Arlee teacher attends C-SPAN conference
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
3 of 3 free articles.
ARLEE — In an effort to share presidential speeches or congressional debates in real time with his students, Arlee teacher Jim Polk has tuned into C-SPAN in his classroom on more than one occasion. But it wasn’t until a recent trip to Washington D.C. that Polk realized C-SPAN was more than just live feeds.
Polk, a social studies teacher at Arlee High School, was one of 35 educators from across the nation who participated in the 2011 C-SPAN Classroom Summer Educators Conference. The conference brings together middle and high school social studies teachers to learn how C-SPAN and its various tools can enhance their classrooms.
C-SPAN is a private, non-profit business created in 1979 by America’s cable television industry.
“I had no idea what was available and for free,” Polk said. “It’s been very eye-opening. I’m learning there is a lot of free resources on the Internet.”
In a few days, Polk said he learned C-SPAN offers teachers access to more than 9,000 non-fiction authors in their library archives, complete with interviews. There are also more than 160,000 hours of interviews with various political figures and experts. He was familiarized with the three C-SPAN channels, C-SPAN book and C-SPAN radio. Polk said he even discovered a feature that links videos of speeches that references each line of the United States Constitution. He learned how to navigate C-SPAN’s online resources that include c-span.org, C-SPAN’s video library, congressional chronicle, which has video recordings of House and Senate proceedings and the C-SPAN classroom website.
Polk said he came across the conference on the Internet and decided to apply.
He was selected from more than 100 nationwide applicants to attend the conference. Roundtrip airfare and hotel accommodations were provided for participants.
“They (C-SPAN) want to make classes more interesting,” Polk said. “And I want to grow and learn too.”
“Our goal for the conference is that following an agenda-packed two days, teachers will return to their communities armed with solid teaching tips, tools and strategies for using C-SPAN to engage their students in a better understanding of how government works, as well as how to become informed citizens,” Joanne Wheeler, C-SPAN vice-president said.
“It really is a privilege to be selected,” Polk said and added that in addition utilizing what he learned in his classroom, he would like to create a program to teach adults how to access the online information as well.
“Most people probably think of it as the boring channel,” Polk said. “(But) their vision is to serve the public and make people more aware of their government. The information is there and they don’t even have to come to Washington D.C., they can watch it online.”
