San Francisco, California, September 13, 2011 – In ever-changing education and media landscapes, it can be challenging to keep the attention and focus of today’s students. Through the integration of relevant local content and new media tools and technologies, KQED aims to both engage students and to add value to learning. On Friday, September 9, KQED Education launched Do Now, a new series of activities for middle and high school teachers to use in classrooms.
Do Now activities are designed to help focus students at the start of a class period. Most are six to eight minutes in length. They are completed without teacher assistance and are used to often introduce ideas connected to the rest of the lesson. Do Now prompts utilize KQED’s award-winning online media resources, including videos, podcasts, slideshows, and images, as well as social media tools like Twitter and Facebook as platforms for student responses.
Each Friday, a new post is presented online at kqed.org/donow. In the activities, a piece of media is presented to the students with a question. Students are to then comment with their responses. Whether on a computer or mobile device, any student can participate in the Do Now discussion that reaches beyond the classroom and connects students with other learners.
Different content areas will be highlighted, keeping topics relevant and current to what is happening locally or globally. Teachers can be notified of a new Do Now post in a number of ways: by checking kqed.org/donow, receiving notifications via Twitter or Facebook, or from an RSS feed.
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