Florida: Transforming Education through Rich Digital Content

Transforming Education through Rich Digital Content

Educator Professional Development

Florida on iTunes U offers an additional way to access Florida Culture and History content available from Florida's school districts, state agencies, and non-profit organizations. Click the links below to view these Florida podcasts and other resources in iTunes U.

To The Core — From the Teachers Lounge to Tallahassee, 2010 Florida Department of Education/Macy’s Teacher of the Year, Megan Allen, sits down with Florida Department of Education leaders to discuss issues important to teachers across the state.

Florida Learn And Serve — Florida Learn & Serve is a federally funded grant program that awards grants to schools and school districts to engage youth in service-learning. Awards are issued by the Florida Department of Education.

Through service-learning participation, Florida’s K-12 students will meet real needs, have improved academic outcomes, be more prepared for careers, have greater social skills, and be more civically engaged.

Assistive Technology For The Blind — The Florida School for the Deaf and Blind explores the varied assistive technology in place at the school to enable visually impaired students to engage with the curriculum.

Differentiated Accountability — The U.S. Department of Education selected Florida to participate in the "Differentiated Accountability Pilot" initiative in 2008. Through Differentiated Accountability, or DA, the state is allowed greater flexibility in providing the needed technical assistance and interventions to the schools with greatest need. Florida's DA plan streamlines the federal and state accountability systems and directs increasing schoolwide interventions and school and district accountability based on Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and school grade.

Emergent Literacy For VPK Instructors — The Florida Department of Education Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services holds the annual Administrators' Management Meeting with distract level Exceptional Student Education directors and managers in Florida to discuss issues, policies, and procedures affecting Florida's school. All session videos are closed captioned.

Emergent Literacy For VPK Instructors — The Florida Department of Education created a high-quality, five-hour online course for Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Instructors, related to the VPK Education Standards domain of Emergent Literacy (Emergent Reading and Emergent Writing). Information about the Language and Communication domain is also presented, as is a section on Environment. The items below, independent study guide and video clips, represent the content available for this online course. Credit and CEUs for the course can only be obtained by successful completion of the online assessment, available at the DCF’s Child Care Licensing Web site, referenced under “Websites for Further Information” on this page.

Family Friendly Schools Workshop — In this four-part Family Friendly Schools Workshop, Doretha Jackson addresses strategies for developing an inviting school for parents and families. The importance of parental involvement as a key to student achievement is discussed as well as common barriers to family involvement in schools. Ms. Jackson is the Family and Community Involvement Supervisor with Pinellas County Schools and the immediate Past President of the Florida Association of Partners in Education.

Florida Alternate Assessment — All Florida students participate in the state’s assessment and accountability system. The Florida Alternate Assessment is designed for students whose participation in the general statewide assessment (FCAT) is not appropriate even with accommodations. Aligned to the Sunshine State Standards (SSS) in Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science; the Florida Alternate Assessment measures student academic performance on the Sunshine State Standards Access Points at three levels of complexity, participatory, supported, and independent. Access Points are extensions of the general standards and capture the essence of the SSS with reduced levels of complexity. It is expected that only students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who are eligible under IDEA will participate in the Florida Alternate Assessment.

Florida Charter School Conference — The Florida Charter School Conference was held November 16-18, 2009, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Orlando, Florida. The theme to the 2009 conference was "Charters – Not just another public school!" This collection brings together interviews with some of the attendees and presenters and materials from many of the conference presentations. Full transcripts of the audio interviews are available on the second tab.

Internet Basics — As a tool, the Internet provides additional resources for teachers, such as lesson plans, teacher forums, expert advice, multimedia resources, and curriculum ideas. By using the Internet as a tool, a teacher is able to create a dynamic and active learning environment for his or her classroom. These guides, produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, draw on the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), an ongoing initiative of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

Florida Digital Educator TIPS — Florida Digital Educator - Technology Integration Podcast Series. This series provides quick and effective tips for integrating technology into the curriculum.

Podcasting In Education — Teachers can use podcasting to engage students and extend learning beyond the classroom. This informative series explains the basics of podcasting for classroom teachers.

Teacher Of The Year — This program recognizes and honors the contributions of outstanding classroom teachers who have demonstrated a superior capacity to inspire a love of learning in students of all backgrounds and abilities. The Florida Department of Education/Macy's Teacher of the Year is chosen from more than 180,000 public school teachers by a selection committee comprised of teachers, principals, parents, and the business community. Florida's top educator is selected on the basis of his or her outstanding ability to teach and communicate knowledge of the subject taught, professional development, philosophy of teaching, and exceptional school and community service. The winner must also show a superior capacity to inspire a love of learning in students of all backgrounds and abilities.

Megan Allen, a fourth year teacher from Cleveland Elementary School in Hillsborough County was selected as the Florida Department of Education/Macy’s 2010 Teacher of the Year. In addition to other activities and appearances, Megan maintains a blog and a podcast highlighting educational resources and outstanding teachers around the state.

Technology Research Reports

Understanding RtI Response To Intervention — The Response to Intervention (RtI) model is a multi-tiered approach to providing high quality instruction and intervention matched to student needs, using learning rate over time and level of performance to inform instructional decisions. RtI involves the systematic use of assessment data to most efficiently allocate resources in order to improve learning for all students. In this series, Dr. George Batsche explains the RtI framework and how it is used by classroom teachers and other educators to address the needs of students.

Videos found under the "small format" tab are suitable for playback on your computer or mobile device. Videos found under the "large format" tab are suitable for playback on a larger screen for staff development meetings. The same videos are available under each tab.

Using Podcasts For Student Vocabulary Development — Research on effective vocabulary instruction emphasizes the importance of integration, repetition, and meaningful use. Students also learn more when they are actively involved. These examples of podcasts demonstrate strategies for using podcasts to implement effective vocabulary instruction.

What'S Working In Mathematics — The Florida Department of Education partnered with Lockheed Martin and the Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at Florida State University to present "What’s Working in Mathematics Education". This exciting workshop focused on the state of mathematics education in Florida and throughout the country featuring Dr. Russell Gersten of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel and a panel of esteemed mathematics educators, researchers, and business leaders. The presenters shared their knowledge and insight on what mathematics skills students need and the best approaches to ensuring they graduate from Florida’s public schools ready to compete globally.

What'S Working In Reading — Florda Commissioner of Education Dr. Eric Smith's "What’s Working in Education" series began in September 2008. It seeks to bring together education policy makers including district school superintendents, community college and state university system presidents, legislators, State Board of Education members, Department of Education staff, and business stakeholders, to be informed about current education trends and discuss policy options for Florida.

The Department partnered with the Florida Education Foundation to present "What’s Working in Reading" on January 14, 2009, in Tallahassee. This event featured a panel of esteemed national literacy experts including Dr. Timothy Shanahan, Dr. Sharon Vaughn, Dr. John Guthrie, Dr. Joe Torgesen, and Dr. Barbara Foorman. Dr. Shanahan also presented the keynote speech. This was one of several exciting events the state planned for Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida!, January 12-16, 2009.