PBS Learning Media Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

PBS LearningMedia at MU's Super Day

Picture 500 grade school children decending upon a college campus eager to engage in reading and literacy events and you have an image of SUPER DAY (Students Using their Powers to Engage in Reading.) For the third year Marshall University College of Education and Professional Development has sponsored an event to encourage area students to enjoy reading. And, for the third year WVPB’s Education staff, incuding The SUPER WHY team have been a part of the day.

This year WVPB staff, Margaret Miller and Debbie Oleksa, engaged students in a PBS LearningMedia art lesson on portraits based on the art of area artist, Charles Jupiter Hamilton. “We engage the students with digital content and follow that up with an integrated lesson in which reading and following directions are key” said Miller, WVPB Curriculum Specialist.

Miller enjoys participating in this event which encourages students to become proficient readers. It is also an opportunity to showcase the free digital library that is PBS LearningMedia. According to Miller “It is an amazing resource that houses thousands of digital media lessons, searchable by content area, age level, and state standard. The best part, it is free to anyone who sets up an account.”

Marshall University SUPER Day Volunteers from Alpha Xi Delta, Student Government Association, and Pi Kappa Alpha worked to help 2nd graders complete “zany portraits”!

WVPB Salutes Sandy Wiseman, 2017 PBS Digital Innovator

Sandy Wiseman, a Librarian at Woodsdale Elementary School, Ohio County, is named as one of 52 educators from across the country selected for the fifth annual PBS Digital Innovators Program. The program recognizes classroom changemakers: educators who skillfully approach education with a bold and fresh perspective, and who integrate digital media and resources into their classrooms in a way that sparks a love of learning for their students.

Sandra has been at the same school, Woodsdale Elementary, for the past 28 years. But that has not stopped her from innovating! In her classroom—the media center—children sit breathlessly, watching robots they have programmed drop ping pong balls into a red cup. Her class is always an adventure–filled with reading stories, practicing coding skills, using QR codes, and programming robots. Sandra also supervises the Tiger News Team, a weekly news program produced by 5th grade students and published on the school website. “I started my career as a very traditional librarian, when computers were just beginning to make their way into classrooms,” Sandra says. “What I originally learned in college about managing a library has become obsolete—so over the years I have adapted and changed the way I do things so I can bring my students the very best learning environment possible.”

A panel of judges selected the 52 PBS Digital Innovators from across the US, representing each of the 50 states, and the District of Columbia. In partnership with WVPB, Sandra will serve as education partner–deepening the connection between the educator community and WVPB.

PBS Digital Innovators also participate in ongoing professional development; share their ideas on PBS platforms; have access to exclusive resources from PBS LearningMedia; receive a free PBS Teacherline professional development course; and are invited to special events, including the 2017 PBS Digital Summit. This year’s summit, in San Antonio, Texas, takes place directly before the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference.

We’re excited for the opportunity to learn from and work with Sandra to share content that engages and empowers students in every community.

WVPB at Mountain View Elementary

WVPB education participated in a community book festival at Mountain View Elementary School on Saturday, February 18. Over 400 parents and children turned out for a day filled with books, stories and family activities.

In WVPB’s session clips were shown from the newest PBS KIDS show, Splash and Bubbles, about fish friends who explore themes of friendship and life in the deep ocean. As a part of the learning session, children created their own deep sea creatures.

The day was enjoyed by all. Parents and children alike were reminded that education can be fun and part of everyday learning.

WVPB brings LearningMedia to Marshall Students

Marshall University Education Majors spent the day with WVPB Curriculum Speicalist, Margaret Miller, exploring ways to make learning more relevant in this digital world. Student Teachers are digital natives and easily take to integrating media into their lesson planning. With the plethora of resources out there, WVPB shares West Virginia PBS LearningMedia, a free digital library with hundreds of thousands of safe video clips, interactive lessons and full length programming.

More that 1.6 million teachers throughout the country are using PBS LearningMedia, included in that number are the over 6, 200 teachers, students and caregivers from West Virginia. WVPB has added West Virginia History and West Virginia STEAM resources to PBS LearningMedia. This information is available to anyone in West Virginia, but it also provides the world access to West Virginia.

“Student teachers are excited about getting these resources.” Miller said. Student teachers are just beginning to develop lessons in their education fields and West Virginia LearningMedia provides them with a great supplement or an outline for lessons they need to teach. In fact 92% of teachers who use PBS LearningMedia say that technology is a useful and motivating tool for students.

This past year WVPB has provided LearningMedia training to over 700 teachers from Pre-k to those working with adult learners. Generally, anyone who has participated in a training has found something to take back to be more effective in their classroom.

Show Your Strength with WV LearningMedia

SHOW YOUR STRENGTH!

How do you construct a building that is strong and safe? What are the best shapes to use?
Can you collaborate with team members to build a really strong structure?

West Virginia LearningMedia not only curates great digital resources to bring into the classroom, it allows you to create storyboards that can group resources together to illustrate a point.

Challenge your students to test their domes!

West Virginia History Goes Digital

The West Virginia State Museum unveiled its Elementary Edition of West Virginia A Digital Primer. The online resource, two and a half years in the making, covers grades K-5 social studies West Virginia History Standards. The site provides interactive content for students and teachers.

Nancy Herholdt , Education Manager in the Museum was thrilled to get the project launched. “Where there was no text that met our needs, teachers and others have collaborated to produce a resource that answers those needs.” Partners in the project include West Virginia: Division of Culture and History, the Department of Education, the Library Commission and Public Broadcasting. Included in the resource are primary source documents, lesson plans, videos and the interactive maps.

Today, Yvonne Martin, one of the teachers who contributed to the primer brought her students to the museum to give the primer a test drive. Yvonne loves the museum and all it has to offer. “I can teach each of my standards, it is such a rich opportunity.” Today Yvonnes’ students were accompanied by their “grandfriends” in celebration of Grandparents day. Everyone was busy putting counties in place and finding our fun facts.

WVPB is excited to be a part of the project. We have linked the Digital Primer to West Virginia LearningMedia. We are proud to provide a link to this resource for West Virginians. Additionally, we are also providing this resource on a National Platform so it is there for others from around North America to search for information about West Virginia.

A Secondary Edition is in the works. We look forward to its completion.-