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Sessions Include:

Don’t Look at the Duck: Engaging Students in Science with Lance Rougeux

What’s the one thing our classrooms have in common today? They are all very different. Students with many different learning styles. Different interests. Different backgrounds. And, different gadgets. How do we address the needs of today’s learners? This session will draw upon real-life examples (including a legendary school duck) as we explore ways that we can use media and other technologies to get students interested in the content and engaged in meaningful learning experiences.

Flipping the Classroom with Dr. Lodge McCammon

Ask any adult to name their favorite teacher and receive the profile of a person who inspired learning and became a legend in the mind of their students. But how can we teach someone to be engaging?
Well, we need to give them the ideas and tools that allow engagement to occur by creating super- transparent classrooms that highlight exciting and authentic teacher and student work. There’s a new way of teaching that is taking all the 21st century elements that people talk about, and is putting them into action. Video recording, Web 2.0, online publishing and interactive curriculum are the wave of the future—and the method of teaching that will bring our teachers, students and classrooms there is called FIZZ.

“Sounds” Like a 21st Century Lesson with Patti Duncan

Grab your backpack and join us in the Discovery Education Techbook Traveling Classroom for a lesson on sound, vibration and pitch. Experience a typical student centered lesson infused with media and hands-on activities that is sure to increase engagement and understanding.

What’s the GIST? Bridging Literacy and Science with Brad Fountain

Promoting literacy in the classroom is no longer JUST part of the reading lesson. The importance of developing the literate learner falls on all educators and is taught during all lessons. By using digital media in conjunction with traditional reading strategies, we can address the science and literacy standards, differentiate for students, and address the Shifts in Common Core. This session will provide concrete literacy examples that can be scaffolded to meet the needs of students across any grade level and readily integrated into your science lesson on Monday morning.

Register now as seats are very limited!!

These additions include bilingual translations of parental instructions, math tips for families and teachers to use in their daily activities, and a new blog series with content related to children and media. PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are partners on the project, which is part of the federally funded Ready To Learn Initiative.

Available free of charge, PBS KIDS Lab offers interactive math content centered on PBS KIDS television shows and characters. It aggregates games by age and skill area, so parents and teachers can search for the games that will be the best fit for their kids. The site also helps parents and teachers learn how the games support learning by providing information about the games’ curriculum-based content.

Check it out and share with your parents.

Thanks in part to eclassroom news for this update.
Post by Dani Hall

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Are you interested in presenting at the PreCon Day of Discovery at PETE&C or participating in the Educator Showcase Poster session? *We are now accepting ideas and proposals. Just go to: links.discoveryeducation.com/petec12submit and follow the simple instructions below.

*Submissions deadline for Educator Showcase extended through Monday, February 6th, 2012. 

I had the privilege to give a couple of presentations about Discovery Education STREAMING. Since I like my sessions to be as interactive as possible, I had a couple of educators come on up to battle it out in the “Whaddya Know Quiz Show,” a game series available in DE STREAMING Plus. Would you believe it was the closest game I have ever witnessed?! It was decided by exactly 1 (ONE) point! Check out the images to prove it.

Afterwards, several teachers told me they were going to get started using the games, sound effects, images, songs, and other media and incorporate them with our powerful Builder Tools like the Assignment Builder and Writing Prompt. If you are already doing this, good for you! If you know someone who isn’t, direct them to the DEN where they can quickly learn just how easy it is to differentiate instruction for their students and have fun doing so!

The keynote speaker, PGCPS Superintendent, Dr. William R. Hite, Jr., gave a very compelling address to the audience. He charged all teachers with creating conditions wherein their students can be exposed to multiple opportunities to access learning resources. In his view this is essential because students are engaged by success, curiosity, originality, and satisfying relationships.

Moreover, they are surrounded by and strongly influenced by an ubiquitous world of digital media. The actual brain development of our students is different because of our technologically saturated world. Therefore Dr. Hite opposes school as a place where kids who are metaphorically “running at 100mph” are forced, when they come to school, to “slow down to 5mph.” If the utilization of digital media is an indicator his vision of a 21st century school system, then his philosophy has obviously taken root throughout the county. Discovery Education was proud to present Dr. Hite with a Visionary District Award in celebration of their 2 Million views from Discovery Education STREAMING! A large part of this accomplishment is due to the excellent work of the many DEN Stars in the district. It’s amazing what STAR power will do!

In addition to a compelling keynote address from Dr. Hite, attendees also heard from Discovery Education’s own Lance Rougeux and Matt Monjan, the featured speakers for the conference. Lance shared his most recent collection of educational goodies gathered from the Discovery Educator Network in his presentation, The Collective Brain. In Matt’s session, Consumer to Creator – The Student as Both the Learner and the Teacher, he modeled ways for teachers to get their students actively involved in constructing their own learning experience.

The electric buzz was tangible even at the end of the day and will surely keep teachers energized this school year!

The deadline for entries for the VSTE Student Technology Integration Challenge has been extended until October 31, 2011.

Are your students creating exciting curriculum-based projects using technology? The Student Technology Integration Challenge (STIC) is your chance to show off this work to the world! This challenge, sponsored by VSTE, is designed to highlight the work of PK-12 students in the areas of desktop publishing and multimedia production.

Students will be recognized at the Annual Conference and have a chance to share their award winning work as part of a special conference poster session on Sunday, December 4.

A panel of judges that includes educators from across the Commonwealth will review the entries based on rubrics. Prizes will be awarded for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.

Additional information is available at the conference website.

Thanks to Tech4Learning for their support of this event.

Here is the schedule:

What is the Virtual Conference you ask? It is FREE professional development given by our colleagues and friends at Discovery Education. You will  learn about the most effective ways to integrate digital media into your instructional practices. The focus for this fall’s Tech or Treat virtual conference is on digital storytelling.  You are invited to join in on the fun as we have an amazing lineup of presenters including Wes Fryer, author of Playing with Media: Simple Ideas for Powerful Sharing, our DEN Gurus, and more.

We, here at the LC (Leadership Council), would like to welcome you to another great year with the DEN! We have a lot of great events planned this year. We know your time is precious so lets jump right into introductions.