Happy New Year! New school year that is. Some folks look forward to January 1 as the day to make a change or a fresh start. But not teachers. A teacher’s new year starts on the first day of school. Instead of a fresh new collection of 365 days, the first day of school brings 30 fresh new faces into his or her life. 30 new children who will become their surrogate children for the next nine months. 30 sets of families who trust the teacher to take their child on a journey to learn something new every day. 30 personalities that will often be a joy and occasionally a challenge.
Most of you have been back in the classroom for a week or so now getting to know your 30 or more new partners in learning. Our job here at CET is to help you all along on that journey. Please visit us often to see what we have to offer and tell us how we can serve you better. We want to take that journey with you.
Diane
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
PBS Programs with an Ohio twist
CET brings great PBS and PBS Kids programming into classrooms and living rooms across Greater Cincinnati every day. Many educators have discovered these high-quality programs and the accompanying educational materials as valuable instructional resources in the classroom.
However, teachers know that pressure to focus on Ohio Academic Content Standards and raise test scores continues to take unparalleled emphasis in each classroom. This emphasis controls virtually every decision made by a teacher to use or not to use available materials in his or her classroom. When a single program or series has been isolated with localized content, the resources have experienced higher than normal usage levels by teachers here in Southwest Ohio. The localized content includes correlations to state standards in that specific content area, multimedia materials and lesson plans written by in-service teachers or area content experts.
CET is launching a year-long intensive campaign to reintroduce and foster usage of the many and varied PBS and CET instructional resources, especially those tied to the prime time and kids’ programs. CET will identify new programming available via broadcast and streaming for classroom viewing. Learning Services will collaborate with creative and technology-savvy area teachers to create and share their lesson plans and materials with other teachers. All materials will be made available via CETconnect.org. CET will also solicit assistance from school technology coordinators to make sure the technology used in this project is appropriate and accessible by targeted teachers in the schools and at home. Opportunity will be given to teachers to participate in a “wiki-based” lesson plan development project to ascertain if collaborative efforts online will result in high quality materials and the sharing of creativity and innovation across school districts.
To help us jump start this effort, we need your help. We want to determine which PBS or CET resources you currently use. Please take our brief online survey and help us in the future to better meet your needs. If you would like to submit a lesson plan based on a PBS program, or if you are interested in learning more about the project, please contact us.
This project is made possible by generous support from The Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation.
However, teachers know that pressure to focus on Ohio Academic Content Standards and raise test scores continues to take unparalleled emphasis in each classroom. This emphasis controls virtually every decision made by a teacher to use or not to use available materials in his or her classroom. When a single program or series has been isolated with localized content, the resources have experienced higher than normal usage levels by teachers here in Southwest Ohio. The localized content includes correlations to state standards in that specific content area, multimedia materials and lesson plans written by in-service teachers or area content experts.
CET is launching a year-long intensive campaign to reintroduce and foster usage of the many and varied PBS and CET instructional resources, especially those tied to the prime time and kids’ programs. CET will identify new programming available via broadcast and streaming for classroom viewing. Learning Services will collaborate with creative and technology-savvy area teachers to create and share their lesson plans and materials with other teachers. All materials will be made available via CETconnect.org. CET will also solicit assistance from school technology coordinators to make sure the technology used in this project is appropriate and accessible by targeted teachers in the schools and at home. Opportunity will be given to teachers to participate in a “wiki-based” lesson plan development project to ascertain if collaborative efforts online will result in high quality materials and the sharing of creativity and innovation across school districts.
To help us jump start this effort, we need your help. We want to determine which PBS or CET resources you currently use. Please take our brief online survey and help us in the future to better meet your needs. If you would like to submit a lesson plan based on a PBS program, or if you are interested in learning more about the project, please contact us.
This project is made possible by generous support from The Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
It's mine! Or is it?
It is so easy to download a song from the Internet. A few keystrokes and the song now lives on your computer hard drive or MP3 player. You can enjoy it any time you want. But, wait. Did you pay for that song? Did you ask for permission to copy it for your personal use? Did you even think about it?
If adults are unaware, or worse, uncaring of the intellectual property laws that protect copyright holders, why would teens be any better? A recent Microsoft survey revealed that half of today's teens were not familiar with the legal consequences of copyright laws and illegal downloading. As a result, some college students are facing jail time and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines due to illegal music or video downloading. Another report states that up to 90 percent of high school students admitted to copying others' work, while 60 percent of high school students confessed to cheating on tests.
The W. Frank Steely Library at Northern Kentucky University has received a Cincinnati Bar Foundation grant to provide educational copyright and plagiarism awareness films and a website for regional schools. John Schlipp, extended collection services librarian and project director, oversees Creative Thinking: Intellectual Property for Teens and Young Adults. As part of the project, an NKU summer film class taught by Associate Professor Chris Strobel created two original short films. A project committee, comprised of representatives from NKU, University of Louisville, and other regional community partners such as CET and the Campbell County Public Library will coordinate the final film/website presentation.
Area teachers and professors have provided feedback for the content of the short films and website class curriculum support materials, such as student assignments, class activities and quizzes. "Our goal is to produce content which is both engaging and informative for teens and young adults," Schlipp said. The website is scheduled for public access in the spring of 2009.
If adults are unaware, or worse, uncaring of the intellectual property laws that protect copyright holders, why would teens be any better? A recent Microsoft survey revealed that half of today's teens were not familiar with the legal consequences of copyright laws and illegal downloading. As a result, some college students are facing jail time and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines due to illegal music or video downloading. Another report states that up to 90 percent of high school students admitted to copying others' work, while 60 percent of high school students confessed to cheating on tests.
The W. Frank Steely Library at Northern Kentucky University has received a Cincinnati Bar Foundation grant to provide educational copyright and plagiarism awareness films and a website for regional schools. John Schlipp, extended collection services librarian and project director, oversees Creative Thinking: Intellectual Property for Teens and Young Adults. As part of the project, an NKU summer film class taught by Associate Professor Chris Strobel created two original short films. A project committee, comprised of representatives from NKU, University of Louisville, and other regional community partners such as CET and the Campbell County Public Library will coordinate the final film/website presentation.
Area teachers and professors have provided feedback for the content of the short films and website class curriculum support materials, such as student assignments, class activities and quizzes. "Our goal is to produce content which is both engaging and informative for teens and young adults," Schlipp said. The website is scheduled for public access in the spring of 2009.
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