DEN: Florida

Resources for unitedstreaming are popping up everywhere! Here is a really cool lesson plan from a STAR DEN Member in North Florida, along with a video.

Check out the lesson plan and the video at http://etc.usf.edu/plans/lessons/lp/lp0138.htm. Anyone recognize this Super Star? If you’re going to FAME, you can even see him present. Leave a comment below to tell us what you think of this great resource.

And Super Stars - check out this great deal from DEN! Must be a STAR DEN member to qualify. If you are curious of your status or would like to improve your status to being an active, shining bright STAR DEN member, email me.

Still a few slots left for the Amusing Times with DEN Days. Register soon! Details will be mailed to those who sign up next week, including the template.

Hopefully by now all Discovery Educator Network Memebers have received a survey to fill out. We want to make sure next year provides you with all of the benefits and resources you need to make the 2006-2007 school year your best one yet! To do that, we need to hear from you!

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey that was e-mailed to you so that we can measure our progress and create a roadmap for serving you better.

I came from South Carolina, from a school district that is half the size of Rhode Island. Sounds big to outsiders, and to the insiders, we felt at least medium with 15 schools. Now that I have been in Florida for awhile I realized I didn’t know what a big school district was!

On Monday I had the pleasure of meeting with Polk County’s Network Team, all 100 plus of them! Polk has over 100 schools! They have to be efficient at training and implementing new projects in a district this size, and from their meeting on Monday, I saw first hand how efficient they were! They were having an update meeting for their network managers, which included notes on unitedstreaming. They shared success stories for implementation, how to use unitedstreaming’s editable clips in various video software and other notes. I also was on their agenda with information about the Discovery Educator Network and all the benefits of being an active member. Virginia Richard, Polk’s Teacher Resource Specialist Trainer and new DEN member, explained that with a district this size their implementation has to be school level. Each school had a chance to send one network manager, one media specialist and one teacher to the initial training and those three people were then sent back to their school to train their faculty. They still have a few schools to go, but you can feel their enthusiasm of having unitedstreaming.

After the meeting, I treated them all to Valentine cookies and talked to interested people about the Discovery Educator Network and FETC. One of their fifth grade teachers is participating in our National Google Earth Project, and when I talked to them about the "Dino" project that we’re doing, I had some more interested people! (Email me if you want to know more about the Dino Project.) I know I cannot have all my members from Polk County , but WOW! I wonder what other schools and districts are doing to implement unitedstreaming and to keep the enthusiasm level up.

Another topic that came up was about the division of North and South. For the most part we used the I-4 as a guide, but I got lucky to have Polk and Pinnealas in my zone. Here is a color coded map of our breakdown. I have the North (blue) counties and Karen Seddon has the South (yellow) counties.

One other lesson I learned, make sure that you write down the directions! I had the directions in my PDA and was using my PDA with a GPS program. Twenty miles away from the site, after being re-routed from an accident on I-4, my PDA decided to die. Not because of power, it just died! And when it died, I got lost, physically and mentally! So, learn your lesson from me, always take written directions in case technology decides to fail! Thankfully my phone still worked and Virginia was able to give me turn by turn directions. Better than a navigational device!

Through the power of the Internet, I introduce you to one of our North Florida DEN members, Carol Gooden.

Carol Y.L. Gooden:

     Originally from Jamaica, I have the following academic qualifications: a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Brunswick, Canada; a Diploma in Education from the University of the West Indies; a Masters Degree from Columbia University in New York; and an Educational Specialist degree from Nova University.

I taught biology, chemistry and algebra at high school level in Jamaica and in St. Croix, U. S.  Virgin Islands for many years, and I have also served as a media specialist for over 30 years. Currently, I am the Distance Learning Specialist for St. Lucie County, Florida, where in 1993 I was honored as the county’s Teacher of the Year. In 1994, I was selected as a member of the Florida League of Teachers by the Florida Department of Education.

I am often referred to as the ‘Story Lady’ because for over 10 years I have hosted a television program on which I read children’s stories. Additionally, I serve on the Board of Directors for both Big Brothers Big Sisters of St. Lucie County, and the AIDS Research Treatment Center of the Treasure Coast. I am also a vestry member and the organist for my church.

I enthusiastically recommend unitedstreaming to my colleagues as one of the best resources I have come across in my over 40 years as an educator. I particularly like the ease of use, and the fact that it provides resources for so many disciplines. My job responsibilities include training teachers how to use unitedstreaming, and I have also incorporated that training in a course that I teach at Indian River Community College where I am an adjunct faculty member.