Cheryl Morris (@guster4lovers) is a sixth grade humanities teacher at Del Mar Middle School in Tiburon, California. Cheryl gets to bring more than just a strong educational technology background into her classroom: she also brings puppets. Students become creators using their own puppets and the MacBooks they are issued for the duration of middle school. Cheryl also loves helping her fellow teachers implement new technology into their classrooms and enjoys creating digital media for the school as part of the technology committee. Here is an example of how she is using PBS LearningMedia with her students. Share your PBS LearningMedia stories here.
Why are you using PBS LearningMedia in your classroom?
I like that PBS is investing in creators, like in The Art Assignment, and giving them the tools to make content they may not have been able to afford to make any other way. I also like that there are lots of primary sources that have resources to help students understand the context, aesthetics, and history of the source. It is conveniently curated and free, as well, which is great!
How have you used PBS LearningMedia recently?
In our unit on Hominids and Early Humans, I had students watch several of the videos about Neanderthals and other Hominids because it helped them to understand their lives better when seeing where they were living, what they made, what they ate, etc. These videos served as the foundation for our Battle of the Hominids project. For this project students wrote a story about the life of Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus or the Neanderthals.