> Video & News Programs
Einstein Middle School:
Eagle Eye Studio
If student enjoyment is an indicator of learning, then the Einstein Middle School students in Sacramento, CA, who are producing a live morning show in their new video production studio are on their way toward brilliance. The Eagle Eye studio was created when the district received an After School and Safety (ASES) grant. After more than a year of conversations about building a video studio, drama and speech teacher Mary Osteen’s dream to have a live studio was realized and supported by the district. “Prerecorded is fine, but when we kick it up to the possibility of live, that was my dream for my students — because that brings the bar of excellence as far up as we can get it,” Osteen says.
> Read more and watch the video
> Video & News Programs
Toby Johnson Middle School:
Video Productions Class
A visit to Toby Johnson Middle School’s (TJMS) Video Productions class is like stepping into a whirlwind of nonstop media activities. Throughout the classroom, students are teamed up and collaborating to meet a variety of production deadlines. Student groups may be working on public service announcements, commercials to promote school activities, movies to be used for instructional purposes by other teachers, news reports for the morning show, instructional videos, documentaries, music videos or digital story telling assignments.
> Read more and watch the video
> Video & News Programs
Will Rogers Middle School:
The Daily News
Kimberli Heck, Media Teacher says: "The media program here is a live broadcast show produced every morning — we’re one of the few schools in the area that does an actual live [program]. The media program also is a chance for the students to create and produce their own book trailers, commercials, PSAs and documentaries. It’s a chance for them to become filmmakers and producers or directors — so if they’re not interested in acting on camera there’s still a role that they can play. They basically create their own world… and it’s their class. I just sit back and give helpful hints when needed."
> Read more and watch the video
> Curriculum Areas
A Conversation with Holocaust Survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein
Elk Grove High School students joined an interactive videoconference with Holocaust survivor, human rights activist and Academy Award winner Gerda Weissmann Klein. As part of her Stand Up, Speak Out, Lend a Hand project, Klein shared her story of survival and resilience and talked about her experiences under the Nazi regime during World War II and the final death march to a camp in Czechoslovakia. Rather than dwell on the horrors that she witnessed and experienced under six years of Nazi rule, she instead focused her presentation on "the love, the caring and the friendships that gave one hope" during that time.
> Watch Living History: Gerda Weissmann Klein Video Conference
> Curriculum Areas
The Time of Remembrance Website
A unique collection of oral histories, lessons and resources is available through the Elk Grove Unified School District’s (EGUSD) Time of Remembrance website, a collection for learning about the mass relocation of thousands of citizens of Japanese ancestry from the west coast during World War II — a policy that called into question the very foundation of a democratic society. The Elk Grove district has taken an active role in formally recognizing how the internment of thousands of its Japanese-American residents during the war years profoundly affected the history of this once small farming community.
> Visit online for videos and resource materials
> Curriculum Areas
Prairie Elementary School:
The Change Writers Project
As school administrators scramble to find funding and training programs to combat growing issues of intolerance, especially cyberbullying, a group of teachers involved in the Elk Grove Unified School District's EETT grant are using writing and technology as a strategy for reversing the bullying trend. The 4th grade team at Prairie Elementary School turned to the Internet as a tool for promoting tolerance and resiliency in their young students.
> Read more and watch the video
Using Voice Thread
The Change Writers teachers used VoiceThread – a sort of visual podcast — to take their students’ writing and their voices to an audience that extended beyond the confines of the school and community.
> Read more and watch the video
> Curriculum Areas
Monterey Trails High School: Students Step into World War II
What was it like to experience racism and discrimination in the years before, during and following World War II? Eighth and 12th grade students learned about pre-Civil Rights America through a January 2009 BESTNet videoconference with Alexander Jefferson, a former Tuskegee Airman.
> Read more and watch the video
Tuskegee Airman: George Porter
George Porter discusses his experiences during World War II as a member of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen program.
> Read more and watch the video
> Curriculum Areas
Carnegie Middle School: Copyright and the Internet for Digital Students
Copying information from the Internet is so easy and most people do it so regularly that it doesn’t really seem like stealing or even borrowing. While the copyright issue is something everyone has heard of, how does it apply educators and students? Learn how Media Teacher Brian Weitzel at Carnegie Middle School in Orangevale, CA, deals with this problem daily.
> Read more and watch the video
> Professional Development
Elk Grove Unified School District: Teach 21
A group of Elk Grove USD teachers are leading the way in providing California educators with visible examples of what 21st century technology integration, resources and effective teaching strategies look like in the classroom. Thanks to funding from the Advancing Network Uses (ANU) grant from California's K-12 High Speed Network, these teachers are in the process of implementing the Teach 21 program, a two-tiered process for developing replicable models of technology integration that are disseminated statewide through SECC's BESTNet and the network.
> Watch lessons in SECC's Video Gallery
> Visit the project wiki
> Professional Development
Twin Rivers Math Training
The Twin Rivers Unified School District teamed with SECC to produce a series of staff development videos to support their newly adopted math program, EnVision Math. The video programs explore the new math program with procedural step-by-step lessons, examples of the new interactive learning bridges and demonstrations of extension activities.
> Read more and watch the series of videos
> Professional Development
Folsom Cordova Unified School District: CALSTAT 2009 Institute
School site teams and leaders attended a two-day conference in January 2009 to learn how to implement or improve the Response to Intervention (RtI) process at their site and district. Presented by Folsom Cordova Unified School District, Closing the Achievement Gap Using Response to Instruction and Intervention was part of a series funded by a federal State Improvement Grant through the California Services for Technical Assistance and Training (CalStat).
> Read more and watch the series of videos
Natomas Unified School District: Welcome to Kindergarten
As part of the Natomas School Readiness Program, Welcome to Kindergarten provides a quick overview for incoming students throughout Sacramento County. A smooth kindergarten transition is important to early student success and helps maximize the time spent in kindergarten on the learning of other essential skills.
Funding was provided by First 5 Sacramento, formed in 1998 to facilitate funding of Sacramento county children’s programs and services. Research shows that the brain develops dramatically during the first five years and what parents do during these years to support their child’s growth will have a meaningful impact throughout life.
