Beyond Books Training Outline
Total Time: 45–75 minutes
Quick Intro (5 minutes)
Digital Learning Commons Homepage
- Introduce staff to the website and show them how to access resources.
- Point out the Search box (appears on every page) and the About section.
- Explain differences between Students, Educators, and Parents sections.
Beyond Books
Beyond Books offers an interactive curriculum for middle- and high school students, teacher-support materials, and self-assessments. You can use these supplementary instructional resources to enhance your curriculum and your students' classroom learning experiences.
Beyond Books is organized by the following subjects:
- Literature &Language Arts
- Science
- Social Studies
- World Languages
- Electives
Intro Activities (15–30 minutes)
My School Page: This is the default homepage. It includes three areas: Tools, Announcements, and Current Enrollment. To return to this homepage, click on the Go To My School icon at the top of the page.
- Tools includes classroom set-up and orientation information.
- Announcements are used to communicate with students.
- Current Enrollment is where the Beyond Books content lives.
- Contents Page
- Introduction Page
- Unit and Focus Areas
- Focus Topics
- Links
- Activities and Interactive Features
- Lesson Plans: Lesson plans related to Beyond Books material.
- Correlations: Information about how Beyond Books aligns with state and national standards.
- Teacher Guides: Guides you through selected programs and subject areas.
- User Guide: Learn how to best integrate Beyond Books into the classroom.
- Strategies: Suggests ideas to help educators use Beyond Books in the classroom.
- General Applications: Information on how to access Beyond Books from anywhere that you have an Internet connection.
- Useful Tips: Helpful information on how to integrate Beyond Book resources into other types of presentations and lessons.
- Teacher Links: Links to other useful resources.
Pick a Program: You'll find a list of the programs here, organized by academic discipline. Scroll down, click on the title of the program you wish to review, and you will be led to the Program Outline page. From the program outline page, you can choose to focus on a specific lesson or chapter.
Program Structure and Contents: Beyond Books currently offers 26 individual programs. These programs are organized by academic discipline (Social Studies, Science, Literature and Language Arts, World Languages, and Electives) and subject area (e.g., American History, Introduction to Literature, Life Science). Each subject area is organized by the following sections:
Live Tours: In this area you will find links to some live tours and the program outlines for each subject area (e.g., American History).
Digging Deeper (15–30 minutes)
Tools for Teachers: Explore these resources and support materials to fully use Beyond Books. All of the materials listed below can be accessed from any Teacher Door page by clicking on the links in the left-hand column.
Teacher Resources for Specific Beyond Books Material
General Teacher Support
Guest Experts: Includes informational sessions from scholars and educators regarding different topics found in Beyond Books. These sessions are webcast and only available to subscribers.
Additional Resources (5 minutes)
Index to Help Resources: Highlights and covers all the major areas and topics within the Beyond Books program.
Frequently Asked Questions: Answers to questions you may have about Beyond Books.
Assessments (2–5 minutes)
Return to the Digital Learning Commons website. Click on the Training Evaluation link, which appears at bottom of every page on the site.
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