{PRESS RELEASE}

Program recognizes 30 teachers nominated by their local PBS stations as leaders in their education communities

Arlington, VA, March 14, 2018 – Today, PBS announced the educators selected for the first PBS Digital Innovator All-Star Program. Nominated by their local PBS stations, 30 educators were chosen from across the country, representing 28 states and Puerto Rico. Each of the Digital Innovator All-Stars was selected from a cohort of extraordinary educators who are doing innovative work in their schools and districts, and were previously recognized as part of the PBS Digital Innovator Program, which began in 2013.

The PBS Digital Innovator All-Star program expands on this influential work, deepening these educators’ roles as leaders in integrating technology and digital media into the classroom —supporting students’ learning through increasingly important media literacy skills.

“PBS is committed to recognizing and celebrating educators for the immeasurable work they do in their communities,” said Sara Schapiro, Vice President of Education, PBS. “We have been continually impressed with our PBS Digital Innovators and were truly in awe of the nominations we received for this All-Star program — so much so that we expanded the number of awardees. We’re excited to see the new and inventive ways these educators will support students’ learning through this program.”

PBS Digital Innovator All-Stars will spend the 2018-2019 school year deepening engagement among students, families, educators, schools and their local PBS stations. As an exclusive part of the program, they will have access to virtual and in-person events, including the PBS Digital Innovator All-Star Summit, to connect and learn with their peers and station representatives from across the country.

The PBS Digital Innovator All-Stars were chosen based on a variety of criteria, including passion for their role as an educator, outcomes from their time as PBS Digital Innovators, connections to their communities and service to under-resourced families.

Below is a list of the 2018 PBS Digital Innovator All-Stars and their local PBS stations; their profiles and photographs can be found here.

About PBS
PBS, with nearly 350 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and digital content. Each month, PBS reaches nearly 100 million people through television and nearly 28 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. Decades of research confirms that PBS’ premier children’s media service, PBS KIDS, helps children build critical literacy, math and social-emotional skills, enabling them to find success in school and life. Delivered through member stations, PBS KIDS offers high-quality educational content on TV – including a new 24/7 channel, online at pbskids.org, via an array of mobile apps and in communities across America. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the internet, or by following PBS on Twitter, Facebook or through our apps for mobile and connected devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by following PBS Pressroom on Twitter.

We are so excited to be starting a brand new school year together! Click play to see what we've been up to and to meet some of the Top Dog Kids.

This summer was full of many adventures for me. I flew down into the heart of the Grand Canyon in a helicopter, and I coauthored my very first book titled Education Write Now! I am excited to be able to share some behind-the-scenes insights about this special project with you.

When I was first invited to join the Education Write Now team by Jeff Zoul and Joe Mazza, I was intimidated looking at the list of people I would be writing with. My coauthors are absolutely my education heros, and to have my name on the cover of a book with them is an incredibly humbling honor. Each of them epitomize what it means to be passionate about education, and they consistently put the needs of kids first. If you want to improve your practices or just be inspired by the amount of drive and energy of this group, check out their social media accounts.

The premise of this book is unique for a few reasons.

First, we all flew into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a writer’s retreat for about 72 hours. The goal was to write the entire book (55,000+ words) during our stay. We were each challenged with writing our own chapter, or about 5,000 words. During the 72 hours, we had a regimented schedule that included time to check in with writing partners for feedback, invaluable writing tips and tricks from Routledge Publishing Company, as well as time to write alone. I learned a lot about myself as a writer during these few days. I do my best writing away from everyone else. In fact, most of my chapter was written on day two between the hours of midnight and three o’clock in the morning while alone in my hotel room working in my pj’s. I guess you never know when inspiration is going to hit you.

Second, each of the authors wrote about something urgent in education right now. I had some ideas about what I wanted to write about and topics that were on my heart and burning in my soul lately regarding education. Before my trip, I crowdsourced on Instagram and asked my followers (most of which are educators) what they’d like to see me write about. Overwhelmingly, they asked me to write about standardized assessment pressures, flexible seating and classroom design, and relationships. Luckily for me, those are three topics I felt pretty comfortable with. The topics were determined during the first day of the retreat, and I got to write about relationships in education. #luckyme #winning Specifically, I wrote about ways to build relationships between educators and students, between students, and between educators and families. My chapter offers research as well and simple practical ideas and tips (both my ideas and ideas I received from my PLN on instagram) to implement right away.

Third, while I follow each of the writers on social media, this retreat was the first time actually meeting some of them face-to-face in real life. The respect I have for each of the people I coauthored with grew every hour. They challenged me, supported me, and believed in me. They became more than just coauthors. They became friends.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading this expert from my chapter of the book, Changing the Way We Think About Relationships…

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Relationships Between Educators and Their Students

I once had a principal approach me a few weeks into school saying he noticed how much effort I was putting into teaching the expectations, routines, and norms. In his next sentence, he expressed concern that I had not dove deeply enough into our content yet. He asked me when I was going to get going on all of the curriculum. I told him that the first six weeks of school were foundational for the relationships I needed to establish and nurture. How could I expect students to learn from me if they did not understand me or trust me? I convinced my principal that I had a handle on everything and that I knew exactly what I was trying to do. As a result of this investment up front, we did not spend much time later that year dealing with management or expectations. Sure, some students needed reminders from time to time, but for the most part we could focus on learning and growing together. My students averaged a growth of 1.9 grade levels that year academically according to our end of the year standardized test (which by the way, relationships are not measured on). I am confident that we would not have seen as much growth if we had not taken the time early in the year to put the focus where it needed to be:  relationships and growing as a classroom family. The following ideas have been classroom tested and are approved by fabulous educators around the world to help empower your students and strengthen your relationship with them.

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While this was just a short sneak peek of my writing, I hope you enjoyed it. This post is actually the third in a series of posts by each of the coauthors about the experience.  You can check out Jeff’s post here and Tony’s post here. The fourth post will be published by one of my new friends, Starr Sackstein. You’ll want to check out what she has to say about this project!

You can register up until August 16.
save 20% on your purchase by using the code KAYLA

Remember, the course registration closes August 16!
Save 20% on your purchase by using the code KAYLA.