Monday, December 24, 2007

New Programs from GaDOE

The Georgia Department of Education in collaboration with Georgia Public Broadcasting bring two new video-training modules to school-based leadership teams, advisors, counselors, graduation coaches, middle school teachers, and high school teachers: Graduation Counts! Readiness to Results in Grades 6-12 and Teachers as Advisors.

Graduation Counts! is a six-episode series with topics ranging from Adult Culture, Utilizing Data, Rigor & Relevance, Relationships, Pyramids of Intervention, and Standards-Based Teaching. Each episode is introduced by Kathy Cox and is broken down into segments. This video-training module is designed for school-based leadership teams and provides a deeper understanding of the practices outlined in the Graduation Counts! guide.

Middle and high school teachers will be able to use Teachers as Advisors to assume responsibilities as student advisors and as members of graduation teams. The material in the series is also appropriate for advisors, counselors and graduation coaches. This informative program has ten modules including Establishing Need and Gaining Awareness of Data, The Educational and Career Planning Process, Articulating a Statement of Purpose, Strategic Planning for Parent/Family Involvement, Achieving Consensus on Organization and Logistics, Designing Framework-Based Content for Delivery, Understanding and Fully Utilizing Assessment Results, Determining the Level of Leader Involvement and Support, Professional Learning and On-going Support, and Assessing the Effectiveness of a TAA Program.

Watch Graduation Counts! and Teachers as Advisors in the GPB Digital Library. Look for these programs to air on GPB Education’s Satellite Network in the beginning of 2008!

Call for Early Childhood Trainers

Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Adult and Family Literacy Program is seeking state-approved Early Childhood trainers to join the GPB Training Team. We’re looking for trainers located in all areas of Georgia. Trainers in all counties of the state are encouraged to inquire.

1. Requirements: Must be a state approved trainer.
2. Must be proficient in Early Childhood content.
3. Must be willing to travel to Atlanta for “train-the-trainer” training sessions.

Spanish-speaking trainers are also encouraged to apply.

For more information about this exciting opportunity, please contact Carol Veatch at cveatch@gpb.org

Nominations for Child Care Providers of the Week

Georgia Public Broadcasting airs two outstanding shows Monday through Friday. Program your VCR!!

* Los Niños en Su Casa (4:30 am – 5:00 am)
* A Place of Our Own (5:00 am – 5:30 am)

The shows share ways for us all to help children acquire academic, social, emotional and physical skills, as well as nurture language and literacy development.

A Place of Our Own and Los Niños en Su Casa (in Spanish) will highlight a child care provider from a different community every week. Georgia Public Broadcasting is searching for providers who offer exemplary child care in their community and really go above and beyond what is expected of them. All nominees will be celebrated at special events throughout the state.

A half page nomination letter explaining who the provider is and why they should be considered for A Place of Our Own/Los Niños en Su Casa “Child Care Provider of the Week” is required.

You may send in a nomination for yourself by explaining who you are and why you should be considered for A Place of Our Own/Los Niños en Su Casa “Child Care Provider of the Week”

Requirements are:

* Must care for children between the ages of Birth-5 years.
* The provider can be licensed, registered or exempt (non licensed).
* Family, friend or neighbor providers (including nannies) that care for one or more children are encouraged to apply.
* We are looking for culturally diverse providers, who will allow us to represent all parts of the community.
* Providers do not have to be English speaking.

Visit the websites.

* www.aplaceofourown.org
* www.losninosensucasa.org

Nominations can be made on these websites
OR
You May Email Nominations To:
ccnominations@gpb.org
OR
Mail Nominations To:
Carol Veatch
260 14th Street, NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30318
Major funding for A Place of Our Own/ Los Niños en Su Casa is provided by BP, First 5 California, and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. A Place of Our Own/Los Niños en Su Casa is a production of KCET/Los Angeles in association with Sesame Workshop and 44 Blue Productions, Inc.

Spectacular Saturday

Join Georgia Public Broadcasting, A Place of Our Own and Los Niños en Su Casa for a Spectacular Saturday in February 2008! This free, informative, fun-filled day is designed for Early Childhood Child Care Providers and includes sessions providing valuable information that will help you work with children to gain academic, social, emotional and physical skills. Sessions will also provide and include information that will help you nurture language and literacy development for pre-K children.

English and Spanish sessions and materials will be provided.

