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Kennesaw Elementary School utilizes a video distribution system for the school’s electronic bulletin board, television stations, and videos. In the past, a school news program was also distributed in this manner. The distribution system is currently in working order. The media specialist is in charge of the distribution system and teacher requests are directed to her. Cobb County School District has pre-set the television station channels, but the media specialist is knowledgeable about how to modify the channels if needed. The school uses a digital system which runs video through the classroom VCR’s to the LCD projectors. Television monitors, although no longer needed, remain in the classrooms because it costs $85. per television for the labor to remove them. Previously, videos and cable segments were sent from equipment in the media center to classrooms, but now the classrooms use Georgia Public Broadcasting’s (GPB) partner Discovery Education Streaming. Media center staff once had to turn on videos for teachers who requested them to be sent to their classrooms at a certain day and time, but now teachers can access videos on demand in their own classrooms with a free password and username. GPB offers free webinars on how to use Discovery Education, formerly known as United Streaming. The resource offers a digital streaming service including over 9,000 videos and other multimedia content available online for teacher use (GPB Education, 2011). Gone are the days of pushing that t.v. and video cart from classroom to classroom!
Kennesaw Elementary and Cobb County School District also reap the benefits of the GPB education website, which offers Georgia education news, instructional videos, and a plethora of educational resources. Rather than give a broad overview of the site, today I’d like to focus on three specific resources available on the site: “Financial Football,” “This Day in Georgia History,” and “Georgia WWII Veteran’s Oral History Project.”
One excellent resource is “financial football” a financial literacy video game with professional graphics and exciting sports-themed intro. Players customize the game by selecting their home and opposing football team, age level and game length. In between action packed ball plays, players answer questions such as “What is a finance charge?” and “Money markets and cd’s are what kind of investment?” For someone who could not care less about football, I must admit the game sounds of referee whistles blowing, crowds shouting and bodies crunching are very exciting. If the New Media Consortium Horizon Report for 2011 is correct, game-based learning will be huge in the next 2-3 years, and this one has good appeal and is an excellent example of combining learning with gaming.
The GPB education site also provides “This Day in Georgia History”, featuring biographies of three famous Georgians that change daily. Today Juliette Gordon Lowe, founder of the girl Scouts, Duane Almann, band leader, and Von Gammon, UGA football player are featured. Clicking the link below the famous Georgian’s photo to “learn more” brings students a professional video and sets the subject in historical context on the Georgia History Timeline. Resources for additional learning include vocabulary words from the video, classroom activities, and links to other articles and suggested readings. For Duane Almann, brief pieces of music play in the background while commentator Stan Deaton of the Georgia Historical Society speaks about his contribution to Southern Rock music. Teachers can use the video, audio, or text only version of the biography. Students could create their own visuals to play during the audio only version, or design a short skit.
Another excellent digital tool is the Georgia WWII Veteran’s Oral History Project. Personal narratives, letters and photos are easily accessible for students. One veteran is James Sedlack, Technical Sergeant in the Army Air Corp, who shares his story of a Romanian noblewoman (one of the king of Romania’s relatives) giving him musical instruments and caring for a wounded soldier on her estate. Photos of veterans as young men and women during the war, and at the time of their interview are included as well. The project includes interviews with Holocaust survivors and should be used with sensitivity. A warning on the introduction video cautions users about graphic images & discussions. Not many World War II veterans are still alive or healthy enough to share their feelings and stories in person in the classroom. This tool is powerful because it preserves voices which might otherwise be lost and makes them accessible to anyone wanting to learn from personal accounts of those who were there.
The latest offering on the site is the PBS LearningMedia virtual library, recently mentioned in a School Library Journal article. It provides “instant access to thousands of classroom-ready, digital resources including videos and interactives perfect for the Interactive Whiteboard, plus audio and photos, and even in-depth lesson plans” (PBS Learning Media, 2011). It includes subject areas such as the arts, science, social studies, mathematics, and health. In sum, this free GPB website is a fine example of technology used to engage students in learning and has many valuable resources for teachers and students. Peace out.
References:
GPB Education. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.gpb.org/readingrainbow/term? page=698
New Media Consortium. (2011). NMC Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition. Austin, TX. Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report-K12.pdf
New Media Consortium. (2011). NMC Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition. Austin, TX. Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report-K12.pdf
PBS LearningMedia (2011). Retrieved from http://gpb.pbslearningmedia.org/
School Library Journal Staff. (2011, October 11). PBS launches free online resource to help boost student achievement. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/home/892349-312/pbs_launches_free_online_resource.html.csp
Flower image retrieved from http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk46/sherig9/flower-2.jpg
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of or am not familiar with the name of the electronic bulletin board that is shared on the video distribution equipment at the school you mentioned. I am assuming it is like a scrolling marquee with events, birthdays, etc. I am glad to know that some schools are still using the equipment for news, TV stations, etc. as my school does not have video distribution.
Thanks for going into detail about the resources on GPB. Your descriptions were very helpful in my understanding what I saw on the homepage of the website.
I could see how classes could use This Day in Georgia History as a virtual museum when studying our great state. It is interesting to know that it can be viewed as video, audio or text only. This would be work well for students with hearing impairments as we learned when we worked on creating websites. I am interested in trying out how to create my own visuals and designing skits as well as playing the Financial Football game.
Also, the Georgia World War II Veterans Oral History project is a great idea for a guest speaker. After a while we will have projects from other wars and maybe my dad can be included in the Vietnam War project.
Lastly, I am glad to know about the videos, interactives, and other resources in the PBS Learning Media. Soon all of the classrooms in my district are to have SmartBoards and this information will be helpful to share with the teachers as a media specialist.
Melissa. I was very engrossed in your blog post and was not expecting PEACE OUT at the end. Thanks for making me smile on this crazy Monday. It is very sad and unfortunate that the school cannot remove outdated equipment due to costs. But it does not seem to interrupt instruction, probably more aesthetic. It would drive me nuts to have something in my classroom that was useless. Before I get into GPB, I must state that I would raised in Louisiana so my go to as a kid was LPB-Louisiana Public Broadcasting. I would sit in front of the TV and watch the telethons and Anne of Green Gables in entirety! While this is a great educational tool and resource, public broadcasting holds a special place in our hearts, especially 70s babies. It is great that GPB has kept up with the changing times and made itself indispensable in the realm of PK-12 education. The website is endless in terms of instruction aides for teachers and information and fun things to learn for students. The "Financial Football" section is a true example of promoting life skills and using money wisely. You are right about going in detail about a few because the options for learning are endless. Now that I am an adult, I can support GPB and others like it to make sure these resources are available to us when we need it.
ReplyDeleteTamara Creech
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI have used Discovery Learning/United Streaming and it is wonderful! I would highly recommend it to others. I was glad to see that you mentioned it in your post.
At my elementary school, our 5th graders are the stars of our morning news program. This program is aired every morning and is called Tiger T.V. Our school news is filmed using a very nice camera that is a DVR camera. We download the video to our computer and edit it using Windows Movie Maker. The edited version is shown via closed circuit each morning after filming is done in the afternoon. We cover topics such as announcements, weather, weekly jokes, cool facts, the Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem, and our school’s motto, “Roaring to the top, Tigers never stop!”
At my elementary school, we also have the capability of taping and broadcasting GPB programs. We also have the ability to broadcast recorded videos via closed circuit as long as approval has been granted by our principal. There is a form that must be filled out before transmitting video recordings and there must be included instructional objectives.
Our media specialist also has a goal to have running PowerPoint announcements to broadcast to the classrooms, but she isn’t sure about the logistics of it all, yet.