Events

Are you a creative young person with an interest in video production? Share your perspective through a short documentary, commentary on current events, or an innovative take on a topic you’re learning in school in the first-ever Click Youth Media Challenge. PBS Wisconsin Education and Play Make Learn invite students in grades K-12 to submit their media productions for the first ever Click Youth Media Challenge. Student-made media will be available to view during the 2021 Play Make Learn Conference. Prizes will be awarded at the conference for top entries. Educators who submit media pieces for their students will be considered for the Click Media Educator Award, a recognition of excellence in media education.

Whether rural or urban, Wisconsin communities are increasingly multicultural and multilingual, with nearly 30 languages spoken around the state. Schools play an integral role in building community with all families, within and beyond school doors. In this webinar, you will learn about steps school administrators and educators can take to make cultural inclusivity a priority,  ways schools can engage families from all backgrounds in a meaningful way, and ideas for strategizing with local or statewide organizations to achieve these common goals. 

Are you interested in using media in your classroom? Wondering where to look for media content? Earn Registry credits and join us on May 22nd, along with the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association for Playful Learning with PBS KIDS: Tips for Being a Media Mentor in the Classroom. Discover research-based guidelines and practical tips for using tech with young learners. Come ready to learn, play, connect, and leave with a new toolbox of activities! Come ready to learn, play, and connect with other early childhood educators near you!

Digital tools ranging from Edpuzzle to Nearpod to Jamboard have become ubiquitous during the COVID crisis while teachers and students have relied on them to enhance instruction and student attention. This session, the first in a series, will feature tech-savvy educators leading interactive introductory demonstrations of Flipgrid and Nearpod, and showcasing how you can integrate these apps with free resources on PBS LearningMedia from GBH and PBS Wisconsin. There will be ample time for hands-on practice and Q & A. This session is a collaboration between GBH Education, PBS LearningMedia and PBS Wisconsin.

The classroom community reaches far beyond the classroom walls as students’ families, community members, and the natural environment are all part of their identity. Valuing students’ communities, families, and cultural funds of knowledge in the classroom also helps build a more inclusive classroom community. This panel of Wisconsin educators will share stories of working cross-culturally with diverse families and communities and offer insights to create more welcoming environments for all of our students.

Unearth PBS digital resources you can use to expand Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) history into your classroom. This brief lunchtime webinar will be divided into two groups: elementary resources and middle-high school resources. Walk away with digital resources you can use in your classroom the next day!

PBS Wisconsin Education is a proud sponsor of Remake Learning Days, a festival celebrating events and educational resources that help youth develop their sense of creativity, perseverance, and curiosity.

American Indians are often under-represented or mis-represented in mainstream media and in educational content. During this session, attendees will learn about educational resources and materials available from PBS that celebrate Indigenous people as diverse individuals communities. Session participants will walk away with resources that can be used both in the classroom and other educational opportunities to recognize diverse Native experiences.

Join us in welcoming the latest addition to our Wisconsin Biographies resources, Carrie Frost. Carrie Frost was a fly fishing enthusiast who paved the way for other female entrepreneurs and business owners in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Come learn more about Carrie and sign up for Wisconsin Biographies Trading Cards for use in your classroom!

Are your students curious about what engineers do in a lab or how stem cells are used in research? The Stem Cell Bioprocessing and Regenerative Biomaterials Lab bioengineers neural tissue to study the nervous system. In this webinar, you’ll learn about the “Nervous System Engineers”––part of Meet the Lab resources for middle school science and have the chance to talk to a bioengineer who works in the lab.

Introducing Tiny Earth, a global network of students and instructors dedicated to discovering new antibiotics through student-sourcing field research. In this webinar, you’ll learn about “Antibiotic Hunters”––part of Meet the Lab resources for middle school science and have the opportunity to participate in a live conversation with scientist Julia Nepper who studies antibiotics by searching for microorganisms in soil.

Black History Month has come and gone, but these efforts must continue year-round. What questions do you still have? Let’s talk about them.

This Edcamp event celebrates the learning that occurred during Black History Month and will inspire a renewed commitment to seeking equity-focused, racial justice-oriented education in all learning spaces. What questions do you still have regarding Black excellence, racial disparities in education, or being a better ally? Bring them to this event and converse with like-minded educators around the state grappling with these same inquiries.

Help your students get started with media production! As a kick off to the first ever Click Youth Media Challenge, this webinar will serve as an introduction to video production providing tips for helping your students create video and audio pieces they can submit for the Click Youth Media Challenge. Learn how to use your phone to capture video and audio, how to get a variety of shots and plan a sequence of images, how to use storyboards for planning and how to embed media projects into your curriculum. Learn more about how students can showcase their work with an authentic audience at the 2021 Play Make Learn Conference.

Expand your classroom bookshelf to include new children’s and young adult literature by and about people of color. PBS Wisconsin is proud to host Madeline Tyner, a librarian at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, as they share brand new books from 2020 and early 2021. 

The CCBC is dedicated to diversity and education. They document the number of books they receive annually that are by and about Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Beginning in 2018, they began documenting the content of every book they received around other aspects of diversity and representation in children’s and young adult literature as well, including LGBTQ+, disability, and religion.

