California DEN

DEN Training Kits are now available.  If you are planning on hosting a training at your site, you can order a training kit which includes notebooks, pens, training guides, and a $25 Wells Fargo gift card to purchase treats for your staff. 

If you need a training kit, please email Jannita at Jannita_Demian@Discovery.com with the following information.

• School Name
• Address
• Phone Number
• Date of your training
• Approximate number of teachers in your training

Please make sure you include all of this information or training kits can not be mailed out.

Mark your calendar now for these upcoming technology conferences.

Orange County Computer Using Educators Conference: OCCUE (Fullerton, CA)

• January 29^th

• http://www.occue.org/

Computer Using Educators Conference: CUE  (Palm Springs, CA)

• March 9^th-12^th

• http://www.cue.org/

National Educational Computing Conference: NECC (San Diego, CA)

• July 5^th-7^th
• http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2006/

Would you like to win an LCD Projector or scholarship to the Computer Using Educators Conference?  We will be raffling off 1 LCD projector and 2 scholarships to the CUE Conference. Here’s how to get your tickets in for this contest.

• Have someone submit an application to the DEN with your name as the referral.  First application = 2 tickets, second application = 3 tickets, third application = 4 tickets and so forth. 

• Host a training at your school or district (5 tickets).

• Post a comment to our blog (3 tickets)

• Email me your bio and picture to be posted on the blog (5 tickets)
• Submit a project that integrates technology to the FTP site (5 tickets)

  On Saturday, October 15^th, Discovery Education hosted the largest Discovery Educator Network (DEN) event, in the nation.  The “DEN Launch Event” served as California’s DEN members first opportunity to gather together and be connected with California’s best resources in education—each other.  Today, they represented what is right in education– dedicated teachers willing to sacrifice their entire Saturday to network and learn new and innovative ways to infuse technology into current California adopted curriculum to meet the needs of today’s digital generation.

Although, registration did not begin until 8:30 a.m. and our official program until 9 a.m., teachers began to file into the auditorium at 8:10 a.m.  I think we were all caught off guard by the enthusiasm of these dedicated teachers on a Saturday morning. 

Carissa and Alex worked the registration table as California DEN members continued pouring through the gates.  When the arrived they received name tags, lanyards, padfolios, lapel pins, and flash drives.  Then, they entered the auditorium where monkeys suspended by balloons hung over tables and a continental breakfast waited. 

  By 9 a.m. approximately 120 DEN Members and special guests (including Fontana Board Members;  Dorothy Grant, the school’s name sake; Lucille Renwich, editor of Digital Discovery; and Steve Finch, unitedstreaming sales for the West Coast) had filled the room. Hall Davidson, manager of DEN West Coast delivered a dynamic keynote on technology integration and gave us the kick start we needed to begin a day of networking and professional development.

Sessions began at 10:15 and teachers traveled through four 50 minute sessions in grade level clust ers.  Brian Talmadge, a 5^th grade DEN teacher from LaMesa Spring Valley School District, kept teachers laughing as they learned how to create movie stars in themselves and their students. 

Jan Wee, DEN manager in Wisconsin, inspired the teachers by showing how unitedstreaming could be integrated with the Software.  She also held a raffle, giving away gift cards and t-shirts, in each session. Inspiration

Dr. Kenneth Decroo, DEN member and principal of Dorothy Grant, allowed teachers to get hands on and dig deep into the depths of the Internet with WebQuests. 

Kimberly Smith, Discovery Education’s Product Developer, held a session that gave educators a sneak peek of what will be coming soon to the face of unitedstreaming.  In this session, teachers were also able to share how they integrate unitedstreaming and to make suggestions for what they desire from the program.

We had an hour break in the middle, where teachers were able to relax and enjoy a Mexican Style Lunch, which included beef and chicken fajitas, tortillas, rice, beans, chips and salsa.  During lunch we showed Discovery Education’s commercial featuring new programs such as Discovery Health Connection and Discovery Learning Connection. 

Teachers let out moans when their numbers weren’t called and cheered their winning collegues, during our raffle. Several winners received various hard copy products (cd roms, videos, books), computer bags, Inspiration software and t-shirt, and the long sought after monkey centerpieces. 

During the final session of the day, Hall Davidson and I were able to personally visit each session, thank the teachers for their continued dedication, award them plaques,

and send the educators off with one final gift.

 

For me, it was an exciting day filled with finally putting faces with names.  I enjoyed listening to the buzz in the sessions and hallways as teachers collaborated across grade levels, schools, and districts.  I am so proud to represent these dynamic teachers in our Discovery Educator Network.  California is lucky to have these innovative and dedicated teachers.

 

I would also like to send  BIG THANK YOU to Dorothy Grant Elementary and Fontana Unified School District for their continued dedication to infusing technology in their curriculum and support to the Discovery Educator Network. 

So… that sums up my thoughts of the day.  Now, let’s hear yours!  What did you enjoy most?  What was your favorite session?  Were you able to make connection with other DEN members?

The dinner bell rang at 5:15 on Friday evening as presenters and special guests gathered at Lucille’s Smokehouse in Rancho Cucamonga. We kept our server Amy, hopping as she revived us with some great food and drinks, after a long day of preparation for our DEN Launch Event. 

For many it was their first time at Lucille’s and not could walk away still hungry as Amy delivered plate after plate of ribs, chicken, tri tip, mashed potatoes, corn… I could go on and on. 

The highlight of the night for all was the opportunities to sit back relax and talk about our visions for the Launch Event. 

Mark Jeffery (Ceres School District) and Greg and Darcy Whitney (Fontana Unifed School District) discussed technology instruction programs. 

Lucille Renwich, editor of Digital Discovery, chatted away with Brian Talmadge (La Mesa Spring Valley School District). 

Ken and Tammy Decroo and Marie Belt (Fontana Unified) discussed technology integration with Hall Davidson and Jan Wee (Discovery Educator Network)

All in all, it was a great night that allowed us to take a long deep breath and relax before our big adventures tomorrow.

The teachers of Anaheim City School District spent the afternoon tackling their new English Language Development Program.  The office of Curriculum and Instruction hosted a make and take workshop based on their ELD curriculum, English Now.  After a quick overview of the new features of unitedstreaming (playlists, assignment builder, calendar, quiz center, etc.) and how to create dynamic non-linear Power Points, the teachers divided themselves into groups to begin conquering the curriculum.  Working on the thematic units, teachers worked in groups to create projects that match lessons.  By dividing the work, they managed to create 10 units they can now share.  The district will now be able to create copies of these programs on cd roms or post on their shared server so that all sites can access these projects.  It was great to watch these terrific teachers from different school sites, collaborate and integrate technology into their English Language Development curriculum. 

What ELD curriculum is your district using?  How are you integrating technology? 

If you would like to host a make and take workshop please email Jannita at Jannita_Demian@Discovery.com

With the growing number of English Language Learners (ELL) students in our schools and the increasing demands placed upon us by NCLB, three Fontana Unified School District administrators are working to develop instructional strategies that utilize Open Court to ensure that ELL students are successful.

How do you meet the needs of ELL Students using Open Court and all of its components?

George Santiago, Principal - Oleander Elementary, FUSD
Chris Ridge, Assistant Principal - Oak Park Elementary, FUSD
Ken Decroo, Principal - Dorothy Grant Elementary, FUSD