Events

Explore the background and intentionality behind the making of Molly of Denali and the PBS Wisconsin The Ways collection. Both provide enriching bilingual resources that offer early learners opportunities to develop media literacy skills and discern informational text while featuring environmentally sustainable and economically prosperous rural communities.

Learn about the perspectives of historical and contemporary Indigenous Alaskan people in Molly of Denali, as well as tribal members of Wisconsin’s First Nations, and recognize similarities and differences regarding rural communities.

PreK-3 Educators! Join PBS Wisconsin Education and other professionals who work with children for a PBS KIDS Edcamp!  Enjoy a space to share, collaborate, and learn from each other:

• Learn about resources that cultivate classroom community and support social and emotional development from PBS KIDS. 
• Connect with educators facing similar challenges, learn new tips, and share ideas.
• Earn five hours of credit from the Registry (for early childhood providers).

Breakfast and lunch will be provided. 

Join PBS Wisconsin Education at the School Leaders Advancing Technology in Education Conference! Members of our team will offer the following presentations:

• Empowering Youth Voices Through Media Production
• Indigenous Cultural Literacy with PBS Learning Media
• Accessible & Engaging Science for Middle Schoolers With PBS WI Meet the Lab Collection
• Interactive & Engaging Inquiry with Digital Adventure Games with PBS WI Education 
• We Will Always Be Here: Integrating Inclusive LGBTQ+ Wisconsin History and Activism
• Increasing Media Literacy Skills Using PBS Resources

Every year as Native November rolls around, educators seek out free resources to activate in their learning spaces. This is an important month to not only celebrate Indigenous culture in a culturally responsive way but to acknowledge the past and current contributions of Indigenous peoples in Wisconsin. What might that look like in a library? And how can PBS Wisconsin support you in planning hands-on, inclusive, educational programs for the whole family? 

Join PBS Wisconsin Education’s Mouna Algahaithi, Early Learning Engagement Specialist, and a panel of fabulous library staff and guest speakers: Katharine Clark from Middleton Public Library, Kim Huber from Beloit Public Library, Neeyati Shah from Madison Public Library and Andi Cloud, Native Storyteller in Residence for an hour of inspiration and resource sharing! You will also learn about free PBS resources and frameworks you can incorporate into your library today.

Join David O’Connor, American Indian Studies Consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and PBS Wisconsin Education to discuss the concept of “teaching culturally” to integrate content more thoroughly into your classroom. David will discuss Indigenous Peoples’ Day and the implementation of Wisconsin Act 31, requiring schools to teach the history, culture, and tribal sovereignty of American Indians in Wisconsin.  

Build your background knowledge, access standards-aligned, multilingual resources, and learn how to deliver content in age-appropriate ways with PBS Wisconsin Education. All participants will receive maps depicting the Wisconsin First Nations and Tribal Lands. 

Join PBS Wisconsin Education Early Learning Engagement Specialists for the following presentations at the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association Virtual Conference:

• Room to Grow: Resources for Racial Literacy
  • Learn how to help children navigate race-related conflicts while challenging themselves to promote racial justice. Bilingual PBS resources will be shared to support the development of an egalitarian classroom community.
• Family and Community Learning Framework and Resources
  • Learn the PBS KIDS family and community learning workshop model and framework to facilitate multi-generational hands-on family engagement. Activate creative and collaborative learning with playful science and literacy experiences.

Join PBS Wisconsin Education, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction American Indian Studies Consultant David O’Connor, and three distinguished panelists to discuss Orange Shirt Day and learn truths about lasting impacts of Indigenous boarding schools, trauma, and resilience. This is the first of two webinars focused on Wisconsin First Nations.

Participants will:

• Gain context for Orange Shirt Day: Every Child Matters, September 30, as a day to promote awareness of the history and lasting impacts of residential schools on Native American communities.
• Learn about trauma-informed care in the classroom to discuss such impacts with students.
• Participate in a Q&A session with panelists Dr. Jolene Bowman, a citizen of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community with more than 30 years of tribal work experience including being the Director of Education and Career Services for the past sixteen years; Barb Blackdeer-Mackenzie, an enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk Nation with the title “community healer,” given to her while working with Healing Intergenerational Roots Wellness Center; and Kamewanukiw Paula Fernandez, the Culturally Responsive Practices Coordinator with the Wisconsin RtI Center and a member of the Menominee Nation turtle clan.

Evaluating the information they encounter online is an increasingly crucial skill for students. In this session at the Teaching About the Elections Conference, PBS Wisconsin Education will give examples of lessons K-12 teachers can use to foster critical thinking skills and teach students how to be savvy consumers of news information.

Using the PBS/KQED Media Literacy Certification mini-credential as a guide, participants will learn skills like lateral reading, identifying and counteracting bias in news media, fact-checking, identifying misinformation, and how to find reliable news sources. Participants will come away with concrete strategies for facilitating the analysis of online news media for middle and high school students and a list of resources to implement in their classrooms.

Join PBS Wisconsin Education, the Asian American Pacific Islander Coalition of Wisconsin, and 2022 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year, Kabby Hong for this 90-minute webinar to help build your background knowledge and explore educational resources that illuminate the wide range of contributions AAPI people have made in our state and beyond.

In January, the Wisconsin Association of School Boards passed a resolution encouraging schools to develop curriculum to teach the history, culture, and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) to the economic, cultural, and social development of Wisconsin and the USA.

Attend to learn about:

• AAPI/Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) communities
• How the increase in anti-Asian hate is affecting all our communities in Wisconsin and nationally
• High-quality, current, free resources to use in your classroom
• Impact and legacies of people from diverse AAPI communities

Join WSMA and PBS Wisconsin Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin curriculum writers as they share insight, lesson ideas, and resources that go beyond the materials originally provided in the engagement guides.

Wisconsin Native American instruments and music have been heard throughout the state for thousands of years. In this virtual workshop, Kathy Bartling shares how one Menominee composer and performer relates this through his music of today through the Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin project. FREE – Registration required.

Join WSMA and PBS Wisconsin Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin curriculum writers as they share insight, lesson ideas, and resources that go beyond the materials originally provided in the engagement guides. 

Lucy Sieber shares ideas and resources to expand your and your students’ Hmong cultural experiences. Lesson planning ideas, as well as resources for your classroom, will be shared during this virtual workshop.  FREE – Registration required.

Join WSMA and PBS Wisconsin Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin curriculum writers as they share insight, lesson ideas, and resources that go beyond the materials originally provided in the engagement guides. 

Gather new ideas with Katherine Miller on adding SistaStrings to your music curriculum. Lesson ideas from the educator engagement guides in Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin in addition to other ideas will be shared during this virtual workshop. FREE – Registration required.

Join WSMA and PBS Wisconsin Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin curriculum writers as they share insight, lesson ideas, and resources that go beyond the materials originally provided in the engagement guides. 

How can we use a microscope to help stop a virus? How can we teach a computer to help us grow better crops? Digital interactives from PBS Wisconsin’s Meet the Lab collection can help your students explore these questions while learning about cutting-edge research happening right here in Wisconsin. You’ll go home with real-world, relevant activities you can use tomorrow!

Join PBS Wisconsin Education and three Wisconsin science educators to learn how they are using the Virus Investigators: Superpowered by Electron Microscopy lab in their middle school science classrooms. The standards-aligned educational media includes a “why research matters” video, “meet the scientist” digital cards, “ask a scientist” videos, and interactive media to learn how scientists use microscopes to track down viruses.

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!

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 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.

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!

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!