Rhizome - February '24

Educator Spotlight: Julia Berge

Friends, Romans, Educators,

We're starting a new segment where each month, we give a shoutout to an educator who's going above and beyond. This month, we'd like to give kudos to Julia Berge of Central Valley School in Buxton, ND.

Julia teaches secondary English and German, and has been a major help to Prairie Public this year, writing support material for our upcoming PBS LearningMedia uploads.

If you'd like to nominate an educator you feel has been making major waves this year (bonus points if they use LearningMedia/PBS in their classroom!), use the button below to email us. Thank you Julia!

Nominate an Educator

Prairie Vistas LIVE: Minnesota's Legacy

Join us for a LIVE edition of Prairie Vistas on YouTube

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 3:30pm

The February episode of Prairie Vistas will cover the fabulous productions from around the state of Minnesota produced by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. You'll see what Prairie Public, along with other MN-based stations, produce using the fund, as well as educational resources stemming from those productions. All that and more, on Prairie Vistas!

Episodes typically premiere the 4th Tuesday of each month. To watch/listen to full episodes, including our January coverage of Black Histories of the Northern Plains, visit our webpage.

All episodes, as well as LIVE episode premieres, happen exclusively on YouTube; come with questions and comments, as we'll be chatting with you during the premiere. Don't miss it!

Amplifying Student Voices: A Free PD Course

Amplify your students’ voices and your lessons with media! This self-paced online class from Prairie Public Education Services allows you to choose your own adventure and explore how to use video production, podcasting, and social media in the classroom. Empower students to create and help them demonstrate their thinking.

The course is FREE and open to educators of all grades, subjects, and experience levels! Continuing Education Credits are available from North Dakota State University for $50. More information and registration can be found here.

A Summer course will be offered; if that works better for you, stay tuned for updates.

What educators who've taken the course have to say:

"Darcy was excellent and excited as an instructor with a great deal of passion and connections to relevant resources."
"This Class helped me learn how to incorporate technology into my lessons and pushed me out of my comfort zone."
"It gave me a chance to make some of the projects I only dreamed I had time to create, plus it gave me a chance to bounce ideas off others."

Education Services Out & About

The Education Department was running all over this month:

We helped students at Liberty Middle School, West Fargo, devise strategies for their weekly newscast.
We toured the Fargo-Moorhead area, reading to children, with special guest Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Finally, we hosted Stars of PBS, an event at Minnesota State University, Moorhead, where families could experience STEM related activities, like a planetarium show, physics-based games, and how video cameras work.

Black History Month Resources on LearningMedia

PBS LearningMedia has a plethora of resources for you to use in your classroom for Black History Month. Among them, are the following three collections:

Celebrating Black History & Culture: a curated group of resources that showcase achievements by black people in fields like literature and the arts, civics, and STEM related fields.
Making Black American: Through the Grapevine: a four-part series from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. which chronicles the vast networks and organizations created by and for Black people. The series explores the extraordinary world that showcased Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.
Black Histories of the Northern Plains : a digital educational series, created and produced by Prairie Public, documenting and examining historical Black experiences in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Presidents' Day & Valentine's Day

February is full of eventful dates! Use these resources in your classroom to connect these special days with your curriculum:

For Presidents' Day: Young students can learn about the evolution of the holiday; Older students can check out any number of biographies, primary resources, and videos from "The Presidents: American Experience" collection.
For Valentine's Day: You and your preK-2 students can talk about and write down what makes someone a good friend; older elementary students can discover the origins of the holiday; Secondary science students can look into the structure and function of the heart.