Teacher Appreciation Evening Event @ Chandler Barnes & Noble

I was doing some last-minute shopping at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in the Chandler Fashion mall last week, and by sheer chance ended up having a great conversation with Sibley Giles, Barnes & Noble Community Relations Manager. She told me about the store's upcoming Teacher Appreciation Evening, scheduled for Friday, January 23, 2009 at 6:00pm. She wants to host an evening for teachers that will include not only fun and relaxation, but information teachers can put directly to use in the classroom.

What better place for ASSET Innovators? I told Sibley I would attend, and offer whatever information I had about PBS resources...and I could use some help! I hope my fellow Innovators will join me in Chandler on January 23, 2009, 6:00pm, at Barnes & Noble Booksellers--this should be a great opportunity to spread the word about PBS!

PBS Teachers Happy Holiday Hunt!

Need a stress breaker or are you stuck in the house due to all the white stuff everywhere? Play the Happy Holiday Hunt and you could win Lindens from PBS Teachers Connect in Second Life!

Participate in the PBS Teachers Happy Holiday Hunt by joining our Ning at:

http://pbsteachersinsl.ning.com/

Whether you are new or experienced, come have fun searching for these locations in Second Life! And, at the same time you will learn about the vast array of standards and research-based resources available for education use from PBS!



Once you join the NING environment, you will meet other educators interested in assisting you in your journeys into Second Life. If you have yet to explore Second Life, this is a great way to start. If you are already in Second Life... look me up - Kimmer Jameson (a.k.a. Kim Flack)and join the fun!

Why bother? Well, for those who are experienced SL adventurers, we think that you will find some new resources from PBS you may never have known before. If you are not yet experienced in SL, this is a way to demystify the Grid and see some of the best sites it has to offer.

$3000L (Lindens) will be rewarded along with other fun prizes Second-Life-Style will be awarded on January 18, 2009. Where? Why in Second Life of course!


Find more photos like this on PBS Teachers in Second Life


Note: Second Life® and Linden Lab® are trademarks or registered trademarks of Linden Research, Inc. All rights reserved. No infringement is intended.

HEY YOU GUYS!

The PBS KIDS GO! Broadband Player reaches millions of children every week. Since The Electric Company powered up on the site, The Electric Company channel has received hundreds of thousands of hits!  Take a few minutes in this crazy pre-holiday break week to visit with your students.  See what you think of this show's comeback - headed to Eight airwaves in 2009!   Make sure you click the button for Top 10 to find the link directly to The Electric Company.

AND - check out the electrifying behind-the-scenes footage of the making of The Electric Company show open! http://www.mcpalumbos.com/guest/ec/ec_btssizzle.mov A BIG THANK YOU to Sesame Workshop for sharing these resources with us at ASSET-Eight so we can pass them on to you!

DTV Countdown!

Recently on each newscast I watch, I notice there is a running script along the bottom of the screen reminding me of DTV - Digital Television - and what I need to do to get on board. DTV is coming, ready or not. The major network national news has also started to run a quick feature, the same as they countdown to Christmas, they now countdown to DTV.

The DTV transition is comprised of two parts. Broadcasters must upgrade to digital transmission, and viewers of over-the-air TV must upgrade to digital reception. Even with a converter box (or set-top box), your current analog television will not be capable of taking full advantage of DTV. To enjoy the full picture quality and benefits of DTV, you may want to purchase a new DTV set. But before you do, there are a few things to consider.
~ azpbs.org

Take a look at the Eight site for more specifics - and to find out how you can get a coupon for a digital converter box, if you need one, from the link above.

In the meantime, have a good laugh about how we are all in this together trying to figure out DTV and what it means for the future of broadcast television... watch the whole thing... you won't want to miss it!

Are YOU a PBS Teacher?

Thoughts from Second Life...

