Discovery Education Speakers Bureau

Whether you teach in one of the states where every school has Discovery Education streaming or if your school has a license of its own, there are instructional strategies that will surprise you!  Finding and playing video segments are just one of many ways you can use the media library.  Did you know you have an Interactive Atlas, dynamic Calendar, thousand of quiz question and tens of thousands of images, speeches, and sound effects?  Come and learn how to integrate the DES tools in new and exciting ways that are perfect for reaching the 21st century student.

More than 50% of US schools have a digital media library.  If you are part of this majority, you may not be maximizing your resources.  Come learn how to build online quizzes with media clips for students on the net.  Learning about media for writing prompts and Web 2.0 applications SlideShare, VoiceThread, and TeacherTube and how they can be incorporated into media library tools.  Media is for much more than watching!  Arm yourself with knowledge and return to your classroom with new cyber tools for the 21st century.

In this session, we'll explore how we can use video, imagery, sound, and closed-captioning to reach different learning styles and deliver a teachable moment for every student.  Examine tools that build interactive lessons with video, sound, and web-based tools and assignments.  Build resources that are accessible from school, labs, learning centers, and home!   Build for individual students or entire districts.  That's power to teach!

We’ll explore Web 2.0 applications like animoto, voicethread and more and find out how they can be used to create movies as well as deliver information in a way that our digital natives are accustomed.  Come see and learn media creation in a whole new way.

Closed captioning is a powerful, underused tool for improving reading skills from pre-school students through high school.  Tying words and letters to the full context of images and sound provides a critical link for comprehension.  It is especially effective for second language learners.  With impact far beyond the original target of the hearing impaired, English language captions improve comprehension and fluency.  During the session will explore the many ways in which you can use Close Captioning in the classroom.  Captions can be simply turned on--or manipulated with technology for imaginative uses that will surprise you.   We’ll even create our own CC template so that we can make any video close captioned!

We all know that the computer, projector and PowerPoint have replaced the old slide projector, hundreds of tiny static photos, and the phrase “next slide please.”   But did you know that PowerPoint can also be combined with videos, sounds, effects and interactive boards to create an engaging multimedia presentation?  During this session will explore the necessary (and not-so-scary) steps for building an engaging multimedia presentation.