California DEN

As another great year comes to a close, we have to share a few highlights of the great things we’ve done this past school-year. We’ve had some fantastic events including the OC CUE Techfest, Virtual Conference, the California Poppy Festival, and KOCE Day of Discovery. Best of all, we won an DENny award for the Most Creative DEN Event for the Grunion Run.

Our first DENny!

Looking for fish at the Grunion Run.

Female grunion laying eggs in sand.

We’ve also had some changes in leadership. Genny Kahlweiss has taken the reigns as our fearless leader and we are excited to have Matt Monjan as our DEN manager. Congratulations to Matt on the birth of his new baby boy Benjamin last week! Word is that he’s cuter than Matt.

We also sent two of our teachers, Ken Shelton and Carolann McGuire along with Jannita D. to Australia on a Discovery Student Adventure and have another traveling to China in August. (yep, that’s me!)

If you haven’t checked out the new developments to Discovery Education Streaming, like the ability to use Flash and the upload resources, summer is the time to catch up. Check out what’s new at DE. Register for the Back to School Preview webinars happening in July.

Thanks to everyone who makes this the GREATEST region in DEN. Everyone do the happy dance . . .

Discovery Education videos are now available in Flash! Have your district DE admin call  1-800-323-9084 to get the Flash enabled for free!

Do you know what the best part of being in DEN is? OK yes, free stuff and parties are fun, but the greatest part in my opinion are the opportunities to network & learn with other STAR teachers. That’s why we’re inviting you to join the best & brightest to Orange County next weekend for the KOCE Day of Discovery. We’ve got a great lineup of sessions on everything from Digital Storytelling to creating a Global Collaborative Classroom. And I heard a secret that there are going to be some fantastic giveaways at this Day of Discovery - you’re really going to like these prizes!

More info? Click on the Events page or go straight to the RSVP now!

• How many times can the newspaper you read today be recycled?
• How much can one compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) save in electricity costs over its lifetime?
• What single innovation is causing more people to recycle more products than ever?
• Which clean alternative energy source is created by landfills?

How much energy can you save by recycling one aluminum can every day for a month?

Find answers to these questions and raise your students’ awareness of environmental issues with ready-to-use classroom materials, lesson plans, worksheets, puzzles, quizzes, and activities at ThinkGreen.
ThinkGreen is a site created by Waste Management and powered by Discovery Education.

Visit the Earth Day Network to learn how make every day an “Earth Day.”

Thanks to Jen Dorman for the blog idea and johnlauresa for use of the photo.

Just a quick reminder that coming up on Saturday, April 25th are two fantastic DEN events: the Spring Into Action Virtual Conference and the Grunion Run. Both events are detailed on our new Events but here’s another sneak peek. See you on the 25th!

The Virtual Conference is open to all educators and is a great way to share some of the valuable teaching tips with your colleagues. While there is an in-person event for teachers in the Orange County area, I know I’ll be attending from my living room. Last year’s presentations were excellent and this year’s lineup looks equally good.

The second event, the Grunion Run, was a DEN favorite last year and we are doing it again this year. Beach party, BBQ, private film screening, and of course, the fish that make like land animals when the moon comes out. This is a family friendly event so bring the kids - you’ll have a blast seeing one of the wildest events that goes on here in So Cal.

Also, check out the Events page to preview the upcoming KOCE Day of Discovery . . .

Since blog posts continually move down as new posts go up, I know how frustrating it can be to find info on upcoming events that you’ve read about. So we’ve created a new page to store our event info more permanently. It’s easy to go to, just click on the word EVENTS next to the HOME button in the upper-left corner of the bar. Your Leadership Council has planned some fantastic events for this coming year so check back often as we’ll post up new events. Of course, we’ll also put up posts on the main page here to keep you in the loop.

Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-Alike by kalavinka

Join Discovery Educator Network members their families on Saturday April 25th for the 2009 Grunion Run!

This event will include a bonfire, private Grunion movie presentation at the Cabrillo Aquarium followed by time to explore the aquarium’s exhibits before heading back to the beach to watch the Grunions make their annual run to the beach!

See flyer for all the details Grunion Run Event flyer

To attend you MUST RSVP here

Hello all!

Since our pal Dave Kootman has gone over to the “dark-side!” (LOL) I’ve volunteered to take on the roll of Nor CA blogger for the DEN. I’m really excited…so here it goes.

I spent the first weekend in March attending the CUE  conference (Computer Using Educators) in Palm Springs! This was by far the BEST CUE of all. You see, this CUE was all about networking F2F with my DEN PLN… it was truly a  STAR-Studded  affair!

Below is a list of the resources that were shared during the Walk with the STARS session:

Genny Kahlweiss- Genny is CA DEN’s leader and had great resources to share!

• The Space Place-Visit this NASA site for everything space related!
• a.placebetween.us- finds places to meet your friends.
• Twitter – Follow Genny @ kahlweiss
• Go2Web20- A complete Web 2.0 directory

Dave Kootman’s site- Native Consulting  contains too many cool resources to list here! Select Handouts & Downloads tab. Scroll to Cool Ten (Latest) Websites. Check out the Woices website….really cool!

Dennis Grice- It was such a treat finally meeting Denise F2F. He’s one of the creators of the Dating Game Rock Video!  

• Stop Watch Tool This tool is really the “bomb!
• MultiColr Search Lab Searches Flickr photos by color!
• ·Picasa Web Albums Add captions and Google map location to your images. Saves as .kmz file too. Dennis’s directions

 Martha Snyder- a Nor Cal DEN LC member shared her use of NING to create staff networking sites.

Suzzane Wesp the creator of the famous Homophone video found exclusively on DE Streaming has now created a multiplication video called You can Multiply by 12…Look for it in DE Streaming!

