California DEN

Ughh… Honestly I found myself pretty down today.  I listened to people’s conversations at tables around mine at breakfast, my husband came back with reports that it was definitely the "water cooler" topic at his work.  Seriously, is this legend gone?!? By the time I arrived home all I wanted to do was curl up on the sofa and I clicked the television to a place that I have found entertaining, educational, and comforting over the past few years.  Yep… Animal Planet.  They were showing one of Steve’s episodes of his expedition to Antartica. I was thinking as I watched, children around the nation have come to rely on him as good clean educational entertainment.  I wonder how they are coping.  What are they saying on the playgrounds around the world.  It was then that I opened my email and received the following from DEN Member Brett Harvey… better grab a kleenex first… 

"Our staff development meeting last week was on getting kids do some expressive free writing even in science. So today being the first day back, I showed some old clips of some of Steve’s classic dangerous encounters - the spitting cobra http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/crochunter/expedition/dispatch_07.html - click on Close Call Clips to see videos - none on Unitedstreaming but this worked OK. Then I had them write on the prompt, "What impact has Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter had on education around the world? on you personally?" Amazingly all the kids were writing solid for 6 minutes - no pens stopped!

A lot of the news agencies are trying to capture his mark on society by writing about his catchphrases like "Crikey" but I think more it was his ability to bring the world of wild animal life into your home through your television. Watching Steve got me excited to teach my kids about biology and motivated me to even bring my own animals in and give kids an more authentic experience. He had a passion for learning that was an example to all educators. He was the kind of person that made you want to do what he did for a living. That’s not true of most other jobs! Right after visiting the news pages I found myself on the DEN site reading out your blog and finding out what the reaction was from friends on the inside of Discovery. How cool was it to read your story and the same emotions that many at Discovery probably have? It made DEN take on another dimension, for at least a moment.

Thanks Brett for reminding us how to bring real world situations to our classroom and allowing the students to have a voice in this tragedy. 

Feel free to have your students post to the blog about their favorite episodes and memories of our favorite Crocodile Hunter.

One of my very 1st Discovery memories involves Steve Irwin, affectionately called my many "The Crocodile Hunter" so you can’t imagine the shock when I got the text message this morning that he had been killed by a stingray.  I immediately woke up and turned on the news to learn that he passed away by shooting a documentary.  His director and friend (yikes, I don’t remember the name) shared that he had died in a peaceful state doing what he loved doing the most.

I had the GREAT pleasure of seeing Steve at Discovery Communication’s 20th Birthday Celebration, only a week after I had been hired on. They put him on the big screen, pretending he was "shooting on location" when seconds later he burst through the door.  Running up the aisle he tripped over the television cables and in total "Crocodile Man Fashion" embraced the opportunity, fell to the ground and began wrestling the cords as if they were crocodiles.

So, immediately this morning I went to his website… mostly to ensure that I did not misspell "Crikey"…. the website is currently not working… I am sure due to an overwhelming amount of traffic….  But I did find a great wiki of his life and accomplishments.  Check it out by clicking here   Or visit his Discovery Site by clicking here.  There is lots of interesting trivia facts, etc for your kids to check out!

So in honor of him…. "Go CROCS!"

Okay… it’s 11:40 pm and I am getting ready to sign out for the night but I felt compelled to post one more blog.  Here’s the deal, many of you often send me wonderful emails reminding me to rest and get to bed early but what I discovered in the past 2 nights as I have been busily trying to catch up on emails is that you are working as late as me.

I set a new record this week.  I actually spoke, by phone and email chains back and forth, with quite a few of you even past 10:30 pm.  I won’t incriminate anyone on the blog… but they know who they are!

Just wanted to say keep up the GREAT work!  But do try to get some sleep! 

Sweet Non-Student, Non-Testing, Non-Standard based Filled Dreams-

Jannita

As many of you heard I had quite an eventful week.  But it doesn’t seem to give up.  A few days ago, we discovered bees swarming one our brick barbeque in the backyard!  So being in the hero of the house, my hubby took off to "Good Ole" Home Depot today.  Next thing I knew my dog, Bear, was running around the house…. Why you ask?!?!  Well, let’s just say my hero decided to do a "test" and spray a few to see if they died instantly… right next to the hive.  Hmmm…. Let’s just say "Myth Busted" Mass swarming occured… I’ll leave it there… especially since he’s standing behind me right now.