Join the Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin performers as they share their joy of music, growth as performers, love of culture and heritage, and challenges faced as they share music throughout their work in our state. In this workshop, Schuyler Pietz encourages the use of LatinX music in your classroom with the Re/Sound educator engagement guides she created.

With Wisconsin being at the national forefront of racialized educational disparities between Black and white students, many educators seek strategies for dismantling existing barriers. This leads many educators to ask the question: what does race-based equity look like in a variety of learning spaces? From early childhood classrooms to afterschool settings and college lecture halls, join our outstanding panel of Wisconsin education leaders to learn about their own experiences and strategies for developing equitable learning spaces.

Join PBS Wisconsin Education’s virtual session at the Wisconsin Head Start Association Conference PBS KIDS Playful Learning for Educators. In this webinar, you will learn and play together using digital and non-digital tools. Time is provided for educators to construct and share their own understanding of how the teaching strategies and PBS KIDS resources support children’s learning and development. The goal is to empower educators with the tools, skills, and confidence to bring similar media-rich, play-based, and learner-centered experiences into their own environments and communities. Educators will leave each session with new digital resources from PBS KIDS and an action plan for how they will put their learning into practice.

Join the Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin performers as they share their joy of music, growth as performers, love of culture and heritage, and challenges faced as they share music throughout their work in our state. In this workshop, curriculum writers, Katherine Miller and Lucy Wrenn, share ideas and resources provided in the Re/Sound educator engagement guides for sharing Hmong music in your classroom.

PBS Wisconsin Education is proud to sponsor this event, ensuring that scholarships are available to increase the access to Wisconsin educators!

Join us at 10:45-11:45am on February 20th for a special break out workshop: You’re a Star! Celebrating Black Scientists with PBS Wisconsin.

Want to learn more about Black Space Scientists, PBS KIDS, and participate in a hands-on, building activity? Join Mouna Algahaithi from PBS Wisconsin as she leads families together through an interactive workshop. We will read together, watch a brief PBS KIDS episode related to the theme, and build a spacesuit for our own stuffed animal while celebrating the accomplishments of important Black science figures! Make sure to bring your little one(s) and your favorite stuffed animal along for the mission!

Meet the Lab is a collection of educational resources for middle school science classrooms that introduces learners to relevant real-world issues, cutting edge research and the human element—the people working together to research, innovate and solve problems using science. 

We’re gearing up to add four more labs to the collection; labs who are doing research about regenerative biology, virology, psychology and visual perception, and real world applications for emergent technologies such as virtual reality, and we are now recruiting a cohort of educators to help us develop and test activities and be part of project videos. 

Check out this flyer to learn more about what we have planned for the cohort and then apply here by February 23, 2021. 

Unearth PBS digital resources you can use to expand Black History Month in February and throughout the year. This brief lunchtime webinar will be divided into two groups: elementary resources and middle-high school resources. Walk away with digital resources you can use in your classroom the next day!

The WEMTA Conference brings together current, future and past educators to share knowledge of library, literacy and technology topics. Nine concurrent sessions over two days offers a wide variety of choices. Stop by the PBS Wisconsin Education virtual exhibit booth or make a one-on-one appointment to speak with Jessie Nixon, an Education Engagement Specialist at PBS Wisconsin Education, during the lunch break! PBS Wisconsin Education is proud to sponsor WEMTA Virtual Bingo on Monday, February 8th at 4:30. Be sure to attend for your chance to win!

Join the Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin performers as they share their joy of music, growth as performers, love of culture and heritage, and challenges faced as they share music throughout their work in our state. Discussion will be based on submitted questions and topics chosen by the performers.

Join PBS Wisconsin Education to learn how to activate our newest content, Meet the Lab! This collection introduces students to relevant real-world issues, cutting edge research, and the human element—the people working together to research, innovate, and solve problems using science. Learn more about how to use this content in your classroom and hear about upcoming opportunities for you and your students to engage with STEAM content.

Session: You, Your Students and Your Community with the WSMA and PBS Wisconsin Re/sound Project

WSMA and PBS Wisconsin Education’s project, Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin can help you and your students explore the connections between music, identities, cultures, and emotions. Hear from those involved in the process – what they personally gained and what you and your students can learn about yourselves and each other through use of the Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin resources.

Teaching While White’s Co-Directors, Jenna Chandler-Ward and Elizabeth Denevi lead a discussion about talking about race and making whiteness explicit in school communities.

Join nationally recognized education researcher, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings and PBS Wisconsin to learn about the four factors that have led to the educational disparities that exist between Black and White students in the U.S.. Dr. Ladson-Billings will also share her vision for culturally relevant teaching in a post-COVID-19 world.

Wisconsin Biographies is a collection of free, educational, online media resources that tell the stories of notable people in Wisconsin history whose contributions to society continue to resonate today. This webinar explores the animated videos, text biographies, image gallery, interactives, and teaching tips. Wisconsin Biographies is intended for use in grades 3-8.

An introduction to using PBS KIDS’ Molly of Denali to enrich American Indian studies, literacy, and social-emotional learning lessons. Our Education Engagement Specialist, Mouna Algahaithi discusses how to leverage the additional resources that accompany the show’s episodes to help your students grow their skills!