topics. Your participation will help us identify important topic areas and help guide our topic decisions.

Tell us what you want to know with this survey.

Stay tuned for more in-depth reporting on education issues from GPB, your source for news and information.

On-air and Online

Georgia Traveler: Be sure to catch all three new episodes this month! Take your students on a virtual fieldtrip around Georgia to view historic and unusual sites.

Freedom Riders: American Experience shares the 50th anniversary of black and white students protesting together during the Civil Rights movement in the South. Premieres May 16. Read more below.

Georgia Outdoors: A new episode premieres on May 20 exploring the lives of Bats in Georgia. Join host Sharon Collins as she explores these creatures all around the state.

Civil War Treasures in Your Nation's Attic is a new, locally-produced program featuring Civil War artifacts in Georgia that have been found in places from battlefields to attics. Tune in May 23.

Project AIM (Adding Interactive Media to Early Childhood Education): Learn how to use PBS Raising Readers and PBS Kids Island to motivate young children to read through this training.

Georgia Weighs In: Get fitness advice and tips on how to eat smart through this new resource to help combat child obesity.

Learn

Spring Virt Con 2011- At the Spring Virtual Conference, you will learn powerful ways to integrate digital media and Web 2.0 tools in a FREE Virtual Conference for educators on April 30, 2011 from 9am to 3 pm ET. If you are local, plan to participate live at Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, GA.

STEM Education Resource Center: PBS has an entire resource page devoted to STEM professional development on Climate Change, a hot topic, current event, and green issue.

Professor Ridley Celebrates

Students and educators have a great champion in SkillsUSA. The national nonprofit organization works together with educators, students and employers to prepare world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens.

This mission is accomplished through leadership conferences, contests, networking events, job fairs and other activities. The Georgia Association is growing and held one the biggest state leadership conferences in its history this year.

Get Involved
Student Memberships: Encourage your students to join a local chapter to access the benefits of the program. Here is how to join.
Advisors: Educators can become advisors in order to form a chapter. Contact gsilvey@skillsusageorgia.org for more information.

Explore What's New

Take a look at some of the new sections we’ve added to the GPB education site.
We’ve streamlined the GPB Education website. We’ve condensed the news section and added another slideshow. We encourage you to take a look at some of the new sections we’ve added to help you navigate to other pages. (You can get there by clicking on the second menu underneath the logo.)

Our Programs lists our signature shows and multimedia like Salsa and Chemistry in one area.

Monthly Resources categorizes lesson plans and resources by theme and special topics that occur during the year like Black History Month or the Civil War. (Check this page frequently as it is constantly updated.)

Science Central is our new hub for science related education content.

Web Events is an archive of live streamed events that contribute to your professional development.

Our Partners lists links to organizations that assist educators.

Tech Tip of the Month

Teaching Georgia Standards

Lately we’ve been hearing from Georgia teachers about the increased emphasis placed on Georgia Performance Standards (GPS), especially in relationship to preparing for standardized testing and the addition of new standards at each grade level.

To easily find reinforcing resources for GPS, visit www.gpb.org/education and *log in to the digital portal. Select “Curriculum Standards Search” directly under the search box at the top of the page. Using the drop down boxes, navigate to your desired subject/ grade level. Select a Standard to be automatically directed to a list of resources designed for that topic.

Insider tip: When in a hurry, select “Most Popular” on the tabs at the top right of your search results to see the resources your colleagues are using most often.

*Email education@gpb.org for log in access if you do not currently have it.

Make GPB Education your home page.

You can keep up with the latest in Georgia education news, hot topics, detailed resource pages to enhance your lesson plans, and so much more by checking in at www.gpb.org/education.

We love to hear from you about the GPB Education resources you love and the ones that you need.

Know a rock star educator or got a tech tip? Know about an upcoming professional development session? Share them with us. As always, we love to hear from our educators. Feel free to contact us at education@gpb.org.

