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.
