Join us as we take a deep dive into each of these topics.

Back to Basics with Discovery Education STREAMING
Monday, December 5 @ 3:30 PM CT
Get back to the basics of Discovery Education! This session with get you started with helpful information on navigating Discovery Education STREAMING and uncover resources that you never knew you had! This session is a great building block that prepares you to springboard to deeper integration.

Connecting Language Learners to the Curriculum with Discovery Education
Tuesday, December 6 @ 3:30 PM CT
With diverse classroom populations, your ability to differentiate feels more important than ever. In this session, explore Discovery Education through the lens of Language Learners and see how digital media and technology can engage and benefit students from all backgrounds.

Weaving the Story of Learning: Digital Storytelling with Discovery Education STREAMING
Wednesday, December 7 @ 3:30 PM CT
Constructing stories requires deep understanding not just of discreet facts and knowledge, but also of the rich context of that information. Join us for an exploration of the creative ways to engage students across the curriculum with digital storytelling and Discovery Education resources.

Register today http://links.discoveryeducation.com/hottopics

Here at Discovery Education, we have a theme page devoted to the history of the holiday complete with Thanksgiving-related videos, teacher guides, and articles so that a comprehensive overview is available for you to use in class. Your students will not only learn the history of Thanksgiving, but also what it means to be thankful during this holiday season.

On behalf of the Discovery Education Technical and Customer Support Team, we hope that you have a wonderful, warm, and safe Thanksgiving Break!

The conference kicks off on October 16 with pre-conference workshops and this year Discovery Education is sponsoring a full day digital storytelling workshop with Joe Brennan, “Digital Storytelling: Get it Write!” .

Joe Brennan spent more than thirty years teaching and coaching in high school. Most of that time was as a Spanish teacher, but his passion for students as multimedia authors led him into the role of AV/Media Coordinator for the twelve years before his retirement. Still active in education, he is an adjunct instructor in the Instructional Media program for Wilkes University, a frequent presenter at conferences, and does professional development with teachers and school districts. Joe is an Apple Distinguished Educator, a Star Discovery Educator, an American Film Institute Screen Educator, and, most importantly, Chief Technology Officer for his three grandchildren.

The conference continues October 17 – October 18 and Discovery Education will be hosting a number of sessions to support the integration of technology into your daily curriculum in Corporate Room C with featured speakers Steve Dembo, Kyle Schutt, and Michael Bryant. Steve Dembo will presenting sessions on everything from Web 2.0 tools to effectively using iPADS in the classroom. Please see below for a complete listing of corporate room sessions and times.

As part of the festivities on Monday evening, Discovery Education will be hosting a reception for Iowa area educators with special guest, Reed Timmer, Discovery Education’s Chief Meteorologist from Discovery Channel’s Stormchasers. To learn more about this reception and the opportunity to meet Reed Timmer, visit www.discoveryeducation.com/iowa .

The 2011 ITEC Conference will be great opportunities to connect with area educators, learn best practices and next practices for integrating technology into your classroom, and collaborate with your friends in the Discovery Educator Network.  I hope to see you all there! If you have any questions about Discovery Education’s presence at ITEC, please contact Whitney_Mihoulides@Discovery.com.

]]> http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2011/09/19/discovery-education-is-taking-itec-by-storm/feed/ 0 http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2011/09/19/recap-9-11-rise-reconnect-and-remember/ http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2011/09/19/recap-9-11-rise-reconnect-and-remember/#comments Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:08:15 +0000 Karen Sanders http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/?p=18398

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Discovery Education partnered with classrooms nationwide to tell stories of hope, resilience and the rebuilding of Ground Zero. In partnership with Discovery Channel and SCIENCE, Discovery Education engaged students the world over—many of whom were not yet born or who were very young at the time of the attacks— with exclusive 9/11 curricular content, digital lesson plans and live webcasts.

Students, educators, district administrators, local affiliates and education VIPs participated in the series of events that focused on four communities who were directly impacted by the events of that day:  Arlington, VA; Newark, NJ; New York City, NY; and Shanksville, PA.

