By Tom Flanigan
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-974951.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – The topic of education often sparks blame-gaming and finger-pointing. But sometimes there is good news and cause for hope. Tom Flanigan has the story of a Panama City teacher who has gained national recognition for helping her special-needs kids get excited about learning.
Brenda Branch teaches second and third grade kids with behavioral and emotional disorders at St. Andrews Elementary. Branch says it was really one of her students who turned her on to a new teaching tool.
"Well, my students love being on the computer and I only have certain sites that I let them access. And I had this one student that kept saying, PBS Kids, PBS, Kids!' And I said, No, just the sites that I have listed there.' And he kept asking, so I went, Fine, go!' and he started playing on some PBS Kids games."
Branch soon found games weren't the only things on the site.
"Teachers' lesson plans and printable resources and digital videos, interactive games, interactive lessons and it just opened up a whole new area for me to access and to provide an engaging format for my students."
Resources that she says dovetail perfectly with the state-mandated curriculum requirements.
"The PBS programs that I've been engaged in - all the ones that I've checked into - have built-in standards. They align with the benchmarks that I'm required to teach. And it's not just an embellishment, it's actually the future of education in that our students are digital natives'."
A good thing, too, as schools are rapidly moving into the digital domain. Interactive electronic pads that connect directly to the Internet will replace textbooks in the next five years. And Florida high schools already mandate students take at least one virtual course before graduation. For her creative use of the PBS-Kids resources, Branch received an Innovation Award from the network. She says that came as a welcome recognition especially at a time when teachers seem to get blamed for every woe that plagues modern education.
"Society has changed and it's a societal problem, it's a community problem, it's a national problem that our scores have not kept up with the rest of the world. It's the change in our culture and a lot of times teachers take the blunt of that problem that the nation faces."
Meanwhile, Brenda Branch says she'll use every tool she can find to help her kids overcome their challenges and take their place in a rapidly-changing world.