Last night I had the privilege of presenting in Second Life alongside Malinda McCormick, the Director of Education from San Antonio's PBS Affiliate Station, KLRN, and Shawn Rider from PBS National on ISTE Island. We had a wonderful host, an ISTE Docent, Kevin Jarret, who helped manage the crowd and help newcomers to Second Life (a.k.a newbies) and 48 people from all over the world attended. The crowd was primarily from the United States (2 from Tucson, AZ) but 1 in particular introduced himself to us from Australia.

I have attended and participated in many events on Second Life (SL) and enjoyed 2 keynotes from NECC last summer in the comfort of my own Phoenix home in my SL attire. I got inspired and really excited about all the possibilities that could happen for us as education professionals in this brave new world.

But, last night was the first time I had ever been a part of a formal presentation team, as part of the ISTE Speaker Series on Second Life. What an experience! We shared a PowerPoint presentation of PBS Teachers, PBS Teachers Connect, PBS TeacherLine, and PBS TeacherLine Peer Connection. After our presentation, we turned everyone loose with a web scavenger hunt and asked all to return to be entered into a grand prize drawing of $5,000 Lindens, donated from Shawn. (If you are a SL addict, your eyeballs just popped out of your head with that kind of prize at stake.) Everyone, however, received a consolation thank you gift of a pixelated PBS Teachers lunch box - complete with chocolate milk, an apple, a sandwich, and cookies (even though they are a sometimes food!).

There are tremendous possibilities for all of us within Second Life. I hope you will take some time to ignore all the bad publicity and experiment by creating an avatar and asking a SL resident for some help. Everyone you find on ISTE Island, and with the DEN (Discovery Educator Network), and on Lighthouse Learning (Kathy Schrock's space), and in Bernajeana's Storytelling area (Bernajean Porter) are incredibly friendly and helpful and excited about professional development in this virtual arena. Look for PBS TeacherLine of Texas and an incredible reconstruction of the Alamo. Find AzTEA as well. And... stay tuned for ASSET-Eight... its in the works!

Dr. Robert Needlman - Reach Out and Read!

I attended the Fall 2008 Annual Reach Out and Read Arizona Statewide Meeting today. Wow! I snuck in the attendee list at the last minute yesterday, promised to bring a bag of PBS goodies as a give away, and offered to leave materials for attendees on a community table in the exhibit area. Was I ever glad I did!

If you are not yet familiar with AZ Reach Out and Read, now is your chance! This organization spearheads pediatricians and others in the medical community to distribute materials on literacy to parents and books to families as a "prescription for reading!" Dr. Robert Needlman, M.D., was the keynote speaker and presented "Primary Prevention of School Reading Problems." It was just incredible to learn about what a difference books and early reading makes in children's lives. He reaffirmed much of what I already know and much of what the PBS KIDS Raising Readers Initiative is working on, but he also gave me new food for thought.

Did you know that research shows 1/3 of those mothers who have less than a 12th grade education are reading to their children despite their own educational barriers? Did you know that only 70% of those mothers with college degrees read to their children? Did you know that children's vocabulary at age 3 and 4 is the greatest predictor of school and reading success for later years? That is just the first bullets that pop out from his presentation today.

So... why is all this important to you? Well... WNET's Reading Rockets website offers webcasts and podcasts, and all sorts of other great resources. BUT most importantly, you can view Dr. Robert Neddlman yourself and find out more in "Toddling Toward Reading" hosted by Reba McIntyre! You can share this with your colleagues and parents. (It does make great parent newsletter material, btw.)

I hope you'll take the time to explore. Thank your pediatrician if he or she is involved with Reach Out and Read. Consider sharing these great online resources from PBS with others! It is just too good to keep all to yourself.

Go Back in Time

Travel back in time to visit five of the families who lived at 16 Elm Street in Ipswich, Massachusetts over the past 200 years in this interactive game from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Students will match primary source materials and museum artifacts to the appropriate time period in order to learn about the everyday lives of Americans from different eras of our nation's history. This activity is one of the educational resources included in the online exhibition entitled Within These Walls.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/house/gobackintime/default.asp