The DEN is getting geared up for the Spring and we are looking for a creative way to visually tell the DEN story.  We looked to our DEN Guru for Professional Networking, Lee Kolbert.

We decided that we wanted to map out the reach of the DEN and found a great example from Lee.

We invite all DEN STARs to place themselves on the map by clicking here and include the following information in their placemark:

1. Name
2. Professional Role
3. Where can we find you online? (Twitter, blog, wiki, etc.)
4. How has the DEN impacted your professional practice?

View The DEN in a larger map

If you aren’t sure how to add yourself to this map, please visit Lee Kolbert’s blog for instructions.

http://tinyurl.com/yafeaz3

As we approach the DEN’s fifth birthday it is very easy to see that the community is stronger than ever.  And it’s not because of us.  It’s because of you.  There are many ways to participate in the community from being a DEN member online to an active STAR to our latest level, DEN Guru.  However, the driving force of the DEN is truly our DEN Leadership Councils.

Last year we started an annual process where any STAR in the community can take the lead with our DEN Leadership Councils.  It’s that time of the year again when our STARs can express interest in staying active as a LC member, joining an existing LC or helping to launch a new LC.

From now until April 30, 2010 you have the opportunity to become part of the DEN Leadership Councils for 2010-2011.  Here’s how it works.

• Any STAR can help take the lead, but this year we have decided that it is in the best interest of the community to keep the Chair, Events Coordinator and Blog Coordinator positions for existing LCs intact, thus making these positions a two-year term.
• STARs who want to continue to serve on an existing LC or join an existing LC can express their interest by completing this form.
• For STARs in states where a leadership council is not currently formed, express your interest here and select DEN LC as your leadership council.  If we have enough STARs express interest in a given state we will form a new leadership council.  Otherwise, these STARs will be part of the overall DEN Leadership Council.

All STARs who want to be part of the 2010-2011 DEN Leadership Councils must complete this form.

For more details about the DEN Leadership Councils including the roles, responsibilities, and benefits please read the DEN LC Overview.

If you have any questions, please post them as comments so everyone can see the responses.

Thank you for your help in making the community even stronger.

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Hey, high school teachers! The Siemens Foundation, Discovery Education and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) are partnering again this year to educate, empower and engage students and teachers nationwide to become “Agents of Change” in improving their communities through the  Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge .  This year the Challenge expands to high school, by inviting students in grades 9-12 to join the effort to meet the environmental challenges of our age. 

In keeping with the Challenge’s overall mission to build a more sustainable world, high school participants are encouraged to form teams of up to four students, research an energy-related issue using scientific investigation, and create a replicable solution using web-based curriculum tools powered by Discovery Education.

This new phase of the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge kicks off today at an exclusive screening of Discovery Channel’s new documentary LIFE at Philadelphia’s renowned Franklin Institute in conjunction with the NSTA National Conference. Teachers, students and mentors can log on to  www.wecanchange.com  for more information on the  Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge.

Welcome to DEN Spring Training 2010!  From now until May 21st STAR Discovery Educators have the opportunity to show how active they are in the DEN.  Below are twenty challenges that test whether you are still working your way up from the Grapefruit League or if you are ready for Cooperstown.

Take a look and then calculate your own DEN Activity Level (DAL) using the following formula.

Add up the total number of STARs earned and divide by 42.  Multiply this number by 23.  The result is your DAL.

Hall of Famer
(21-23)
All STAR
(18-20)
Major Leaguer
(12-17)
Minor Leaguer
(7-11)

Minor League
(1 STAR each, possible 6 STARs)

Subscribe to the Global DEN Blog
http://tinyurl.com/GlobalDENBlog

Register for the DENny Awards – May 25, 2010
http://community.discoveryeducation.com/webinar

Become a fan of Discovery Student Adventures on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/discoverystudentadventures

Follow the DEN on Twitter
http://twitter.com/DEN

Sign up to win a wireless lab by May 4, 2010
http://cdwg.discoveryeducation.com

Read the DEN Weekly Update every Friday
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/category/weekly-updates

Major League
(2 STARs each, possible 12 STARs)

Add a STAR badge to your blog, website or Twitter
http://community.discoveryeducation.com
About the DEN > DEN Badges

Take the “It’s 21 Just Pass” quiz
http://its21justpass.discoveryeducation.com

Explore one of the eBooks or virtual labs on the Siemens We Can Change the World website
http://www.wecanchange.com

