Glenda Jenkins’ Blog

If you happen across this blog and you live in Arkansas and you love sharing technology, then you are the one we are looking for!  The Arkansas DEN is about to plan another spectacular event for Arkansas Star Discovery Members. We want you to join us. Leave a comment below so we can contact you in the near future.  In the mean time, checkout the Arkansas blog and get ready for the summer webinars! 

If you haven’t been keeping up with the Discovery Student Adventures/South Africa,  then you are missing out. It has not only been a fun experience to follow the group Karen Wells took to South Africa, but a wonderful learning experience. The talent these students have in writing their blog posts and the pictures they have shared are so breath taking.  I have laughed and cried with many of their posts. Show them your support and post a comment .  Better yet, take their quiz! That will really open your eyes.

I hope all of you enjoyed Discovery’s Teacher Appreaciation Week as much as I did. It was so exciting to see what special treat was waiting each day. I’m getting all geared up now for the big geocaching day on May 30th. I plan to take a small group out on what we call the “Tool Time” Challenge.  It will be a new experience for some. I hope it will be a taste of “Discovery” for some new STAR members.

What a fun time we had in Rogers with the “future” STAR DEN members!  They were excited about going home after the AAIM conference and getting started on the application process.   I talked to others throughout the conference that missed the “Sweet on Discovery”  get together, but want to be a part of the DEN.  If you want to share in the wonderful treat of being a part of Discovery, be sure and contact one of the LC members located on the Arkansas Blog page.  It is definitely a “SWEET TREAT”. 

If you missed the streamathon on September 23, you missed a lot of fun and information.  I logged in at 7:30 am central time and caught the action already in progress. We were set up in the library and both students and teachers came in and out to watch the  many events taking place throughout the day. Some used their prep time and others enjoyed lunch with event in place.  As usual, all the Discovery Staff did an excellent job.  It is always fun to see familiar names listed in the chat window and have a chance to say hi.  What a wonderful way to pull together nation wide.  Fortunately, you don’t have to be left completely out of the stream.  You can catch what you missed   when the event  is posted in archive. (I’ll post it here as soon as I locate it!) 

Fourteen DEN members headed out on foot with GPS in hand.  We were in search of a geocache in DC.  Our first cache was hidden in a “sugar high” place.  Muggles (people who do not geocache) were watching us closely as we tried not to be obvious.  Since Teryl from TN had to climb and retreive the cache, we didn’t keep it very secret.  Everyone had a great time.

 Prior to going on our excursion, we had attended a geocaching workshop held by Bridget Belardi of PA.  Bridget did an excellent job in showing us ways to use the GPS in our classrooms.  Looking forward to geocaching with my students and studying some historic information on the way.

What a GREAT week it has been.  The Arkansas Leadership Council has been getting all sorts of ideas to bring back to you from Discovery Headquarters.  We have enjoyed meeting with other LC members from other states.  A special shoutout to our Regional States….TN, FL, NC, and SC

It is almost the end of this wonderful school year.  I know we are all still full of energy and ready to go to all those fabulous workshops.  Well….maybe not, but if you pick the right ones and make it a fun task, you will learn so much and feel refreshed.  What better place to start than the Discovery Education National Training Academy, June 1-3 2008.

I am currently at the Arkansas Association of Instructional Media Conference and sharing ideas with other educators and media specialists.  One of our very own Discovery Star Educators, Evelyn McFadden has been named Media Specialist of the Year.  Congrats Evelyn!!  She is also the Chair person for the Arkansas Leadership Conference. 

Really hoping to hear from some of the Arkansas people that attended the Confernce in Florida soon.  If you have any ideas to share or know of great workshops to attend, get it posted here.  Let’s get Arkansas on the move with Discovery.