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Discovery Educator Network (DEN)
One of the best things about taking classes with other teachers in the Wilkes/Discovery program is sharing with other teachers. Last week we reviewed web sites to give us more ideas that we can use to differentiate instruction to meet the individual needs of our students. As I read through teachers’ reviews of web sites I took notes and bookmarked many on my Diigo account. Since I will be teaching fifth grade next year I have been on the lookout for good web sites for students to practice basic skills, for research, and to explore areas of interest.
Another great place to share and learn with other teachers is sponsored by Discovery Education and this is how they describe the DEN, “The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) is a global community of educators passionate about teaching with digital media, sharing resources, collaborating, and networking.” The opportunities Discovery provides for teacher education are outstanding. Discovery provides local, regional, state and national events. After attending a few events, I was encouraged to become a STAR Discovery Educator. The above link will take you to the page that explains the benefits of becoming a STAR Discovery Educator. This link will take you to page that explains how to become a STAR Discovery Educator. It is a great resource for professional development. You may also want to check out the Discovery webinars another great place for technology information and how to integrate it in your classroom.
It is because of my association with Discovery that I am finally working toward my master’s degree in instructional media. How has Discovery helped you to be a more effective teacher? Have any Discovery products made your teaching more engaging? Discovery has made a world of difference in my teaching
I am relatively new to using Discovery Education and have really only used the streaming video for my class. I have learned more about the tools on the site recently (due to another class). I am curious about the events you mentioned. When I checked into them for my area (Mississippi) there are none listed. Are there online events I could “attend” since there are no events around me. The grant PBS had for the state has run out (I only found out about it in year 5 of a 5 year cycle) so no one around here uses the program. I still have access due to Wilkes. I am trying to convince other teachers to start asking for it so they can use it in their classrooms. I feel like I need to learn more aobut it if I am going to sell it here. Thanks for any info you may have. You can email at my wilkes account if you have any info.
There are a lot of events online. Try to get into the site this way. Go into Discovery as if you were going to stream a video. If you look on the tabs near Streaming you should see one that says DEN. After you click on DEN you will see a tab that says Blogs a little lower. After you click on that one, the left hand side under DEN blogs (above the states) you will see a button for National and many other interesting areas. I would click on National and start there. Here is the direct address to the website http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/
Scroll down on the National page to the DEN weekly update for July 24, 2009 and click on the link. Scroll down to Summer School with DEN to see what is going on in August. I hope this helps.
Does it cost to belong to STAR? The best thing that I have used with DEN is the variety of united streaming
videos. I have used them for projects, introduction, and closing activities in my teaching of math and language
arts. My district subscribes to DEN, which is great for our students to use too. I have had my students use DEN
for many projects and research. Students seem to be more engaged when technology is incorporated.
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