Program Schedule | Interconnect News | Programming Changes
Interconnect Selects (WPT programming highlights) | Updates & Changes
In this December 2007 issue:
PBS TeacherLine | Interview | Soundwaves | Reading Rainbow
WWII Letters | teachers' domain | DTV Explained | News Archive
PBS TeacherLine® : Your Source for Professional Development
Continuing education and lifelong learning
These are just a few of the benefits teachers and educators receive from taking a PBS TeacherLine course. A resource designed specifically for teachers, TeacherLine offers online professional development courses to PK-12 teachers and districts in the state of WI.
To find the course that’s right for you, visit the Web site. Here you’ll find over 100 standards-based courses covering the entire curriculum, including:
- mathematics,
- reading/English language arts,
- science,
- instructional technology,
- instructional strategies.
Coursework can cover a complete sequence of study or address a specific requirement, depending on a teacher’s or district’s needs.
Along with a wide range of quality course offerings, PBS TeacherLine facilitators are highly qualified and are essential to successful learning. All teachers have been peer-selected, hold masters’ degrees, and have taken
PBS TeacherLine’s rigorous Online Facilitation
Training program.
Even novice computer users can feel comfortable taking an online PBS TeacherLine class! Facilitators remain available to teachers by providing support and guidance throughout the course.
PBS TeacherLine is committed to helping educators acquire the necessary skills to prepare students for a successful future, with standards-based courses developed in collaboration with the following leading national educational organizations:
- International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
- The Concord Consortium
Visit the ECB TeacherLine page to sign up now
for winter/spring PBS TeacherLine courses!
Why Teachers Choose PBS TeacherLine®?
- Convenient, flexible and easy to use
- Weekly assignments can be completed whenever and wherever it’s convenient (no scheduled log-in times)
- Self-contained course environment means no additional books or software to buy
- Direct classroom applications
- Courses relate directly to curriculum and classroom activities, including designing projects or lesson plans incorporating course materials
- Online discussions allow teachers to share content, ideas, and instructional strategies, across the state or across the country
- All courses are standards-based, developed in collaboration with the leading national educational organizations (NCTM and ISTE)
- Content developed for multiple learning styles includes the rich use of technologies such as video, audio, and interactives, to make learning come alive
- Courses help teachers obtain graduate credit, and professional development points (PDPs) or continuing education units (CEUs)
Information adapted from
http://teacherline.pbs.org/teacherline/
For more information contact Marta Bechtol, Director of School Services and Instructional Programs Development at (608)264-9733; e-mail: mbechtol@ecb.state.wi.us.
Interview -- PBS TeacherLine courses
June Anderson
Library Media
Specialist
Oshkosh Area
School District
Anderson Reaps Benefits of Online Courses with
PBS Teacherline®
How many PBS TeacherLine courses have you taken?
What were they? I’ve taken three courses. Two of them were Children’s Authors on the Web: Online Sites that Motivate Students to Write (Grades K-6) and Teaching and Learning with Graphic Organizers: Featuring Inspiration Integrating Tech-nology into the K-2 Literacy Curriculum.
What do you feel is the biggest benefit you receive from taking these courses? There is a requirement for online discussion with the other
students enrolled in the course. They literally come together (online)
from all corners of the world and I learned as much from the other
students as I did from the course facilitator. The sharing of tips, tricks,
and techniques is great!
Do you feel that these courses fit with your busy schedule?
That is one of the biggest advantages—you can sit at your home computer, in your bathrobe
if you want to, completing the course requirements. If you are a night owl, you can work in
the middle of the night. Sometimes I would log into the course site at 11:00 pm and another student would have just posted a message that I could respond to. As long as you complete all requirements within the timeframe of the course (most courses run 6 weeks for 2 credits),
you can work on assignments whenever you have a few spare minutes or hours.
If you don’t have a computer at home,
or you are out of town for some reason,
you can log in from any computer any-where to complete your assignments.
Would you recommend PBS TeacherLine
courses to other busy teachers and educational professionals?
I would definitely recommend PBS TeacherLine courses for three major reasons. First, practical assignments can easily be put into use in the classroom and shared with colleagues. Second, the chance to interact with others in the same profession, often from many other parts of the world, is priceless. And third, courses are very affordable!
Do you feel that PBS TeacherLine offers a wide variety of courses to suit various needs and interests?Yes, there are courses in literacy, math, technology, science, instructional strategies, and more. They are designed for specific grade ranges and provide an
opportunity to develop a
plan you can implement in your classroom immediately!
SOUND~WAVES Wisconsin Youth Radio Festival
Calling all Parents and Teachers!
Earning statewide recognition, exploring creativity and talent, learning about the many varied aspects of mass communication, simply having fun—these are just some of the reasons that students around Wisconsin enter the Soundwaves Youth Radio Festival each year.
The entry deadline for this year is January 31, 2008.
And as always, the Educational Communications Board and Wisconsin Public Radio await the
many creative entries that students submit. Winning entries will be awarded $100 cash and
the opportunity to go to Wisconsin Public Radio's Madison studios to re-create their program
with the help of professional staff.
Become a sponsoring adult and help make the Soundwaves Youth Radio Festival a memorable experience for the students in your school!
SoundWaves~Wisconsin Youth Radio Festival gives Wisconsin schoolchildren in grades 3 through
12 a chance to experiment with the universal medium of radio and its elements. For complete information on the upcoming 2007 SoundWaves~Wisconsin Youth Radio Festival, visit http://www.ecb.org/soundwaves/index.htm.
Now is the right time to get your students involved! Enter online!
Reading Rainbow Young Writers & Illustrators Contest
Encourage your kids in grades K-3 to write and illustrate their own stories!
Entries will be accepted between January 1 - March 21, 2008.Applications will be available on the web at www.wpt.org/kids,
or by calling 608/265-5035 beginning in January.
The Wisconsin WWII War Letters Project
The Wisconsin War Letters Web site is now live!
Visit
http://www.ecb.org/Warletters and learn how your students can get involved with the Wisconsin War Letters Project.
Explore letters, documents, film footage, photographs and more!
Create digital story using the resources we provide or from the students’ own family histories.
Submit finished pieces to our project library, where projects can be shared with other students from around the state.
The Wisconsin War Letters Project adheres to the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards. To find out which standards apply,
visit http://www.ecb.org/Warletters.
teachers' domain
Providing learning experiences that no textbook can!
Find free multimedia resources for students and teachers at www.ecb.org/education.
Digital TV Explained
Making the Switch to Digital TV—Will your School be Ready? (PDF Download)
On February 18, 2009, all television broadcast in the United States will become digital.
The benefits of this transition will bring improved sound and picture quality, and ultimately
a more efficient use of broadcast ‘space.’
For you and your school district, this means better quality, more choices, and more control
over your television. Go to www.dtv.gov and www.dtvtransition.org for more information on this transition.
Interconnect News 2008 Archive
January | February | March | April | May
Interconnect News 2007 Archive
September | October | November | December