Alice Mercer- Shared VoiceThread. Alice’s student’s create math tutoring videos and use VT so other students can leave comments or questions. Check out ed.Voicethread too.

Jannita Demian’s – Jannita shared a plethora of sites that you will want to check out.

• Glogster and Glogster for education allow users to create interactive posters
• Bio Cube from Think Read Write summarizes a person’s biography or autobiography on a multimedia cube.
•   Blabberize allows you to make any picture talk!
  

Christy G. Keeler, Ph.D - Visit a Virtual Museum and learn how to build a PowerPoint in perspective! Scroll to the bottom of Christy’s blog to find the templates to begin creating your own .ppt in perspective. This is a must visit site!

Ray Waller- Ray created quite a stir when he showed off his xtranormal movie creation featuring Matt and Jannita! Xtranormal allows users to create 3D movies in minutes that can be uploaded to YouTube.

Matt Monjan- Discovey’s Media Share – allows district users to upload, categorize and share videos. MS not only allows for searching media by state standard it even allows for embedding videos outside of streaming! Wait there’s more! MS can bulk upload your PowerPoint’s and will be ready for live viewing in less than fifteen minutes.

 Phew! So many great resources to check out and so little time!

Thanks DEN STARS!

Our State Flower is the California Poppy, but how much do you really know about it? Here’s an opportunity for you to experience the amazing color of our state flower first hand and bring images and stories back to your students.  (Fourth grade teachers – are you paying attention?!)

On Saturday, April 4^th you’re invited to bring your digital camera and join fellow California DEN members at the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=627).  Once there we’ll explore the Visitor’s Center and take in the breathtaking color of the poppies and other wildflowers (which will hopefully be in full bloom by the time we arrive).  There are trails to hike and many opportunities for photos.  We’ll have DEN “experts” on hand to teach helpful photography tips like the “rule of thirds” and how to use the your camera’s macro function.  After some hiking and exploring we’ll get together for lunch to share what you’ve learned. 

PS: For you Geocachers, the Poppy View cache (GC17FHG) and a couple others are also nearby.

EVENT DETAILS:

Meet at the Visitors Center between 10 and 10:30am.

Parking is $8 per car, so if several of you are coming from the same area it might be helpful (and fun) to carpool.

Bring a sack lunch.  Your CA DEN Leadership will provide additional snacks & drinks.

Bring comfortable walking shoes and a sweatshirt. It can get pretty windy out there and they recommend dressing in layers.

If you plan to attend this event, please fill out the Google form below.

 Please fill out this form if you plan on attending! THANKS

Thanks to Dennis Grice for organizing this exciting event!

With CUE this weekend and many more conferences coming up, I thought it would handy to share some tips on how to get the most out of ‘conference season’. OK there’s not really a season, but whether your going to your first conference this year or attend several each year, these tips may help you enjoy the conference experience and get more out of it.

1. Turn your cellphone on vibrate. Sure, your at a tech conference and everyone is sporting the latest & coolest handhelds. But you’ve come to the conference to meet face-to-face with other educators. Engaging interpersonally helps build your network and prevents scowling looks from the presenter & attendees when your ringer goes off in the middle of a session.
2. Bring a water bottle and/or personal coffee container. You’ll want water more than you think (hello, Palm Springs!) and this also makes you a more green conference-goer by not contributing to the pileup of disposable water bottles/coffee cups you’ll see everywhere in the convention center. If you’re on a budget (and what teacher isn’t?) also consider bringing your own snacks - conference food hover around baseball stadium prices. Of course, it pays to be in DEN - they’re more than generous in keeping attendees happy & fed at their sessions.
3. Plan ahead. If there’s an intro session, attend it. You’ll get a good preview of what the speakers are like and perhaps find others interested in the same sessions.
4. I know some in the tech ed community will disagree with me on this one, but take notes on a notepad. I still use resources I wrote down in conference sessions over two years ago. Of course, they’re now bookmarked in Delicious or a blogroll somewhere, but I wouldn’t have remembered them if I hadn’t written them down. You can use your laptop, but it’s more cumbersome and restrictive. What if you & some newly made friends decide to go out for lunch in town but you’ve got your laptop? You’ll have to carry it or go back to the hotel to secure it somewhere, this takes too much time. You can twitter, blog, facebook, & skype out your notes. Besides, if everyone is blogging, facebooking or otherwise backchannel during while a speaker is presenting, I wonder how much of the content going on there is discussion vs. distraction?
5. In the expo hall, check out both new & older vendors - even ones you already use. Sometimes old vendors have upgrades or new products. If you’re like me, you may not always sign up for their email updates (just to keep my inbox manageable) but that means you could be missing out on something new & cool. It also pays for the reps to connect your face & name should you ever need a favor.
6. With our CA state budget & many schools facing cutbacks, make a list of goals of what you want to learn or people you want to meet. “What new ways do I want to use tools we already have? Are there free resources that could do the job of that software tool I’ve been eyeing? What am I going to share with my colleagues when I return?” If you’re in a session and it’s not meeting your needs, leave. This is your valuable time (and possibly money). If you don’t see another session in the schedule that looks worthwhile, head to the expo - it’s likely a less crowded time to get goodies and see exhibits.
7. Volunteer! You belong to the greatest professional network in education.  If there’s a DEN booth, ask if you can help out. The smiling face or the authentic testimonial of another teacher is what got many of you into the DEN. While volunteering you’ll meet lots of people and gain stronger knowledge by sharing with others (just like teaching). Besides, if you don’t yet have any DEN gear, this might be a way to swing some. Afterall, you can’t represent with sporting some cool Discovery swag.