DEN: Florida

Lee Kolbert - Chair
Debbie Young Bohanan – Blog Coordinator
Melissa McBride – Events Coordinator (South)
Tom Turner – Events Coordinator (North)

Blog Team
Tracie Belt
Marie Coleman
Michele Futch
Cheryl Watford
Cheryl Woolwine

Events Team
Dawn DeWitt
Janet Hallstrom
Trudi Lawless
Ruth E. Manlandro
Carol Papuga
Cheryl Woolwine

Four of the Florida, DEN Leadership Council members are enjoying a few day in Silver Spring, Maryland at Discovery Headquarters; Lee Kolbert Den Chairperson, Tom Turner Events Coordinator for N. Florida, Melissa McBride Events Coordinator South Florida, and Cheryl Woolwine events/blog team member. As usual Discovery is treating us like royalty.
YOU CAN FOLLOW DEN LC LIVE AT: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/pennsylvania
MORE TO FOLLOW CHECK BACK LATER!

As I read articles and watched the news reports about the Space Shuttle Atlantis and mysterious objects floating in space, I started thinking of how I would use this in the classroom. "What a great opportunity to add some creative writing into the curriculum," was my first thought. What are those objects? Can the students come up with a creative story explaining them and how they got there?

But first, your class is going to need background information. There are videos on unitedstreaming to explain about the International Space Station. Magic School Bus has a great Space Video available as well. Then I went over to Cosmeo. I can play a game and see how quick I am at unlocking the locks of a Space Station, watch videos, read the articles, and more.

Going back to my lesson - I can have students do a mock-podcast as if they were a member of the crew and what their thoughts are of these strange objects. Follow the news and write articles for the newspaper. So many ideas come to my mind. What comes to yours?

Tomorrow they land at 6:21 AM. Those close enough to see or feel it - what is it like? I’ve yet to see a launch and hope to see one too. I can’t wait until we visit the Kennedy Space Center! Who’s joining me?

Image from Cosmeo.

There are so many benefits of becoming a STAR DEN Member. The networking with other teachers interested in integrating technology, unique and energetic professional development opportunities, and of course plenty of prizes to be won.  But of course, there is always room for a little "extra credit" for our hardworkers!

For the 2007 School Year, we’ll be rolling out new benefits and programs for STAR Discovery Educators.  Our first new initiative is the DEN Extra Credit Program.

The DEN Extra Credit Program will provide STAR Discovery Educators an opportunity to earn technology for the classroom by partnering with Discovery Education on various activities.   Whether writing lesson plans for existing content, or reviewing academic content of new videos, the DEN Extra Credit Program will provide a wide variety of opportunities for STAR Discovery Educators to contribute their expertise to further the success of the DEN and Discovery Education as a whole.

As a reward for your efforts on each project, participating members will receive various technology products for their classroom.  Depending on the size and scope of the project, these products may include wireless presentation devices, digital cameras, LCD projectors, SmartBoards and various technology packages for larger initiatives.

By joining DEN Extra Credit, you are not obligated to participate in all of the projects; we’ll simply communicate each new project and initiative to the DEN Extra Credit team and you can select the projects in which you are interested in participating. For each project, we’ll provide you with the scope, timeframe, skill sets required as well as the technology reward for the project and you can determine if you want to join that particular assignment.

To apply to join the DEN Extra Credit Program, please send an email to  Debbie_baillie@discovery.com to sign up and receive further details and information on the first set of "DEN Extra Credit" assignments.

If you are NOT a DEN Star but you’re curious on how to become one, check out our blog announcement and the DEN website for more information.

Hurricanes. That’s the first thing I think of when I think of Florida. Then Shamu, gators, sharks, that expensive mouse and other theme parks, and hot sticky days. Sinkholes came into my thoughts when looking to buy a house. Earthquakes did not come anywhere near my thoughts. In South Carolina I knew that we lived near a fault line and once a year we practiced just in case one hit. (This image is from unitedstreaming from when an earthquake hit Charleston, SC.)

Today an earthquake of 6.0 magnitude hit the South of Florida and was felt all the way up into Georgia. No serious damage was reported, but minor damage may be found. The waiter at Ruby Tuesday’s told us that it shook his coffee off the table. At the time it hit I was busy wrestling with Joey, and can’t say I felt anything.

