We are flying out our on-line community manager and renowned blogger, podcaster, Steve Dembo so help us celebrate the launch of the new and very much improved DEN website.
This evening will be filled with lots of networking, sharing of success stories, and Steve will be showcasing our new website, and of course we will have some food and treats.
March 7th will be held at the Saddleback Valley Unified School District.
March 8th will be held at the Corona Norco Unified School District.
For more information see attachments or email Jannita
Download march_7th_saddleback_event.doc
Download cnusd_den_event_march_8th.doc
Shhhhhhhhh! You haven’t heard about the Educational Technology Conference? Over four hundred educators from central California may not want you to know about this "little" conference developed and sponsored by CTAP Region 6 and CCCUE. It is no surprise that anyone would want to keep this gem to themselves…it featured "Techno Icons" Mike Lawrence (keynote speaker) and the DEN’s very own Hall Davidson presenting two sessions! Attendees for the day were treated to a wonderful variety of learning opportunities within the over 75 sessions available to choose from as well as chances for networking with others interested in technology. This inexpensive ($60) conference also included breakfast goodies and a box lunch (sub sandwich, chips, salad, fruit, cookie, softdrink or water - sometimes it is all about the food!) as well as a hefty, green 
CTAP computer bag filled with freebies like notepads and pens and trial software (we teachers love the free stuff!) And, if this wasn’t enough already, you should have seen the raffle prizes! There were screams of delight when Marianne Pack, director of CTAP6 announced the winners of prizes like digital cameras, InterWrite School Pads, a video iPod and a one year subscription to Discovery Health Connection (guess who donated that fan-tabulous prize?)
You may want to mark your calendar early this year and be sure to attend the ETC 2007!
Kristin and Melissa had a great time at the Google Earth session presented by southern California DEN manager, Jannita Demian.
It wasn’t just another Friday night in Modesto… it was a DEN event night! Hero’s in Modesto was where heroes in teaching met and mingled and laughed (a lot!) It was a hoot to meet teachers from Atwater and hear about their uses of unitedstreaming in their classrooms. They are a lively bunch! 
While Mike Lawrence, Burt Lo and Hall Davidson, talked strategy for the Educational Technology Conference in Modesto, everyone enjoyed pizza and a variety of beverages and listened to some outrageous stories from our server Arika.
DEN member Kristy Lawrence (Ceres Unified) won a subscription to Discovery Health Connection. She shared her excitement with me (Susan) and Wayne from Stockton during our event. Oh, what a night!
Shhhhhhhhh! You haven’t heard about the Educational Technology Conference? Over four hundred educators from central California may not want you to know about this "little" conference developed and sponsored by CTAP Region 6 and CCCUE. It is no surprise that anyone would want to keep this gem to themselves…it featured "Techno Icons" Mike Lawrence (keynote speaker) and the DEN’s very own Hall Davidson presenting two sessions! Attendees for the day were treated to a wonderful variety of learning opportunities within the over 75 sessions available to choose from as well as chances for networking with others interested in technology. This inexpensive ($60) conference also included breakfast goodies and a box lunch (sub sandwich, chips, salad, fruit, cookie, softdrink or water - sometimes it is all about the food!) as well as a hefty, green CTAP computer bag filled with freebies like notepads and pens and trial software (we teachers love the free stuff!) And, if this wasn’t enough already, you should have seen the raffle prizes! There were screams of delight when Marianne Pack, director of CTAP6 announced the winners of prizes like digital cameras, InterWrite School Pads, a video iPod and a one year subscription to Discovery Health Connection (guess who donated that fan-tabulous prize?)
You may want to mark your calendar early this year and be sure to attend the ETC 2007!
Kristin and Melissa had a great time at the Google Earth session presented by southern California DEN manager, Jannita Demian.
Today, I spent all morning training in sessions with DEN member Mark Jeffery and manager Susan Staat. I was so bummed I didn’t get to take the plunge with the 40 DEN members and their families at an advanced screening of Deep Sea 3D and to make matters worse… wouldn’t ya know that the room I presented in had a huge mural of a sea scape on the outside! I took a picture in front of it and accidentally just deleted before I posted! UGH!!!
First of all a very special thanks to Elizabeth Andersen from THA and Warner Bros. for sponsoring this event and allowing us to attend for FREE!!!
To make myself feel better, I went to unitedstreaming this afternoon and found a Magic School Bus video about oceans (Magic School Bus Takes a Dive) along with 230 Videos, 1983 Articles, 4 Lesson Plans, 55 Calendar Events, 4 Clip Art, 403 images, and 33 quizzes. How could you help prep your kids before seeing this movie utilizing our resources?
I was thrilled to receive some of your calls and a few emails about what a fabulous movie it was. Overall, we had at least 150 DEN members, their fellow teachers, families (my mom and grandma were there!), and friends attend. I will keep posting pictures to this blog as I receive them from you.
For now, I will let you post and tell all about the movie. So, please … make me very jealous… let’s hear about it!
Here’s one attachment I just received with pics… thanks Cypress teachers and Kimberly!
More photos just arrived from Kathy… thanks!
Download deep_sea_pics.doc
It wasn’t just another Friday night in
Modesto
… it was a DEN event night! Hero’s in
Modesto
was where heroes in teaching met and mingled and laughed (a lot!) It was a hoot to meet teachers from
Atwater
and hear about their uses of unitedstreaming in their classrooms. They are a lively bunch!
While Mike Lawrence, Burt Lo and Hall Davidson, talked strategy fo
r the Educational Technology Conference in
Modesto
, everyone enjoyed pizza and a variety of beverages and listened to some outrageous stories from our server, Arika.