Select sessions at Spectacular Saturday will provide state credit. A complimentary breakfast and lunch will be served.

Family, Friend & Neighbor Home Child Care Providers, Center Providers and Nannies are all encouraged to attend!

For more information, please e-mail spectacularsaturday@gpb.org

Georgia Public Broadcasting And GaCSI: An Awareness & Action Campaign

Growing incidences of cybercrimes against children and teens provided undeniable evidence that there was a need for a comprehensive, culture-changing program that empowers children and teens with the knowledge, skills and ability to stay safe online. This need brought on the Georgia CyberSafety Initiative: An Awareness and Action Campaign (GaCSI), which provides the state of Georgia with the resources needed to battle cybercrimes and help keep children safe online. GPB is collaborating with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) and Richard Hull Middle School PTA (RHMS) of Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) to fully develop the community education component of the GaCSI. Verizon’s philanthropic arm, the Verizon Foundation, awarded GPB a grant which will help with the completion of this component of GaCSI. The community education component of this grant, will follow a two-pronged approach:

1. A series of educational and informative 3 – 5 minute podcasts featuring experts on Internet safety, cyberbullying, and child/adolescent growth and development interviewed via telephone to discuss and offer solutions on Internet safety.
2. A series of 7 webcasts to be used by GEMA as a prerequisite to their two-day community presenter certification class on Internet safety, enabling enrollees to do guided pre-class preparation.

This component of GaCSI will be rolled out statewide with online dissemination by GPB. Ultimately, as GaCSI has access to more funding, the entire GaCSI program will be fully developed and will have national impact as a replicable, model program of best practices. With its statewide broadcast coverage and commitment to using Internet and other emerging information technologies for the benefit of K-12 education, GPB is the logical choice to take the lead on protecting children by utilizing cybersafety information and education through the Georgia CyberSafety Initiative: An Awareness and Action Campaign program. Watch video segments of the Governor’s Town Hall Meeting on Internet Safety:

* Partnership for a Child-Safe Internet: Michele Robinson
* Partnership for a Child-Safe Internet: Governor Perdue
* Partnership for a Child-Safe Internet: Panel Introductions
* Partnership for a Child-Safe Internet: David Nahmias
* Partnership for a Child-Safe Internet: Sue Dowling
* Partnership for a Child-Safe Internet: Tod Keys
* Partnership for a Child-Safe Internet: Garry McGiboney, PH.D.
* Partnership for a Child-Safe Internet: Kelley Bradshaw
* Partnership for a Child-Safe Internet: Michael Mckeehan
* Partnership for a Child-Safe Internet: Q & A
* Partnership for Child-Safe Internet

The C-47 Legend

You probably have heard about C-47 by now and know that around GPB it is our Georgia Short Film Showcase, but you probably have wondered what exactly a C-47 is and why we chose to call our stellar showcase a C-47. To get this answer, we will need to take a little glimpse into the world of filmmaking.

Filmmakers rely on many factors to create a desired effect and mood to a scene, but one in particular is very important: lighting. Since Shakespearean times, lighting has been one of the single most important aspect of a set or scene. As you can probably imagine, lighting a scene in those times were quit different than today. The difference between the times is wine glasses and color correction gel or diffusion that is used in today’s filmmaking.

These color correction gels or diffusions used in modern times are simply transparent colored materials placed over a light on a film set. There’s one small catch – the lights on a set tend to get extremely hot and something durable that can withstand the heat of the light is needed to hold the color correction gel in place. What would this durable, outstanding material be? It would have to be the one and only, ever so heat-resistant wooden clothespins that are known by filmmakers and the film industry as C-47s.

These handy, non-heat transferring C-47s make changing a color correction gel much safer than touching the light directly. They are used so often on the set that some in the industry refer to them as “bullets” because crew members have them pinned everywhere including their belts for use at any given moment.

For why the filmmakers decided to call wooden clothespins a C-47 is really up to debate. Some believe it was for budgeting purposes to make the tool sound more exclusive than it really is, and some believe it came from a box label. Either way, the clothespin with a humble beginning as just a device used for hanging clothes on a clothesline is now as famous as some of the filmmakers themselves – stage name and all.

Without C-47s, lighting just wouldn’t be the same on a set. We decided this tool represented exactly what we think short films represent – something filmmakers can’t live without.

To learn more about C-47: Georgia Short Film Showcase, visit www.cforty7.com. The next deadline for submissions is December 31.