When the waiter asked us if we heard about it, Joey said we need to blog about it and check out "unitedscreaming". That’s my boy.

Parents, if you’re interested in learning more about earthquakes and how to share information on this natural disaster, check out Cosmeo. I found over 200 videos, 61 images, 200+ articles, 5 brain games, and more that reach first through 12th grade students. Teachers, you have a great resource with unitedstreaming. I found 40 full length videos and even one audio! I did an advance search for "earthquake +Florida -California" and came up with the sinkhole video.

Steve Irwin started coming into our home when my son was 2. He enjoyed the Croc Files and that’s probably where he got his love for alligators, sharks, and other animals. These past few days has me going down memory lane of some of our favorite shows, concern for his family and the pain they are going through, and thoughts on how the rest of the world is grieving Steve, The Crocodile Hunter.

The outpouring of comments and heart felt condolensces can be found on many websites, especially The Animal Planet website. Sometimes though, pen and paper make the best tool to share your thoughts, express your feelings, and to begin the healing. Betsy Whalen, the Director of Discovery Educator Network sent us an email earlier that gives you and your students a way to share your thoughts. Here is her message to you:

In the days since the death of Steve Irwin, we’ve received a number of comments from DEN teachers about the difficulties their students are having dealing with this tragedy. According to news articles posted the other day, psychologists have said that adults need to realize that for children, Irwin’s death has a similar impact as Kennedy or Princess Diana’s did for adults and we can’t underestimate the importance of helping them deal with losing someone that many young children felt personally connected to.

In light of that, we’d like to reach out to the students in the DEN community and provide them with an opportunity to express their feelings about the Crocodile Hunter by writing letters to the Irwin family to communicate their condolences and provide some thoughts on why the Crocodile Hunter was important to them.

If your DEN members’ class, or select students in the class, would like to contribute letters, please ask them to package individual letters in one package and send them to me at:

Betsy Whalen
Discovery Education
1 Discovery Place
Silver Spring, MD 20814

We will package all of our DEN student letters up and deliver them directly to the Irwin Family through Animal Planet.

We’ll also keep you updated on the development of the the Crikey fund and other ways students may be able to participate to feel connected to the Crocodile Hunter.

Thanks

Betsy Whalen

I’ve been getting a great history lesson from a third generation Floridian and DEN member, Mary Cox. She’s from Leon County and is a fascinating person. From bee keeping to banjo playing - well she’s a lady of many talents.

I had simply asked what would you like to re-name/nickname Team North Florida. It brought on a lot of discussions. Now before we go any further, let me also say that we will not be getting any items with this on it or a new logo. We are part of the Discovery Educator Network. This is just for fun. Something we’ll refer ourselves as.

Okay, so Mary suggested that we name ourselves "de Leon Discoverers" after Juan Ponce de Leon, the first to discover Florida in 1513 and very early explorer of North Florida. She even suggested our slogan could be "DEN de Leon: causing an uproar in North Florida with unitedstreaming." (I found a great video segment about our founder in unitedstreaming. He never set up a colony here because he was killed by Indians off the Tampa Coast, but boy did he try!)

Others suggestions included

• North Florida Voyagers: Going Where No Educator Has Gone Before (thanks for the great PowerPoint Marsha. I may have to borrow parts of it!)
• The North Florida Navigators: Following the Star of Discovery
• North Florida Pioneers: The First to Discover in Education
• North Florida Explorers: Let no byte be unturned with DEN

There was another suggestion from Tom - but I’m not posting it.  Sorry Tom. It was a little over the top.

Okay, now I’m giving you a chance to earn those blogging points for the Good News Contest. Don’t forget to send Karen your wonderful ways that you use unitedstreaming. Share these wonderful ideas with the rest of Florida!

I’ll be in Flagler, Putnam and Pasco County this week. I hope to see some DEN members!

The Power of DEN! Thank you all who signed up to beta-test Discovery Science Connections. Looks like the response was very powerful and they have filled all the slots. If you did not respond in time, don’t fret. Just keep your eyes open for the next chance to beta-test one of Discovery’s products and share your expertise.

Oh, and I agree Michele - the logo is fantastic!

It’s a sad day for the Animal Planet as we lost one of our own heroes on Monday - Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. He was killed by a stingray while filming a segment for a series called "The Ocean’s Deadliest".

