Education Matters
September 2015

Professional Development Right At Your Fingertips
PBS Teacherline offers facilitated and self-paced courses 


  
Looking for a fun, flexible, and collaborative professional learning opportunity? As a brand teachers know and trust, PBS TeacherLine offers courses that make learning truly come alive. These courses include tools for integrating technology, engaging peer interactions, interactive lessons, and authentic tasks with real-world applications. Whether you choose to work on them in your classroom after school or in the comfort of your own home, PBS TeacherLine courses are as convenient as they are respectable.  The FACILITATED courses are scheduled to begin September 16th and October 14th. To ensure a spot in your desired class, it is suggested that you enroll at least 10 days prior to the course date. 

Here is a sample of courses that will be offered:

PBS Teacherline also offers SELF-PACED courses. Most only cost $49 and some are free. You can explore content, watch videos, complete interactive labs and take self-assessments at your own pace. These self-paced classes that focus on the principles and practice of teaching are perfect for sparking new ideas, expanding skill sets, and energizing classrooms.

For more information, visit TeacherlineSoutheast.org

EdTech Tips: Quizlet

Quizlet is a free online tool that helps students learn and study any subject. Your free account allows you to create up to 8 classes, which makes it easier to distribute subsets to students as well as adjust your privacy settings to only allow your students access to your materials. Perhaps the most popular use of Quizlet is to create study sets for students. Study sets are virtual flashcards that you can create to cover important material you would like your students to learn. You can also select from over 70 million study sets from Quizlet's online bank and can enhance these subsets with images or, for all of you foreign language teachers, type using the proper diacritical symbols and punctuation marks. For more tips on how to use Quizlet in your classroom, go to our Education Matters blog post.

Working On Your Weekly Lesson Plans?

Discovery Education offers a Sunday blog series called Lively Lessons that provide you with DE content and lesson plan ideas. The latest installment helps teach math in context. A question math teachers often hear from students when a lesson gets complicated is a frustrated "When am I ever going to use this in the real world?" and who can blame the students? Making the connection between "solving for x" and daily life can be extremely difficult. Math instruction needs to go beyond the equation and teach students how to apply what they are learning in the classroom to the real world. 

Luckily, Discovery Education has many resources to help both students and teachers answer this all-important question. All Georgia teachers and students can create FREE Discovery Education accounts by clicking here. Not sure of your login information? Contact the DE Support Team at 800-323-9084 or via email.
Get Ready: October is Farm to School Month

Schools across Georgia are going to be celebrating all things carrots! Rooting for Carrots is a state-wide celebration to get kids eating, growing and participating in carrot-themed activities. To participate in Rooting for Carrots at your school, go to the Georgia Organics website to sign-up and you will receive free electronic resources to help you plan and implement your activities. Resources include standards-based lesson plans, recipes, a step-by-step guide on conducting a carrot taste test, activities, videos, school garden planting and harvesting information, and more!

The first 400 people to sign-up will get a free packet of carrot seeds and a Georgia Planting and Harvest Calendar for school gardens. Share your Rooting for Carrots pictures on social media with #RootingforCarrots and win a prize for posting the most photos! Questions? Visit www.georgiaorganics.org/for-schools/rooting-for-carrots or email [email protected].

Does Your School Deserve The Spotlight?

We want shine a light on the great things happening in schools across Georgia! Our School Spotlight series will begin in September with Vineville Academy of the Arts in Macon, GA. We will feature the spotlight school on our GPB Education website with photos and videos. Do you know a school that deserves to be in the spotlight because of the outstanding things they are doing to support student growth and learning? Email us: [email protected].
Big Blue Live is a live television and online event celebrating some of the world's most amazing marine creatures converging off California's coast. Set in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the bay has experienced an environmental rebirth. This wildlife success story attracts humpback whales, blue whales, sea lions, dolphins, elephant seals, sea otters, great white sharks, shearwaters, and much more for a once-a-year marine animal phenomenon.

A presentation of PBS and the BBC, Big Blue Live will bring together scientists, filmmakers and photographers, animal behaviorists, and other experts over the course of three spectacular nights. The program will be anchored live from a hub at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and from a national marine sanctuary research vessel. Viewers can watch one of nature's great "reality shows" delivered through state-of-the-art filming technologies and live reports from air, sea, and below the waves.

Big Blue Live airs live on television and online over three nights, August 31-September 2, at 8-9pm ET, with another live feed to the West Coast at 8-9pm PT.

Educator Appreciation Day at Zoo Atlanta
GPB Education will be there! Will you?


Mark your calendars! Zoo Atlanta is hosting Educator Appreciation Day THIS Saturday, August 29th. GPB will be there to celebrate educators. Zoo Atlanta is offering free admission to educators, homeschool educators, Ga PTA members, and a $2.00 discount for their family and friends.

Please note that educator identification is required. Types of ID include an employee ID with a photo; a pay stub or name badge imprinted with school name or county along with a state-issued photo ID; or a homeschool declaration of intent and a state-issued photo ID. Only one free admission per person.

Members can preregister here.

Zoo Atlanta's Educator Appreciation Day is presented by PNC Bank and sponsored by Kaiser Permanente and Macy's. For information go to www.zooatlanta.org.

Welcome New Staff Members!

The GPB education team is growing! We just added two new Education Outreach Specialists, Mike Kuenlen and Tracey Wiley. Their primary role will be to support teachers in implementing the Georgia Studies Digital Textbook. To request a demonstration of or training on the FREE textbook, email [email protected].