DEN member Kristy Lawrence (Ceres Unified) won a subscription to 
Discovery Health Connection. She shared her excitement with me (Susan) and
Wayne
from
Stockton
during our event. Oh, what a night!
It’s official… I have visited the “Sweetest Place on Earth” Hershey, PA. And yes… the air really does smell like chocolate. My favorite the “Hershey Outlets” a woman’s dream come true… chocolate and shopping. But if you can believe it, I am actually burnt out on chocolate. I will say I have always loved Pennsylvania, but I have a new favorite place in that great state.
You all have to visit the Hershey Lodge, where they actually great you with chocolate bars and hot chocolate (best I have ever had!). Then you will need to head down to the town, where you’ll drive down Chocolate Ave and the street lights are actually Hershey Kisses. You’re next stop will be Chocolate World… let’s just say it’s not the dentist’s favorite stop. Do you know what product’s are created by Hershey’s? They have more than just chocolate… Go to www.hersheys.com to find out more. They actually sell candy at the factory that can’t be found in our stores. And as Hall Davidson proved, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are actually much fresher and even taste a bit different.
But it wasn’t all play… I had the opportunity to host 2 breakout sessions for Pennsylvania’s Pre Conference Workshop. I met several great educators and had the opportunity to hang out with Kathy Schrock for a few days. I encourage you to check out her site www.kathyschrock.net and http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/ (On a side note Kathy’s favorite Hershey product is the pourable peanut butter sauce for ice cream, and they only sell in at the factory in a big tub)
Thanks to all the great PA DEN members and their manager Lance Rougeux for an incredible week.
If you had asked me two weeks ago what my life was going to be like, I never could have imagined this. My name is Susan Staat and two weeks ago, I was a first grade teacher in a small school district in Ceres, California. (You haven’t heard of Ceres? We are just south of Modesto.) In the past two weeks, I have conquered my fear of flying, been just minutes away from the White House but didn’t see it, spent time in four states, had incidents in two elevators and broke into one car. Why so much excitement in such a short time? I was hired as your new DEN field manager for northern California and my nickname is “Trouble.” I’ve had people call me “Trouble” for many, many years, but it really isn’t my fault! I don’t try to cause trouble…it kind of just finds me…honestly. Don’t get me wrong, the first week and a half with Discovery has been a blast, just a little scary too. I have taught elementary school for fifteen years, I’ve taught Professional Growth classes for teachers with the University of San Diego, I’ve been interviewed on the radio and heard nationwide (twice!), I’ve done mentoring and master teaching and presenting in multiple states. I didn’t think it was possible to scare me! But, this is a whole new world – one that I had preferred to drive in rather than fly. While a small dose of anti-anxiety medication helped with that first flight to Maryland, my biggest fear right now is not knowing how to meet your needs. I want to hear from you…send me an email just to say “Hi”…let me know how I can help you…let me know if I can come by your school district for a visit! I look forward to you sharing your projects and successes with me. (And hey, let me know if you’ve ever seen the White House!) I’ll share with you my stories from Portland in the next blog, but in case you were wondering, I will tell you about the first elevator incident: Imagine this if you will, thirteen DEN field managers crammed into one elevator (think phone booth and college), the doors close… someone asks, “What’s the weight limit in this thing?” Suddenly, and without warning, the alarm starts to ring! We all panic and eyes grow wide. Just then, the ringing stops! And then starts AGAIN! One final question, “Whose backside is pressing the alarm button?” I just smile, I’m in the middle of the pack and for once, I’m not the one causing the trouble!
I couldn’t have been more proud when I heard that 2 of CA DEN members convinced 11 other teachers on their staff, not to hit the snooze button early on Saturday morning. Instead, they all headed in to school. This event was completely orchestrated and delivered by Corona Norco DEN members Greg and Phil.
Here’s the summary of their day from blog guest author Greg…
“On Saturday, February 11, 2006, Highland Elementary held another Den Event in the school computer lab. The training involved 11 teachers, 3 of which helped facilitate, and lasted from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. The event consisted of training on Discovery’s United Streaming, and Microsoft’s Power Point, to create standards-based media-rich presentations to be delivered to students. Teachers were asked to bring a teacher’s guide, or an upcoming lesson which was used to guide the creation of the presentation. "It was incredible to see teachers getting excited about digital lessons on a Saturday!" said Principal Rochelle Pokorny, who also attended the event. DEN member Phil Koehnke led the event, and was supported by Greg Gorman, and Jeff Pearson.”
I can’t wait to see all the great projects that were created!
Congrats Phil and Greg on a successful DEN event!
It may be cold and snowing in Colorado, but we have one DEN member who is RED HOT!!!
Jennifer Jensen just received some fantastic news! Soon she’ll be New York bound, compliments of Scholastic, as she was selected to be part of their Book Club Teacher Advisory Board, along with 25 other teachers from across the country. Their vice president of marketing will also be coming to visit her class.
On Monday, she learned that she is the Rocky Mountain Regional Winner for International Reading Association’s Presidential Award for Reading and Technology, for submitting an online reading unit for the book Bearstone by Will Hobbs. We can’t wait to see your project. It’s still too soon to see this year’s winners, but to learn more about this program click here.
As if that’s not enough, in January she won a photo contest with a Scuba Diving Resort in Honduras. Guess what her prize is?!?!? A week long trip to the Honduras resort! Take me Jennifer!!! Perhaps, one day we’ll see your photos in our image library! If you want to see her winning photo click here.
Jennifer, on behalf of your DEN family, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
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