Because of Steve’s unbridled passion for Australia’s famous critter, my son watched his show quite a bit when he was younger and able to sit that long. He got just as excited about Steve when he showed a huge crocodile or other creature. I know his wife’s family retired here in Florida, and I heard that Steve often had a presence here when home visiting his in-laws. I remember one show where he was with the military and comparing the American Alligator to the Australian Crocodile. Joey wanted to run to Florida and see if the Croc Hunter was still here to meet after watching that show.

While the crocodiles were a passion well known, he also had a passion for conservation and all of the animal kingdom. If you’d like to incorporate conservation in your class, check out unitedstreaming. There are 37 videos on the topic of animal conservation and three videos about the Sting Ray. Cosmeo kids can watch a variety of videos on crocodiles or play the Animal Universe Brain Game. Or if you’re interested in learning more about Steve’s life, check out his fan page at the Animal Planet.

Before hitting post, I checked out other DEN pages. Jannita from Southern California has a post about a funny story from a little over a year ago. Check her blog out.

Please keep Steve’s family in your thoughts and prayers.

This is so exciting! I don’t know how I almost missed it! I saw the blog about facebooks and the DEN Stars Blog, but in between is this little gem. I’ve been waiting for Discovery Science Connection to debut and have been telling teachers to sign up at the site for information when it’s released. I know that Tracie Belt from Shorecrest actually got to work on it, and she’s going to help us do a launch party for it. (Maybe with Darlene Wolfe at "The Bodies Exhibit" at the Science Center?) Well, on the Discovery Educator Network Home Blog site there is a call for beta testers. Check out the blog and contact Matthew Seward immediately if you’re interested!

And I just had a science teacher tell me he couldn’t wait for a science promotion with all this Atlas stuff going on! He was a bit jealous. Hope he’s reading the blog!

If you could dream up the ultimate product from Discovery for teachers, what would it be?

As the DEN grows, we want to encourage our members to grow with us.  Therefore, we are enhancing the Discovery Educator Network so that we can offer special recognition and opportunities to members that actively participate.

The most significant change to the structure of the DEN is the addition of a new level of membership. Beginning September 1, 2006, every unitedstreaming user who registers on the Discovery Educator Network website will be considered a Discovery Educator. A new membership level—STAR Discovery Educator —has been added to recognize the outstanding efforts that many members have shown in the past year as they have shared their expertise and insights with others.  You will be receiving an email on September 1, 2006 detailing your specific level.

BECOMING A STAR DISCOVERY EDUCATOR OR MAINTAINING STAR STATUS

Facilitate and report at least two events. Any time you share the power of Discovery Education with 3 or more educators, you are hosting an event.  Examples include:

• Facilitate trainings, workshops or presentations that incorporate Discovery Education products such as unitedstreaming, Discovery Education Health Connection, Cosmeo, and Learning Adds Up.
• Share an integration idea over lunch with a group of educators.
• Demonstrate a skill involving unitedstreaming to co-workers before, during, or after school.
• Present unitedstreaming integration ideas during local, regional, state, or national conference sessions.

    AND

Complete any combination of two of the following:

• Attend a STAR Discovery Educator event such as a face-to-face workshop, webinar, Digital Connections session, or a regional or national DEN event.
• Recruit others to become Discovery Educators.
• Disseminate information related to Discovery Education products and services with the use of a tool such as a newsletter, podcast, blog post, or journal article.
• Upload a resource to the Discovery Educator Network website.
• Contribute to Discovery Educator Network website blogs and/or discussion boards.

ANNUAL RECOGNITION
Each year on July 31, we will review the participation of STAR Discovery Educators around the world.  Educators who continue to share, connect and inspire others, as measured by the activities described above, will maintain their STAR Discovery Educator status and continue to enjoy exclusive STAR benefits.  Some of these benefits include the opportunity to attend regional and national institutes, participate in exclusive contests and promotions, download resources and publish personal blogs on the DEN website, and maintain access to a Discovery Educator Network Field Manager.  Educators unable to actively participate over the next year will not retain their STAR status, but will still be welcomed to participate on the Discovery Educator Network website.   

Over the next year, we want to provide opportunities for you to grow along with us.  If you have any questions, please contact your North Florida DEN Field Manager, Danielle Abernethy. If you are in South Florida, please contact Karen Seddon.

So who’s ready to be a DEN ?