DEN Open House Week – ‘What does it mean to be part of the DEN?’

I have been a high school teacher of mathematics for the past 17 years. I have taught every subject and every level in math and computer science that my district offers. I am a Nationally Board Certified teacher. I have a masters degree in Educational Technology. I still feel I have a lot to learn. The Discovery Education community is always teaching me something new and challenging me to grow as an educator. I am a life long learner and encourage my students to be life long learners as well.

I am becoming reacquainted with DEN this year. I signed up years ago after our school district subscribed to United Streaming, now called Streaming Plus. Unfortunately there were many new initiatives in my district that year and I lost touch with the DEN community. I found my interest renewed last year after I was asked to take on a student teacher. I remembered what a great resource the videos were and I knew it would be good for my student teacher. Once I looked into it, I saw how much the DEN had grown. I knew I had been missing something. The online community I found was just awesome. I decided to apply for Star status to take better advantage of it.

In my exploration of the DEN I found that there were now virtual events. The first DEN event I went to was a virtual conference called Tech or Treat. It was such a valuable experience. I was able to participate in many great sessions throughout the day. I did not have to worry about having a ticket or finding a seat in a crowed room. I have been to several physical conferences, but this virtual one surpassed them. The best part of all was that it was free. There was no registration fee, no travel costs, and no hotel. And by the way ….YES they are doing it again this October .(info)

Discovery really is a community. Because it has so many branches it is able to pull from a large pool of resources to bring the best people and information to educators. One of the most memorable events I was able to attend this year was a reception for Storm Chaser Reed Timmer. Reed was giving the keynote address to the ASCD conference in Philadelphia. This was a wonderful dinner where I was able to meet people from all over the country. I had some great conversations about education. I was able to sit down with a writer for Discovery and discuss the new science techbooks Discovery just released. I met teachers from Hawaii and California. I was even sitting at a table with a former high school classmate which I had not see for 20 years. And of course I got a picture and an autograph from Reed.

The community of the DEN, Discovery, and all those connected with them have inspired me. I have learned so much in the past year that I hope to become a regular blogger in the DEN community. Let’s make our students learning experiences the best they can be with our DEN community.

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