DEN Blog Network

This week we turn our eyes southward to feature the members of the Louisiana Leadership Council!  They recently hosted successful events in both northern LA and southern LA for the Virtual Conference,  and I have to admit they just might have locked up the best dressed category.  But that’s in the past, looking forward there’s the LACUE conference on the horizon and they have big things planned for it.  A dinner social is in the works, and it’s not enough to just bring yourself.  You need to find yourself a friend and bring them along as well! After all, the only thing more fun than a DEN event is sharing a DEN event with somebody new.

The LA Leadership Council is led by some extremely dedicated and creative DEN members.  While they’ve introduced themselves here, they’ve also put together an Animoto to show you who they really are.  Take a look!

So if you’re a Louisiana DEN member, take this as an opportunity to reaquaint yourself with their blog.  And if you aren’t, definitely stop by to see what’s cookin’ down in the bayou!

S…

Skype is a site I use to call other teachers around the country and around the world. Paula Naugle, a 4th grade teacher with a passion for technology. She has over thirty years of classroom experience and is involved with training other teachers how to integrate Web 2.0 tools into their lessons. She is a PBWorks certified teacher and a new member of the Louisiana Discovery Educator Network Blog team for the Louisiana Leadership Council.

T…

Tag Galaxy is a site that I use to browse through Flickr photos in 3D. Susan Gauthier, Educational Technology Consultant, develops and supports several professional development programs (Regional TLTCs, LILI, EIT, ProEx, LaTEL, Essentials) at the Louisiana Department of Education. Susan has eighteen years in education, including ten years in Louisiana classrooms and eight years of coordinating educational technology programs for the Department of Education. She is a proud member of the Louisiana Discovery Educator Network as the Blog Coordinator.

A…

Animoto is a site that I use to enhance and engage teaching and learning. Susan Tompkins, Technology Facilitator and Mathematics & Web Design Teacher, uses technology with her students daily.  She is an advocate for professional development and speaks at conferences about the impact of 21st Century Teachers.  Susan has eight years in education, is an Intel Master Instructor, and will graduate in May from Northwestern State University with a Master’s in Educational Technology.  She is an inaugural year member of the Discovery Educator Network and enthusiastically serves as the Louisiana Leadership Council Chair and was awarded a DENny Leadership Award in 2009.

R…

Rowdii is a site that I use to add comments to any website as well as link related sites together. Cindy Wallace won a classroom makeover from Promethean and uses technology with her students daily.  She is a Mathematics and ActivBoard Teacher, and serves as an Assistant Principal.  She is an inspired member of the Discovery Educator Network and actively serves as the Louisiana Leadership Council Events Coordinator.

Enjoy the DEN Weekly Update for November 13, 2009.

We have a lot of programs that teachers and their students can participate in for free.  One of my personal favorites is the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge. 

The Challenge is designed to help your students work together to solve an environmental problem in their…

• Classroom (K-2)
• School (3-5)
• Community (6-8)

Participating is easy.  You can take a month to work on the Challenge or you could complete it in a week.  The projects truly cut across the curriculum so you can teach Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies as part of the Challenge. All the resources you need (lesson plans, sample projects, virtual labs, eBooks, videos, parent resources, etc.) are on the website at: http://wecanchange.com.

Since the Challenge is open to K-8 (and next year it will be K-12), we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to truly engage the entire DEN since the majority of our community members can participate. 

So, here’s our two-part DEN Challenge as part of the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge.

1. Any STAR Discovery Educator who enters the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge by January 31, 2010 will have his/her name put into a drawing to win a trip to the NSTA National Conference in Philadelphia, PA (March 18-21, 2010).  Airfare, hotel and conference registration will be covered by the DEN. You must be a STAR Discovery Educator and you must let us know that you and your students have entered the We Can Change the World Challenge by completing this form.
2. The state (where there is a DEN Leadership Council) with the highest number of entries to the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge will earn a Day of Discovery in conunction with the DEN’s Spring Virtual Conference.  The day will be planned, managed and executed by the DEN team giving the state LC a break.  Hall Davidson, Steve Dembo and other members of the DEN team will be there in person to present.

So, ready to learn more and get started?  We have a whole series of webinars to help you.  Just visit: http://links.discoveryeducation.com/wecanchange.

Good luck, have fun, and change the world with your students!

We are going to begin featuring a different leadership council every week and we’re kicking it off with our newest LC, Connecticut!

