Just a note to let everyone know that soon, I will be going away from bulk mailing my dates to our DEN. Most of your updates will come straight off this blog. As a result, you will need to subscribe to this blog by typing in your email where it says "Enter your email to subscribe" in the top right hand corner of this page. Then hit "Subscribe Me." An email will be sent to you within an hour… sometimes it is not sent right away. In order for you to complete the registration, you must click the link in the email. No worries… there is no charge for this and you will not receive spam as a result! What will happen is that everytime I place a new message on the website, you will receive an email with that post included.
The following message is for all those Techies out there that previously subscribed using an aggregator. So, if you are just now subscribing via email please disregard the following 2 paragraphs.
The feed for this blog has been changed! If you’ve subscribed email, don’t worry this doesn’t affect you. But if you’re using an aggregator to subscribe, you’re going to need to update your feed. The new feed can be found at http://feeds.feedburner.com/DEN-SouthernCalifornia Update your subscription so you don’t miss out on any news!
Don’t forget, if you don’t have an aggregator you can now subscribe to this blog via email too. Just put in your email address in the upper right hand corner and whenever I post new information on this site, you’ll be recieve it in the comfort of your own inbox. It’s a great way to keep up to date on events going on in our state(s)!
Okay… so you have heard me sing praises of your incredible Implementation (aka Tech) team, so I thought I would let some of you put faces to the names you have seen on emails or voices you have spoken with over the phone.
From Left to Right (Lisa Rice, Craig Halper, Monika Davis, Me, Rhonda Underhill, Brandon Henderson) … we missed Lindsay and Sheri that day… no worries.. we’ll take another "family" picture end of January when I go back again 
We are so lucky to have an incredible Implementation Team. They are available to answer and help solve any of your tech problems or provide additional integration trainings through webinars. To contact them via phone call 800-323-9084, but remember they are on East Coast time.
If you have any unitedstreaming tech questions feel free to post them here and we will do our best to answer them.
Oh Cali Tree… Oh Cali Tree… How lovely are your branches!
So… in between bundling up, marathon meetings, and my escapades on the ice we were able to visit The Ellipse. This is a circular park, nestled between the White House and the Washington Monument that is home to the National Christmas Tree. The added treat to this park is that each state has a tree that is decorated by its’ state representative.
So Hall and I set off in search of California’s tree. 
We made sure to stop along the way to take pictures of the Washington 
(decorated with beautiful glass blown bulbs) and Colorado 
(decorated with kids drawings 
and words of peace) trees for our more remote DEN members.
We also were able to see Louisana’s tree. Because of the hurricane, each state donated one ornament to their tree. California had one in honor of Hollywood of course.
Can you believe ours was one of the last trees we found?!? Each ornament represented a different part of California. There were ones from San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, the Redwoods, etc. It was amazing and such an incredible experience.
Well, first I must begin by thanking you all for sending me all sorts of warm wishes during my excursion to Maryland. It must have helped because it actually warmed up to 40 degrees! But I am sure what you will find most amusing was that I actually went ice-skating in an outdoor rink! You’ll be proud to know that I spent the entire time upright on the ice and even managed to bust a few moves… or if that is what you call it… I did little spinners… even did the ballerina pose with my hands above my head! The definite highlight of the night was watching Bob Patterson of Discovery Health Connection (definitely check out this new Discovery product… it’s terrific… you can sign up for a 30 day trial) skate for the first time! Many applause to him for also staying upright and not giving up.
The evening only got better, when later that night when we made the brave move to surprise Discovery Education’s Vice President Melanie by caroling at her house…. Imagine a tour bus pulling up in front of your home at 10:00 p.m. So, as Hall and I led the “choir” a huge Doberman pincher barked wildly at the door and a woman we did not recognize answered. Can you believe 30 of us started singing at the wrong house?!?! She lived next door and watched laughing on her front porch as we all belted out Jingle Bells. To say the least it was a night we will always remember. 
Our very own DEN Member, Carol Anne McGuire and her students, are getting ready to Rock Our World! It won’t be an earthquake, but she has definitely found a unique way of shaking up the traditional classroom. She has taken technology to a whole new level and taken it for several rides around the world.
Her Rock our World Project is based on the Apple product Garage Band. Students from from around the world create international song tracks. Each week a class adds a different musical instrument to the song and then it rotates to the next country. By the end of the project they will have a total of 12 songs created in 12 countries on 7 different continents. It’s absolutely amazing!
This year she focused on Christmas Around the World. Check out their website and share with your students how this time of the year is spent world wide.
The Grand Finale of this project will be a live television broadcast where all 12 schools connect. Tune in to KOCE Television on December 15th from 10:30-11:30 for this unique Christmas celebration.
Okay…. So without a doubt one of the number 1 questions in any training is "How do I connect my computer to my television?" Hats off to Hall Davidson for the explanation listed below.
The best way to go from computer to TV is with a scan converter. There are heavy explanations in "Digital Nuts and Bolts" handout on the website www.halldavidson.org
The cheapest way is to go the drawer where you put the cables from the box when you bought the computer, take out the octopus-looking one with a skinny silver end on one side (a triple mini plug) and three fatter white, red, and black ones (RCA males) on the other. Plug the skinny end into the computer by the hole with the picture of a TV on it. Plug the other three ends into your TV (if you’re lucky enough to have a TV called a "monitor", which means it has the right holes in the back to do this. If not, plug them into your VCR (virtually all VCR’s have these holes). Hit "input" on your VCR to activate these holes (jacks) and see your computer. Make sure your TV is watching your VCR (insert a tape and hit play to check). To do this, you have to have a computer with a built-in device called a scan converter. Nearly all Macs have one. Many PC’s (called "multimedia") have one, too. Few people know when they have one (something like people who don’t know they have unitedstreaming!)
The next cheapest way is to buy a two-dollar RCA (male)-to-RCA (male) cable or six dollar SVHS cable and connect the computer and TV (or VCR). See above.
The last way is to buy a scan converter. They cost between $50 and $150. Get the cheapest one. You don’t really need the extras, but keep a receipt just in case. Then go from the monitor output on your computer (the many-holed jack in the back or on the side).
Last Gasp Cheap Trick: If you don’t have a monitor output on your computer (many one-piece Macs don’t), then point an old and broken camcorder at the computer screen and connect the camcorder to the TV or VCR (see above). A new camcorder will work, too. But there are an amazing number of camcorders in the closets of parents that no longer record (broken motor, jammed tapes, etc.) but that will work as cameras just fine. Send out a request, then put those "broken" camcorders to work. . Even if you do have monitor output on your computer but don’t want to shell out for a scan converter, try this technique.
Please post a comment and let us know how you are getting plugged in at your site. Do you know any good deals on projectors, scan converters, etc?
Via RSS
