So Much Has Happened!!!

So, a lot has been going on since my last post. I finished out my year as a PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator which was AMAZING!  I received my Masters Degree in Curriculum:Technology Integration, and I started a new television/web show with my students called SMHS TBD.  The amazing thing is, that NONE of these things would have happened without the others, and the entire experience I've had over the last year and half has really changed the way I do things in and out of the classroom.

First, lets talk about PBS LearningMedia.  

After working with this amazing resource for a full year, and sharing my new knowledge around my home-state of Maine, I can honestly say it is one of the most robust and useful resources for teachers on the planet.  There is content for EVERY subject, EVERY grade level and EVERY level of participation. There is more than I can even view/see/use in a lifetime.  How lucky we are the PBS provides unbelievable classroom content for FREE!  I am more and more in love with PBS every day. I even bought a new PBS Nerd shirt to prove it (and support PBS at the same time, of course.)  I honestly learn something every day by watching PBS and visiting PBS LearningMedia.  YOU SHOULD TOO! Click below to see for yourself.

Now, on to my Masters Degree.  

I worked one and half years to get my degree in technology integration. In that time, I learned how to use technology effectively as a teacher and how to get my students to use it effectively in their assessments. I conducted monthly professional development sessions with fellow staff members throughout the district on how to implement some of the work I had been doing in their own classrooms. I hope they had as much success as I did.  I talked about many of my favorite pieces in this blog, but there are so many more I can't even begin to imagine most of them. 

All of these pieces culminated in my "internship" project, and that's what I can't wait to share next!

While at the PBS training in Philadelphia last summer, I met a man who ran a broadcasting class in Georgia. As a fellow digital integrator, we talked over dinner about the super-cool things he was doing with his students.  They had won Emmys for their work, for Pete's sake!  I knew that eventually, I wanted to do that kind of work with my students, as it would be a project that would take the communication I was trying to teach in English, and meld it with the technology I was trying so hard to integrate. When I had the opportunity to start what I called "The Studio" project in my Masters work, I jumped at the chance.  What resulted was an after school club called "The Studio" that produces a bi-weekly news show called SMHS TBD. It is everything I could have dreamed of. It is run almost entirely by students, they take ownership of the work and are proud of their product. The entire community looks forward to their shows. Our goal is to increase viewership as well as possibly increase the frequency of episodes. We include anyone who wants to join and encourage students to "pitch" their own segments to add to the rotating array we have in our program.  

Please check it out by clicking on the logo below which will take you to our official website (also designed, created and updated by students and all using html coding!)