When we returned from dinner and the swarming had subsided we returned outside to find hundreds of little dead bees.  (Does that mean myth "confirmed" or "plausible")  The first thing we saw was a small huddle of bees, still hanging on and still protecting (huddling around) their queen. Til death do you part I suppose!  Then of course I had to have my hero lift the lid to examine the combs.  I was thrilled to find 3!  No honey yet… but perfect little honey combs.  I am quite the tactile person and upon feeling it learned that it’s quite slimy.   My hubby gave me the whole run down as his fater used to raise bees!   

So the teacher in me decided to turn this into a bit of a lesson.  (Even after being a year out of the classroom the need to turn ANYTHING into SOMETHING still runs through the veins!) Of course I ran inside and started searching on unitedstreaming.  I learned that bees need to travel to 10,000 flowers to create 1 tsp of honey and 2 million to create a bottle full from a great clip titled "Busy Bees"  I also noticed that we have the Magic School Bus movie titled "In the Bee Hive"  In addition we had articles, AUDIO clips, images, quizzes, events, and clip art!  (Here’s a reason why you never give your username and password to students… I noticed one movie was on "The Birds and the Bees" now don’t go checkin!)

I have 3 little honey combs that I would love to mail out to some teachers that could use it as part of their lessons.  Does anyone out there teach about bees?

So what does your field manager do on her 1st vacation in a year?!?  I hung out with my boss!!!  I know sounds a bit crazy.  But here’s the scoop… My director, Scott Kinney, lives in the sweetest place on earth… that’s right Hershey, PA. So, Lance Rouguex, East Coast Regional Manager, myself, and our "other halves" spent an evening hanging out, eating Scott’s famous hamburgers, and of course no evening would be complete with out a little mischief!

As a result we put the Mentos + Diet Coke to a challenge.  So if you want a GREAT laugh check out our home video as we worked hard to discover 1) What happens when you combine Mentos and Diet Coke? 2) How many Mentos can fit in Lance’s mouth and 3) Just what will happen if Lance tries to keep his mouth (filled with Mentos and Diet Coke) shut tight.

To watch our video go here…. Warning… it might take a little while for the movie to load… but it’s definitely worth the wait! http://blog.discoveryeducation.comdiscovery_educator_networ/files/den_mentos_diet_coke.mov

Well the MythBuster’s must have caught wind of this DEN challenge, because last night they hosted their own version of this trendy experiment.  Although, I have not seen it yet (had to TIVO that one) I am sure it was quite explosive.

When I first emailed my DEN members about the episode earlier this week, it only took a few minutes before the emails came rolling in.  Here’s what some had to say…

Christy Keeler: "Did you see the Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos Experiments at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znoSaHwbHYg They replicate the Bellagio Fountains of Las Vegas fame!

Kathy Martin: "You tube.com is often blocked in many districts. If you would like to watch the Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos videos go to http://www.eepybird.com

Dennis Cowick: "One of my students here in San Diego presented a film for the San Diego iVIE student film festival he created on this very subject. His film won a nomination in the high school math and science category.  Click on this link to see his movie. http://www.ivieawards.org/ivie06/?loc=scidiscoveries&m=4

Scott Kinney: Check out his blog post by clicking here… http://blog.discoveryeducation.comdiscovery_educator_networ/2006/08/mythbusters_sco.html

So… how many of you watched the episode?  Let us know what you thought of our video and then the MythBuster’s show.  Do you know any other great and safe explosive experiments?

  They have a number of hilarious videos and continue to post video results of their other "explosive" experiments.  They have tested 15 types of sodas and numerous candies!"

Everyone, meet my favorite butterfly Joel Jacobson in his debut blog.  If you haven’t met this beautiful butterfly yet, you really ought to check him out!  Joel is helping schools from around the nation take flight with innovative fundraising through the program Learning Adds Up.  Through selling Discovery’s newest home media product, COSMEO, they will donate money back to your school for your PTA or school technology fund.  You really have to check this one out!  If you are interested in hosting a family media night at your school to help showcase COSMEO and Learning Adds Up please email me jannita_demian@discovery.com

  One of my most favorite parts of visting the set of the Myth Busters was walking around their warehouse and seeing signs of past myths.  Not only do you find them on the tables, but also sitting in corners on cabinets, in the planters outside and even hanging from the ceiling.  So, let’s make this post interactive… I’ll post the pictures… you see how many of the myths you can list and state whether it was "Confirmed" "Plausible" and "Busted"  I’ll wait 2 weeks to "publish" your comments so that way no one can cheat.  Then the winners will be entered to win a signed copy of their book.  So… Can you name these myths….

