Apply for KQED Do Now Working Group for this Spring

KQED Education is looking for highly engaged educators who are interested in integrating innovative pedagogical approaches to learning where students can connect, collaborate, and debate with their peers from around the country on current events.

KQED Do Now is a weekly activity for high school students around the nation to explore current issues and have digital conversations using social media. It is a simple and excellent way for educators to integrate civic engagement and 21st Century skills into the curriculum. This project has grown to a national level with the help from our recent partnerships with the National Writing Project, PBS NewsHour Extra, California Academy of Sciences, and Twitter.

[The application is at the bottom of this page.]

We are making a big effort to find educators who represent a diverse range of learning environments in the following areas:

Social Studies/Civics, Language Arts, Arts, Technology, Science, and Health

You do not have to be tech-savvy or come from a learning center with an incredible offering of computer equipment and resources for your students. The activity is super flexible and can be implemented in a number of ways, with or without mobile devices, on or off sites like Twitter.

We will be creating 3 working groups: 1) Civics, Government & Policy 2) Science/STEM 3) Arts & Popular Culture.

The working groups will be held during the Spring semester from January to June and will be hosted entirely online. Those who get accepted and participate will be given a $150 stipend at the conclusion of the project.

The time commitment for this project is as follows:

• 1, 2-hour orientation/webinar in early January (TBD).
• 1, mid-semester session in mid-March (TBD). This session will be asynchronous and you will be given a week to look at the materials and fill out a survey. The time commitment should not exceed 2 hours.
• 1, end of the semester session in early June (TBD). Again, this session will be asynchronous and you will be given a week to look at the materials and fill out a survey. The time commitment should not exceed 2 hours.
• You will have to commit at least a portion of one class/one teaching period per week through out the spring semester for this project.
• You will have to moderate your students responses online each week.
• Become a Do Now leader/advocate for future iterations of this activity.

If you are interested in joining the working group for KQED Do Now, please fill out the form below. If you have already participated and know of educators who may be interested, please pass this email along to them. Note: Previous members of the KQED Do Now working groups will not be accepted.

The application deadline is January 4.

Visit our About Do Now page to learn more.

The Do Now discussion can reach beyond the classroom and connect students far and wide. If you have any questions, email Matthew Williams at at mwilliams@kqed.org.