Joining audience members at New York City’s iSchool were Tribute WTC Visitor Center founder Lee Ielpi and Investigation Discovery’s Paula Zahn, who moderated the panel.  Danny Forester, executive producer of RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO, moderated the panel at American History High School in Newark, NJ.  Each live event featured a preview of Discovery Channel and Science’s RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO, followed by a live panel discussion and Q&A with students featuring local community members who shared how they were personally affected by 9/11.

Access the archives of the discussions on discoveryeducation.com/911 or via Discovery Education streaming to view what close to 50,000 students have already experienced.  Supplemental materials including free, 9/11-based curriculum and discussion guides are also available at discoveryeducation.com/911, and focus on topics like Uniformed Services: Loss and Recovery and Globalizing Peace. Discovery Education streaming subscribers receive exclusive access to a September 11 Theme Page with curricular content and grade-banded lesson plans including episodes of RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO.

Join us September 22, 2011 at 7pm ET for a free webinar Have You Ever Wondered?!? Sparking Your and Your Students’ Curiosity.
Register here.

Come learn about Curiosity in the Classroom and get your students curious about leaning with tools like Google Earth, PhotoPeach, and LiveBinders. Examine resources, interactives, lesson plans and videos that will spark curiosity in your class.

User Guides:

Create Teacher Accounts

Create Student Accounts

Create Class Lists

Create Class Rosters

Tips

• All usernames in the Discovery Education database need to be unique.  We recommend using an email address for teachers, e.g. jsmith@school.k12.md.us.  Student usernames should have a unique school identifier at the beginning or end to avoid the username already being taken in the database. Even using just a student ID number will not guarantee the username will not already be taken.  e.g.  JohnSmith_AMS, 123456CHS, 123456_Wildcats.

• Usernames must be at least 6 characters long.  Passwords must be at least 5 characters long. Passwords are not case sensitive.

• Avoid using any special characters, e.g. commas, hyphens, apostrophes, spaces, etc, within the First Name, Last Name, Username, and Password columns.  Use of commas in any cell will cause the import to fail.  Please note that when copying information from another program, hidden characters may be present.

• Do not change, rename, or delete the column headers from the template, even if the optional columns are not filled out.

• Copy and paste the Site Passcode, Account Name, and Site Name that populated for your specific account for each entry.  If you have multiple schools on a single spreadsheet, then delete the populated entries that you do not wish to use.

As always feel free to contact us!

Each week of our webinars has a different focus.  The schedule is below, but to register for the Back-to-School Webinar Series, visit http://links.discoveryeducation.com/BTSwebinars2011

Back to School with Discovery Education: Providing Students Access to Discovery Education for Administrators
Thursday, September 15, 7:00 PM ET

Did you know that access to Discovery Education is not just for educators, but for every single student as well? Learn how to provide student access, and in no time they will be clicking away through videos, images, and more from home, school, or anywhere they have an internet connection. We will highlight enhancements to the My Admin site including a new Classroom Management feature to extend learning outside of the school day. Please note that this webinar is most appropriate for educators who are site or district Administrators for Discovery Education or wish to learn more about becoming one.

Back to School with Discovery Education: Maximizing Student Engagement Using Discovery Education
Thursday, September 22, 2011 7:00 PM ET
Thursday, September 29, 2011 7:00 PM ET

Are you looking for new ways to engage your students with Discovery Education? Why not put the power of learning at their fingertips through our redesigned Student Center. With unique logins students can browse grade-specific content and access personalized assignments. In this webinar we will demonstrate new ways to deliver resources to motivate students, engage higher order thinking, and achieve curriculum learning goals with the support of the newly released Classroom Manager and Assignment Manager.

Are you a DEN STAR?  Organize a group of colleagues to watch together and log this as an event! Register here: http://links.discoveryeducation.com/BTSwebinars2011

1. How do I contact Assessments directly?

The direct number for Assessment Support is (866) 814-6685.

2. Which Student Template  should I use? Basic or Advanced?

In most cases, streaming users can use the Basic Student Template and Assessment users can use the Advanced Student Template.

3. Do I have to fill in all columns on spreadsheet?

The required columns for EACH student/teacher are:

• Site Passcode
• Account Name
• Site Name
• First Name
• Last Name
• Username
• Password
• Archive Flag

The optional columns for EACH student/teacher are:

• Middle Initial
• Student ID
• Student Grade (highly recommended)
• Parent Email

*WARNING!– Do NOT delete the headings for optional columns you choose not to use! This will cause your upload to be rejected. You must leave the heading, even if you choose not to fill in the column.