Okay… so some things in my job are still so surreal to me.  So when, Mari Belacazar  called me a few weeks ago and asked if I could take 1 lucky DEN member to the set of the Myth Buster’s to help create a Discovery Education film for the winners of our NSTA sweepstakes, it didn’t take long for me to start doing the happy dance. Two weeks later, Brian Talmadge and I boarded our planes and headed toward San Francisco.

When I arrived, I imagined seeing a set, lights, a costume crew… all those things one typically finds at a film location.  Instead, we pulled up to a warehouse.  Yep… a warehouse filled with lots of gadgets but not too many signs of what one think they would see at the set of one of Discovery Channel’s most popular shows. (Yes, Buster was there!)  What I can say is that Adam, Jamie, Grant, Kari, and Tory are absolutely wonderful people.  What you see is really what you get!  Some of the most down to earth “Talent” I have ever met!

  Today they would be re-visiting the myth about blowing up salami.  Apparently they were not too satisfied with their previous results.  For the rest of the afternoon they ran around preparing for the big explosions. BIG they were as we later found out when smoke came billowing out of the container.  Funny thing… Adam and Jamie still get soo excited, when things actually blow up … the louder the noise… the more cheers they let out! 

I seriously could write pages full of all of our adventures of the day, but my favorite moment was simply spent hanging out in their office talking about the show, past myths, future shows (shhhh), recent trips they had taken with their families.

So here’s my question…. If you could spend an afternoon hanging out with the crew of the Myth Buster’s what would you ask?  What would you want to see?

Post a comment here and I’ll enter you into a raffle to receive a signed copy of the Myth Buster’s book.

This had made me laugh so hard the other day.  I arrived home after a long week at NECC and was immediately taken back… or should I say up 12,300 feet up! 

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of attending TIE, Colorado’s State technology conference at the BEAUTIFUL Copper Mountain Resort.  I was having dinner with implementation rep Dan Walter one evening and asked why there weren’t any trees up on the mountain. Thankfully he was kind and didn’t make too much fun of me when he explained that trees don’t grow that high because of the elevation.  My response… if the trees can’t breathe here then why are we here?!?!?  So when I came home and found a package from Lin complete with a t-shirt and hat I had a great laugh!

Colorado definitely gets the prize for best ride to lunch… we got to take the ski lift up to the restaurant on top of the mountain. Special thanks to the great CO DEN for joining me for dinner and Jennifer Jensen for hosting a phenomenal session on unitedstreaming and DEN. 

Okay… I will confess that some days are more fun than others!  After Saturday night, the long hours paid off when we got to hang out with 2 of the most incredibly talented and crazy guys Discovery has… yep… Adam and Jamie of the Myth Busters.  After working BUSTIN our tails off in the booth, we were treated to a special meet and greet session with Adam and Jamie at the Marriott hotel. I was so impressed with their “guy next door” demeanors.  No arrogant movie star attitude in that room… in fact I found it completely humbling that they were actually thanking us for all the work we were doing with teachers.

Later that evening we had dinner at the NSTA Presidential Banquet and Adam and Jaimie spoke for about 45 minutes about teaching, science, their jobs, how they got started.  The audience’s favorite part was when we opened the mics to their questions.  The 1^st person to the mic wanted to know how teachers could find out ahead of time what episodes would be airing so they could be prepared to field all the questions by students the next morning, like how to capture farts!  I almost feel over laughing.  I also enjoyed listening and watching Adam poke fun of Jamie.  The last question of the night was by CA DEN member Carol Anne’s daughter Macy who explained that her mother teaches students with visual impairments and wondered if they have ever considered busting the myth that “Blind people of super sonic powers.”  The audience cheered loudly as the Adam and Jamie said they will definitely start thinking of ways to BUST that MYTH!

What Myth would you like to see Adam and Jamie bust?!?