PBS Teachers® Innovation Awards Highlight PreK-12 Educators’ Big Ideas
PBS Teachers Innovation Awards recognize educators who incorporate creative new teaching practices and digital media in the classroom to inspire and engage students. PreK-12 educators can win a trip to The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Mich., for a weeklong “Innovation Immersion Experience”
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 11, 2011 – PBS and its local stations are calling all preK-12 educators who use dynamic and innovative practices to improve education to enter the PBS Teachers Innovation Awards program by March 31. As the driving force behind America’s future, educators are constantly evolving their practices to ensure students learn the skills they need to be successful outside the classroom and become the next generation of innovators and leaders. The second annual PBS Teachers Innovation Awards, sponsored by The Henry Ford, showcases the best practices for introducing new teaching methods into the classroom to foster student engagement and improve learning.
From math and science to music and the arts, teachers’ inventive thinking continuously fuels, inspires and engages young minds. Whether teaching students physics with rocket launchers, social studies by re-enacting historical events, or literature by inviting kids to create digital stories, teachers are innovating and making a difference in students’ lives. “Educators from preK to high school are increasingly using digital media in the classroom to increase student achievement,” said Rob Lippincott, senior vice president of education for PBS. “The PBS Teachers Innovation Awards will recognize innovative educators and their engaging and effective instructional practices using digital media to provide a replicable model for others.”
PreK-12 educators from all different backgrounds, including classroom teachers, library media specialists and homeschool educators, are eligible for the PBS Teachers Innovation Awards program. To enter, teachers must join the PBS Teachers online community and share their story about how they use PBS educational resources to support innovation in their classroom. Educators are required to submit a video demonstrating the innovative instructional method with students (inside or outside the classroom), or an innovative project that was a result of an instructional activity they conducted. In addition each entry must show how a PBS resource was used or modified to enhance the lesson or project. Entries will be evaluated by a panel of judges that includes previous Innovation Awards winners and PBS Teacherline® course facilitators, all of whom are expert teachers with extensive experience in the classroom. Winners will be selected based on their level of creativity and student engagement, among other criteria.
First prize will be awarded to the top 12 educators, two from each of subject and grade-level groupings. These educators will participate in a weeklong “Innovation Immersion Experience” at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Mich., from July 31 to Aug. 5, 2011. The “Innovation Immersion Experience” offers a unique professional development opportunity designed to inspire educators to transform learning in the classroom. The Henry Ford celebrates yesterday’s traditions as well as today’s innovations with a rich and diverse offering of exhibits, demonstrations, programs and reenactments. First prize winners will also receive free enrollment in a PBS TeacherLine professional development course. For second prize, 36 teachers will receive a bag of PBS gifts that will include best-selling and award-winning public broadcasting programs in digital formats and much more. All prize winners will receive the title of “PBS Teachers Innovators” and will be invited to work with PBS and local stations to encourage the utilization of public digital media and innovative teaching practices in classrooms across the country.
Winners will be featured on the PBS Teachers website. PBS Teachers is the Web portal to the PBS’ preK-12 educational services and its searchable library of more than 9,000 free local and national standards-based instructional resources, including on-demand video and interactive games. For more information and to enter, go to www.pbs.org/teachers/innovators/.
Kristen Plemon
C. Blohm & Associates, Inc.
608-839-9805
kristen@cblohm.com
About PBS
PBS, with its nearly 360 member stations, offers all Americans - from every walk of life - the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches more than 118 million people through television and nearly 21 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS' broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry's most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS' premier children's TV programming and its Web site, pbskids.org, are parents' and teachers' most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the Internet.
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