By Sybil Berry, Producer, VITAL
September, 2008 marked the re-launch and re-branding of VITAL, one of Thirteen’s premier offerings for teachers. The site, now known as VITAL New York, was created with funding from the US Department of Education. Through a strategic collaboration with WGBH/Boston’s Teachers’ Domain service, VITAL NY offers a dramatically expanded–and growing–collection of media-based resources supporting the New York State standards and core curriculum. In addition to mathematics and English Language Arts for grades K-8, VITAL NY also includes resources aligned to the New York State Regents curriculum in Global History and Geography, Living Environment, Earth Science, Physics, and Chemistry. In the coming weeks, we will be adding social studies and science resources for grades K-8.
The true goal of this great transformation has been for teachers and educators to simply have more choices, to the tune of more than 2,000 resources, up from just 300 last year! To check out the site, go to vital.thirteen.org and register for FREE.
It was a mighty effort for our group to make the transition to the new site but its back to business as usual for me, developing content for VITAL NY. To begin developing new resources, one of the more challenging tasks I have is selecting programming. Luckily, the selection is made from public television’s vast array of series and documentaries, among the finest, most cutting-edge and relevant programming being produced today. That’s a first step. Next, I’m looking at how well a program aligns with a particular grade level and content area, where it fits within the curriculum, how relevant the programming is to today’s world, and how students might connect the content to their life experience.
This month we’re developing a new English Language Arts lesson designed to help 8th grade students to identify the explicit and implicit language of the 14th Amendment, using the PBS series The Supreme Court. This four-part documentary series about the dramatic impact the Court has had on American life, ideals and the practical application of law was produced in 2007. Please look for the activity when it launches in late October. In the meantime, if you want to watch select video segments, access other series-related resources developed by the Education Department at WNET.ORG or learn more about The Supreme Court, visit the series web site at www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/index.html.
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