Check out the student projects on the Discovery Education Wilkes University Instructional Media Program site or drop by the Instructional Media blog
http://www.DiscoveryEducation.com/Masters

Design the car of the future using the new virtual design lab
http://fuelourfuturenow.com

Encourage a colleague to apply to become a STAR Discovery Educator
http://community.discoveryeducation.com

ALL STAR
(3 STARs each, possible 12 STARs)

Have 10 colleagues sign up to win a wireless lab by May 4, 2010
http://cdwg.discoveryeducation.com

Watch all five videos of Hall and Steve at Web 20.10
http://web2010.discoveryeducation.com

Attend a webinar and get a screenshot of yourself saying that
you’re proud to be a STAR
http://community.discoveryeducation.com/webinar

Nominate a student for the Young Scientist Challenge
http://www.youngscientistchallenge.com

Hall of Fame
(4 STARs each, possible 12 STARs)

Apply, or get a colleague to apply, for the Siemens STEM Institute by April 16, 2010
http://www.siemensstemacademy.com

Comment on at least one post on every Leadership Council blog
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com

Tell us how being a member of the DEN community translates to having a positive impact on your students.
http://tinyurl.com/DENImpact

Two Special Spring Training Signing Bonuses

1. After you calculate your DAL host an event on your home field and share some of the 20 challenges with your teammates.  You don’t have to share them all, but your DEN coaches certainly would be impressed if you did. Then report your DEN Spring Training event and receive a set of three DEN recycling bags perfect for creating a recycling station in your classroom.
2. Pad your stats by uploading at least one resource to the DEN Educator Resources library.  Tell us what you uploaded, give us your uniform size and we’ll send you a Discovery Education “Beyond the Textbook” t-shirt.

Report your event and/or resource at:
http://links.discoveryeducation.com/DENSpringTrainingEvent

Download the DEN Spring Training 2010 flyer here.

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Educators in the PA, NJ, and DE area have a FANTASTIC opportunity to attend an informational event on March 23 at the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, PA.

Discovery Student Adventures invites educators to learn about the trip of a lifetime!

At the meeting, you’ll enjoy a presentation explaining the benefits of Discovery Student Adventures, get the details on 2011 destinations, and talk to adventure specialists and other area teachers about forming travel groups.

Plus, you could WIN the ultimate summer adventure for one of your students! Every teacher who attends an information meeting will be entered to win a student scholarship for a FREE trip!

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting!

Click here to register for the event

If you have any questions about the event on March 23 or about DSA in general, visit Discovery Student Adventures or contact Bradey Day.

Click here for driving directions to the museum or use the Google Maps widget below.

View Larger Map

The DEN Summer Institute for 2010 will take place from July 18-23, 2010 at Bentley University in Waltham, MA just twenty minutes west of Boston.  Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with fellow STAR Discovery Educators from all over during an exclusive, intensive, week-long networking and professional development event.  Apply today!

March 12
DEN Summer Institute Announced – Application Open

April 12
Deadline for applications (5 PM ET)

April 19
Applicants notified

April 23
Deadline for accepted applicants to RSVP

April 26
Wait-listed applicants notified

April 30
Deadline for wait-listed applicants to RSVP

Interested?  Read the FAQ document and then click here to apply.

More about the DEN Summer Institute

Curious about this whole DEN Summer Institute thing and want to know more?  Check out the links below.

Brief video about the DEN and our institute

Resources and materials from last year’s institute in San Francisco

Live coverage of the 2009 institute

More highlights of the 2009 institute

Okay, that should be plenty.  If you haven’t started your application yet, what are you waiting for?

Read the FAQ document and then click here to apply.

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Connect the Thoughts!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
9 AM to 4 PM ET
Cost?  FREE
Register today! All times ET.

9 AM
Connections, Conversations, and Collaborations: Creating a Personal Learning Network That Works For You
Lee Kolbert, DEN Guru, Palm Beach County, FL

Thanks to the influx of social tools on the Internet, educators are becoming increasingly empowered to control their learning environment.  We are no longer limited by the physical proximity of colleagues to discuss issues and develop professionally since the wisdom of the masses is as close as a computer.  Social networks, such as the Discovery Educator Network, can be synchronous or asynchronous and allow us to connect with each other.  In this session, we will explore the DEN, as well as, Twitter, FaceBook, Ning and other online tools where you can reach out to connect and build your own Personal Learning Network, tailored to your needs.