Find us on Facebook and keep up with State and National education news, hot topics, professional development opportunities, Technology Thursdays, surveys, and more.

Follow us on Twitter and find out what educators like you are doing to make education relevant and learning interesting.

Partners and Promotions

Freedom Riders Logo
From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives — and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment — for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South.

Freedom Riders, airing Monday, May 16 on GPB, is the first feature-length film about this courageous band of civil-rights activists who stand as a testament to what can result from the incredible combination of personal conviction and the courage to organize against all odds.

GPB is proud to partner with the Georgia Humanities Council for advanced screenings of the documentary around the state and to welcome college students who are taking part in a reenactment ride from May 6 - 16 that traces the original Freedom Riders’ route through Georgia.

Explore the wealth of educational support resources designed around the show.

High School and College Teachers and Students may attend this free screenings:
Atlanta on May 11, 2011 from 10am-3pm at Morehouse. This event is by invitation only. Contact jrsmith@georgiahumanities.org to receive an invitation.

DeVry Logo Qualified rising juniors and seniors can earn college credit this summer by applying for DeVry University's Passport2CollegeProgram at no tuition cost and no textbook cost! View the brochure for details.

As part of the Georgia Weigh’s In initiative with Georgia Public Broadcasting and other fantastic organizations promoting health and wellness resources for Georgia’s children and adults, Sparkles and Starlite Family Fun Centers is offering, Free Family Fitness and Fun all summer.

Beginning June 2, and every Thursday night until August 11 from 6:30-9:30 pm, families can come to any of our 5 family fun centers throughout the Atlanta area for a night of FREE roller skating! We are offering Georgia family’s quality healthy time together. Together, we can begin to a healthy regime to get families on the road to a healthy lifestyle.

HOW A STORY OF INSPIRATION, COURAGE AND KINDNESS BECAME AN OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD A BETTER WORLD.

Georgia Natural Gas® and TrueBlue Schools® want to bring your school The TrueBlue Chain of Kindness, a powerful deterrent to bullying, school violence and teen suicide.

Rachel Scott was the first student killed in the Columbine High School tragedy in 1999. Following her death, Rachel’s journal writings told of her dream for a better world, in which just one simple act of kindness could start a chain reaction of compassion.

Rachel’s family kept their daughter’s dream alive by developing the Rachel’s Challenge program. Through the Rachel’s Challenge assemblies, students’ lives have been saved, and hearts changed in one day.

NOW, GEORGIA NATURAL GAS WILL DONATE $2,000 TO HELP BRING THIS PHENOMENALLY BENEFICIAL PROGRAM TO YOUR SCHOOL.

When 25 new Georgia Natural Gas customers sign up for service and enroll in TrueBlue Schools, designating your school, Georgia Natural Gas will donate $2,000 towards a Rachel’s Challenge assembly for your school.

The Rachel’s Challenge program includes speakers for school assemblies, banners, printed materials and more. Expenses vary by school size. TrueBlue Schools not only raises funds for your school, but also can help make your school a better place through Rachel’s Challenge.

For more details, visit TrueBlueChain.com

Aetna Logo

Aetna Foundation is “Weighing In with Georgia Public Broadcasting” and organizations throughout Georgia to ensure health and wellness for all Georgians! Together, we are building a “virtual community” to address obesity.

Visit GPB for resources from Partner Organizations as well as news about health, wellness, fitness and nutrition aggregated into a comprehensive resource base and shared at www.gpb.org/Georgia-Weighs-In.

Educational in Nature is a resource-rich website for Educators provided by Georgia-Pacific. It meets Georgia Performance Standards in Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Visual Arts, Math, Vocabulary, Reading, Listening, Viewing and Speaking for 4th and 5th grade students. This resource will make environmental education part of your curriculum with fun lesson plans. For example, you'll find activities that directly reinforce GPS science standards around simple machines and energy. Visit GPB.org/education to learn more.

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