Brian’s TRT Blog

Envision a classroom with students excited about learning, on task behaviors are evident, noise heard is that of students engaged in discussions regarding the topic, and the teacher is enthralled by choosing teaching as his/her profession. Sound interesting? Integrating technology into your instruction can do such a thing! Can you magine students squealing with delight when the teacher says, “We’re going to read the chapter together and answer the questions at the end!”

“Oh boy, teacher, we just love to sit quietly, not move, not talk, and answer questions in our notebooks! This is FUN!”

I digress — excuse the rabbit trail…

United Streaming, or now known as Discovery Education Streaming, has added many new features for teachers. I was excited in our training session when I heard all the new goodies:
TEACHER CENTER This section is full of new “toys” for your exploring:
–> Assignment Builder: Build and store assignments for your students that use Discovery Education Streaming’s* curriculum content
–> Quiz Builder: Incorporate video clips into interactive quizzes with Discovery Education streaming quiz Builder
–> Writing Prompt Builder: Give students writing practice with these images that include composition prompts
–> Calendar: Help students connect the past and present with videos tied to historical events.
–> Lesson Plan Library: Tap into more than 200 lesson plans designed for Discovery Education streaming videos.
–>Thematic Focus: Browse weekly teaching topics that include video segments, lesson plans, and student activities
–> Discovery Education Atlas (way too cool): Inspired by Discovery Channel’s landmark Atlas series, Discovery Eduation streaming gives you a unique video guide to our world

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Professional ideas and links for your professional growth:
–>Teaching Tips: Preview quick technology tips — from hyperlinking to movie making — that will jumpstart your lessons (if you’ve attended one of my Movie Making in the Classroom workshops, you’ll like this!)
–>Best Practices: View short video segments that profile practicing teachers and gain exciting strategies for technology integration
–> and there are many more topics, such as Project Demonstrations, Tech Talk, and Courses for Credit.

You will need to see me for the login and password (it’s the same as last year). And, as always, please do not share these with non Portsmouth employees and families due to license issues. I will be happy to train and show you how to use these. Let me know when you want to schedule a time!
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*Trademark and property of Discovery Education Network. Wording taken from website.