10 AM
Homework Gone Digital
Matt Monjan, Discovery Education, Silver Spring, MD

Learn how to differentiate your instruction and connect with your students using the Discovery Education Student Center.  We’ll start by creating quizzes, assignments and writing prompts using the Builders in DE streaming.  Then we’ll create a classroom and show you how to assign content to your students.

11 AM
When You’re Not the Smartest Person in the Room
Dean Shareski, Digital Learning Consultant, Prairie South School Division, Moose Jaw, SK, Canada

The moment you bring an internet connection into the classroom, you open up you and your students to a vast world of knowledge, possibilities and connections. Many teachers are beginning to realize this but are struggling to make it a reality. This session will explore  and reflect on the current barriers that prevent teachers from reaching out and more importantly provide reasons and examples that clearly make the case that everyone needs to be a networked learner.

12 PM
Cell Phones, Internet and Oprah:  How the US Presence in Iraq Has Affected Women’s Lives
Christina Asquith, Author of “Sisters in War: A Story of Love, Family and Survival in the New Iraq”

What do Muslim women think about America? Journalist Christina Asquith spent five years living and reporting in the Middle East. For her new book, Sisters in War, Asquith lived in the Baghdad home of two Iraqi sisters, visited the beauty salons, attended women-only weddings and hid from suicide bombers cruising the neighborhood.  She will describe how life changed for Iraqi women, for better and worse, after the US invasion of 2003, and explain how restrictive Islamic traditions for women are being challenged by the arrival of cell-phones, internet and Oprah.

1 PM
Connecting Language Learners to the Curriculum through Digital Media
Lindsay Hopkins, Discovery Education, Los Angeles, CA

2 PM
Rock OUR World!
Carol Anne McGuire, STAR Discovery Educator, Anaheim, CA

Is global collaboration an educational reality?  Or just a buzzword?  See how K-12 students have rocked
their world by solving real problems while composing music, making movies and learning about each
other in live video conferences.  What a great time to be an educator!  The walls of the classroom are
coming down!  Learn how to bring the world to YOUR students!

3 PM
DEN in Ten
Lance Rougeux, Discovery Education, Mechanicsburg, PA

The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) is a global community of educators passionate about teaching in the 21st century.  In this session we’ll explore all of the benefits the DEN offers and take a look at the many events planned for 2010.  If you aren’t part of the DEN yet we’ll show you how to join the community.  If you are part of the DEN, we promise this session will show you a few things you didn’t know about the DEN.

The DEN team is here at Arizona State University for the 30th annual Microcomputers in Education Conference.  Steve Dembo (a.k.a. Teach42) is keynoting MEC this year.

Join the DEN team in the Discovery Education room L1-42 for a full series of engaging presentations facilitated by the Steve Dembo, Justin Karkow, Jen Dorman, Brad Hagaman, Darnai Thomas, and some of our all-STAR Arizona DEN STARs. Check out the Arizona Leadership Council blog to learn more.

Check out the presentation schedule below.

MEC Discovery Room Schedule

View more documents from Jennifer Dorman.

We put together some take-aways from the sessions in the Discovery Education room that you can download.

If you have to miss MEC this year, but still want a taste of the excitement OR if you just want a forum to continue the conversations from MEC  join us for a free webinar on March 29th at 6 pm (Arizona Time).  Click here to register.

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I’m am truly loving my time in Kauai – I may never leave . . .

It’s Day 3 in Lihue, HI, and today I am working with Middle School educators – exploring engaging media and instructional strategies.

Training Resources

Discovery Educator Network

Discovery Education streaming -  Links to service overviews, demonstrations, and efficacy research

Discovery Education streaming Getting Started Guide

Discovery Education Science – Links to service overviews, demonstrations, and student access and assessment information

Discovery Education Science Getting Started Guide
Discovery Education Classroom Resources -  Links to free resources, sponsorships, and competitions

• Puzzlemaker
• Lesson Plans
  
• Siemen’s STEM Academy
• Web 2010
• ReadyZone H1N1 – Continuity of Learning
• Ready Classroom – Emergency Preparedness
• ThinkGreen Classroom
• New Teacher Survival Guide
• Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators
• Curriculum Center
• Brain Boosters
• Worksheets to Go
• Learning Adventures
• NASA at 50
• Understanding Epilepsy
• Discovering Diabetes
• Parent Corner
• Discovery Student Adventures
• Scotch Science Fair
• Siemen’s Science Day
• Siemen’s We Can Change the World Challenge
• USADA True Sport Award Program
• It’s 21. Just Pass.
• Fuel Our Future Now – STEM resources, Dash+, and Automotive Xprize

Discovery partners with lots of other organizations to bring exciting resources to students.  Here are a few great STEM resources to motivate and inspire your students.