The LC team is chaired by Joe Fromme, an education technology specialist for the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) in Hartford, CT.  He recently attended the Discovery Education Network National Science Institute, where he learned new strategies for using DE Science and had the opportunity to collaborate with other educators from around the country.

Pam Skelly, a 14 year Technology Education and Curriculum Development Specialist at EASTCONN, has taken the lead on the Events team.  Along with Howard Gunther, an Educational Technology Specialist at ACES, they helped organize the CT LC’s first DEN event a networking dinner at the conclusion of the CECA/CASL 2009 Conference.  While the writeup and photos well worth reading, be sure to check out the comments where people are sharing their takeaways from the conference!

Howard and Pam are actively looking to hear from DEN members in the CT area to learn what types of events they’d like to see organized.  Right now they have their eyes on February, so stop by this blog post and share a few ideas.

Jane Cook, a Staff Development/Literacy and Educational Technology Specialist from Willimantic is serving as the team’s Blog Chair.  She is joined by some incredibly dedicated bloggers that already have rather prolific posts.  Lynn Reedy, who has really stepped up to help coordinate the blog team’s activities shared some highlights of upcoming webinars for DEN members to take advantage of.   Steve Sokoloski has shared some in depth technology tips for those of you looking for some hands on experiences with Windows 7 as well as how to achieve that elusive Inbox Zero.  Barbara Haeffner, a 20 year educator who is currently a Educational Technology Specialist, and Ann Barney round out the team.

We’re thrilled to have such a dedicated group leading DEN initiatives in Connecticut and look forward to great things to come from them!  Take a few minutes to swing by the CT blog, and leave a welcoming comment or idea for building community amongst DEN members.

Enjoy the DEN Weekly Update for November 6, 2009.

On Wednesday, November 18th at 7pm EST, we’re thrilled to feature Gary Stager as our EdTechConnect speaker!  There are few speakers that are more passionate, dedicated and devoted to bringing about change in education.  If you’ve never had a chance to see him present before,  you won’t want to miss this opportunity.  If you HAVE seen him, perhaps on the Keynote panel from this year’s NECC conference, then I’m sure I don’t even need to say anything more to convince you to register.  As David Thornburg has stated, “Some people think ‘outside of the box.’ Gary is unaware of the box’s existence!”

Creative Computing and the Case for Project-based Learning

Veteran computer-using educator, speaker and journalist Dr. Gary Stager will explore how project-based learning fuels creativity and amplifies the power of computing. This webinar will explore questions of “What is a project?” and “What are the essential elements of a good project?” The theory underlying such practice will be discussed and imaginative applications challenging each learner to maximize their potential will be shared.

Click here to register!

The voting was fierce, as the ranks shifted several times over the last few days.  But when the dust settled, three winners emerged!  Congrats to all the winners, a brand new HD Flip Cam is going to be in the mail to you.  And many thanks to everybody who participated, it truly put the ‘treat’ in Tech or Treat!

Best Discovery themed costume:

Christie Berrier, as the MythBusters!

Bekka Stasny as The Deadliest Catch!

Vasantha Rayman as the DEN STAR!

Over 1600 educators attended the DEN Virtual Conference last Saturday and I think about 1300 of them emailed me to ask when the archives will be available!  Well, thanks for waiting patiently, and now your patience is being rewarded!

The entire Virtual Conference, all seven hours of it, has now been posted online!  If you go to the Virtual Conference page, you’ll be able to view any of the presentations online, or if you like you can click on the title link to download them and watch them full screen in all their hi-rez glory.

Don’t forget, you’ll always be able to find them within the DEN Educator Resources section as well, if you’d like to embed them in your own blog or website.

Did you attend the Virtual Conference?  If so, share your favorite memory of the day with us!  We’d love to hear some stories from around the country.

Tech and Learning Magazine released their annual Awards of Excellence this week and guess who made the list?  Discovery Education Science for Elementary!  Every year, T&L has a panel of 30 educators review nearly one hundred different sites and tools.  We’re absolutely honored to have DE Science for Elementary earn an Award of Excellence in the New Products category.  You can check out the release here, but keep an eye out for detail in the December awards issue.

Where are all the STARs?  Presenting at state and national conferences near you, that’s where!  We’ve put together an ever-growing list of presentations by STAR Discovery Educators at state and national conferences around the country.  If you are attending a conference listed below, please stop by and show your support for your fellow STARs.

And don’t forget, if YOU are going to be presenting at a state or national conference, if you include Discovery Education in the title or description then you really ought to let us know.  We’d love to add you to the list, and we also have a little something to send you!  If you’d like to learn more, visit this page.