4. Do I have to put the Site Passcode, Account Name, and Site Name for every student?

YES! These rows must be filled in for every student/teacher on the upload.

*Quick Tip – To add the Site Passcode for every student/teacher at once. Follow these steps:

•  Copy the Discovery generated site passcode cell for your school (A2).
•  Highlight all cells below (beginning with A3).
•  Paste passcode to all cells and make sure they are all the same code.

*Quick Tip – To add the Account Name and Site Name for every student/teacher at once. Follow these steps:

• Left click on the Account Name (B2) or Site Name (C2) once. A black line should outline the selected field.
• Left click and hold the little black square at the bottom right corner of the selected field.
• Drag cursor down for all students/teachers.
• Release mouse button, and the Account Name or Site Name should appear for all boxes included in drag.

5. What is the Archive Flag Field?

• When a student/teacher is archived, they still have a Discovery Education account; however, it is no longer active/associated with a particular school/district.
• The archive flag field should be marked “N” (no) for students/teachers currently active at your school/district. It should be marked “Y” (yes) for students/teachers who are no longer with your school/district.

6. What symbols are accepted for username/passcodes?

• The only acceptable characters for the Username and Passcode are letters, numbers, periods, underscores, and the @ symbol.

 7. How long must a username and/or password be?

• Username: at least 6 characters
• Password: at least 5 characters

8. Bulk Upload is being rejected because of errors.  How do I view my errors?

To View your errors, follow the steps below:

1. Click “My Admin” in the top right corner of the page. 
2. Select “Bulk Update/Import Classes” under the “Classroom Management Tools” section located in the gray column to the left of screen. 
3. Select “Import Status” tab. 
4. Look under the “Actions” column and select “View Errors”
5. Open the file by clicking “OK” 
6. Look under “Column M” to view your error messages. You might see things like invalid symbol, invalid password or invalid username.

9. I have corrected all of my errors, but my upload is still failing!

Once you have corrected your errors, you have to make sure to delete the error message column, “M,” including the heading.

10. What type of file can I save my spreadsheet as?

Spreadsheets MUST be saved as a “.csv” file. Other file types such as “.xls”, “.xlsx”, etc. will NOT work.

One month left in the Discovery Educator Network Membership Season – report your points today!  With a winner in every state and province, you could take home coveted prizes from the Discovery Educator Network.

Who will claim the title of National MVP?  Our current leading scorers are from Florida and Wisconsin.

To report your events, score points, and claim your spot in the Discovery Educator Network Hall of Fame,  visit

http://links.discoveryeducation.com/DENbts2011

How to score:

Be a team player: Attend a Back to School webinar and kick-off the school year prepared with new content, resources and tools at your finger tips! Share an innovative way to use this new digital content in your classroom and earn 1 point.

2 point conversion: Select a specific topic you teach and search Discovery Education for one recently added media asset about that topic. Demonstrate the power of teaching with digital media by passing along 2 different ways to differentiate classroom instruction using that single media asset. You’ll earn 2 points!

Kick a Field Goal: Use “My Content” to build an upcoming unit and earn 3 points. Fill the folder with 3 different media assets (i.e., theme page, image, song, encyclopedia article, video segment, skill builder, game). Don’t forget to use the curriculum standards search for standards-based curriculum alignment.

Make a 50-yard pass: A successful pass requires collaborating with the DEN team. Earn 4 points for being a current STAR or becoming a new STAR.

Call a huddle: 5 points for hosting an event (sharing with 3+ people), learning together, and motivating others to change the way digital media is used in the classroom.

Touchdown: 6 points for recruiting a new STAR Discovery Educator onto the DEN team.

To report your events, score points, and claim your spot in the Discovery Educator Network Hall of Fame,  visit

http://links.discoveryeducation.com/DENbts2011

If you need any assistance during this process, visit the DEN Back to School Membership Drive resource page. Alternatively, we invite you to visit our Help Page at http://help.discoveryeducation.com/support/ or contact Customer Support at 1-800-323-9084.

Good luck!