Fuel Our Future Now – STEM resources for elementary, middle, and high school students

• Teacher Toolbox with lesson plans and more
• Elementary resources
• Middle School resources
• High School resources
• Parent Corner
• Dash+ Contest

Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge

3M Young Scientists Challenge

Scotch Science Fair Central

Siemens Science Day

Discovery WebMath

ThinkGreen Classroom

Inspiring Inventions

You can also access some terrific STEM resources from within the Discovery Education streaming Teacher Center.

Tutorials and Integration Resources

• Free Resources from Discovery Education – PPT
• Multmedia Presentations and Discovery Education
• Integration Strategies for Discovery Education
• Differentiating Instruction with Discovery Education
• Glogster
• VoiceThread
• Discovery Education and VoiceThread
• Diigo
• Google Tools (Docs, Earth, Maps, Calendar, Reader, etc.)
• Digital Storytelling
• Discovery Education and Movie Maker / Photostory
• Digital Storytelling with Web 2.0
  
• Blogging
• Podcasting
• Discovery Education and Podcasting with Audacity
• Discovery Education and Google Earth
• Wikis
• Digital Learning Networks
• Copyright and Fair Use
• Project Based Learning (Challenge Based Learning) / Why Teach With Project Based Learning? / EL Project-Based Learning / BIE PBL
• Discovery Education – My Admin
• Discovery Education -My Classrooms
• Discovery Education – The Builders
• Widgets for the DE Builders 

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It’s Day 2 in Hawaii.  Today I am working with elementary educators to explore Discovery Education Science Elementary.  Here are some great take-away resources.

Training Resources

Discovery Educator Network

Discovery Education streaming -  Links to service overviews, demonstrations, and efficacy research

Discovery Education streaming Getting Started Guide

Discovery Education Science – Links to service overviews, demonstrations, and student access and assessment information

Discovery Education Science Getting Started Guide
Discovery Education Classroom Resources -  Links to free resources, sponsorships, and competitions

• Puzzlemaker
• Lesson Plans
  
• Siemen’s STEM Academy
• Web 2010
• ReadyZone H1N1 – Continuity of Learning
• Ready Classroom – Emergency Preparedness
• ThinkGreen Classroom
• New Teacher Survival Guide
• Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators
• Curriculum Center
• Brain Boosters
• Worksheets to Go
• Learning Adventures
• NASA at 50
• Understanding Epilepsy
• Discovering Diabetes
• Parent Corner
• Discovery Student Adventures
• Scotch Science Fair
• Siemen’s Science Day
• Siemen’s We Can Change the World Challenge
• USADA True Sport Award Program
• Fuel Our Future Now – STEM resources, Dash+, and Automotive Xprize

Discovery partners with lots of other organizations to bring exciting resources to students.  Here are a few great STEM resources to motivate and inspire your students.

Fuel Our Future Now – STEM resources for elementary, middle, and high school students

• Teacher Toolbox with lesson plans and more
• Elementary resources
• Middle School resources
• High School resources
• Parent Corner
• Dash+ Contest

Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge

3M Young Scientists Challenge

Scotch Science Fair Central

Siemens Science Day

Discovery WebMath

ThinkGreen Classroom

Inspiring Inventions

You can also access some terrific STEM resources from within the Discovery Education streaming Teacher Center.

Tutorials and Learning Resources

• Glogster
• VoiceThread
• Diigo
• Google Tools (Docs, Earth, Maps, Calendar, Reader, etc.)
• Digital Storytelling
• Digital Storytelling with Web 2.0 
• Blogging
• Podcasting
• Wikis
• Digital Learning Networks
• Copyright and Fair Use
• Project Based Learning (Challenge Based Learning) / Why Teach With Project Based Learning? / EL Project-Based Learning / BIE PBL
• Discovery Education – My Admin
• Discovery Education -My Classrooms
• Discovery Education – The Builders
• Widgets for the DE Builders 

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