The Nutshell

Football flags were easy to spot on I 40 and 540 in NC on Saturday morning with two ACC teams getting ready for their week 3 showdowns.  The auditorium at Panther Creek High School also had its share of team colors as 103 educators from central North Carolina gathered to network and to share ideas for bringing the world to their students via digital media.  The day began with an introduction to the Benjamin Button Effect from the DEN’s Lance Rougeux, who also shared strategies for digital storytelling in the classroom.  Jen Dorman took the group on a whirlwind tour of ways to engage students with DE streaming that go beyond the play button…or “Beyond the stream.”  Justin Karkow went around the world (and to the moon) in 50 minutes with digital media and Google Earth…where he was also able to confirm using the ruler feature that Panther Creek High School was truly in the center of it all:

UNC vs. ECU at Kenan Stadium, 10 mi

NC State vs. Gardner Webb at Carter Finley Stadium, 10.1 mi

Duke vs. Kansas at Memorial Stadium, 922 mi ( 2 out of 3 isn’t bad)

We had a wonderful day and are pleased to share the handouts and presentations from the session below.  We are looking forward to coming back to central NC soon!

Digital Storytelling, Frame-by-Frame

Beyond the Stream

2 Roudtrip Tickets Anywhere: DE streaming + Google Earth

Visit the DEN and DE streaming professional development for more strategies!

When most teachers have to start thinking about letting go of their summer and start preparing for the fall, they do so reluctantly.  Not in Fort Bend and Houston ISDs!  Over the last two days, I had the pleasure of sharing the good news about the new features of Discovery Education streaming with over 200 educators.  We covered a lot of ground and shared a lot of ideas, and to follow through on my promise, here are the presentations and handouts for the strategies that I shared with you.  Be sure to visit the professional section of Discovery Edcuation streaming as well as the Discovery Educator Network for more ways that you can engage your students with digital media.

Beyond the stream

Embedding videos in Microsoft PowerPoint

50 Ways to Integrate Discovery Education streaming

Creating your own movies with Windows Movie Maker

Using Adobe Premier Elements and Photoshop

I am not sure what is cooler: sharing ten of my favorite websites with South Carolina educators or doing it in a television studio surrounded by cameras, lights and air tight doors!  For those of you who enjoyed this venue with me this week, it was a pleasure meeting you and passing along some of the DEN’s favorite Web 2.0 sites.  As promised, you can click here for a copy of the presentation that I shared with you.  Happy exploring!

Houston was the place to be on Saturday (7.25) as 55 educators from the Houston area arrived bright and early at Minute Maid park for a Day of Discovery.  Following a ball park lunch (hot dogs!), the group was given a tour of the ball park that included a visit to the Diamond Club, the Astros dugout, the bull pen and a flying catch in right field (Hunter Pence style).  Everybody walked away with a preview of the new additions to DE streaming, the new Student Center, Media Share and DE Science.  We also took a look at how we can use digital storytelling and presentation platforms like Google Earth (you can click the link to download my slides) to engage our students.  Thank you to Kelli Green Irwin, Linda Rush, Elaine Plybon, and Lea Anne Daughrity and the TX leadership council for helping to make Saturday one for the record books!!

For all of you who we had the pleasure of meeting today, thank you very much for joining us for the NECC Pre-Con.  Click here for the Roundtrip Tickets to Anywhere presentation that I shared with you.  Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have questions.  Also, please leave me a comment with the wonderful things that you are doing with Discovery Education media and Google Earth.  Happy exploring!

Who ever said summer school isn’t fun?  Get ready for your school year with an amazing series of complimentary professional development sessions from the Discovery Educator Network (DEN). The series will run from August 3 through August 27 and will feature sessions on Digital Storytelling, School Leadership, Science and Web 2.0.  All of the sessions for the DEN Summer School Webinar Series begin at 11 AM ET.

 Register today at: Community.DiscoveryEducation.com/Webinar.

We’ve got some wonderful enhancements coming your way this fall!  Discover the undiscovered and learn about new content and functionality for the 2009-2010 school year.

Register today for a Discovery Education Back-to-School Preview webinar to learn all about the new enhancements to Discovery Education streaming that will be coming your way this summer.  We will be holding overviews every Tuesday and Thursday through the end of June at 1:00 and 7:00 eastern, and on Tuesdays in July at 1:00 eastern.  Hope to see you there

Ft Worth TX was the place to be on Friday as the Region 11 team hosted its annual Summer Media Adventure.  Molly and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with everybody and seeing all of the great ways that teachers are using digital media in the classroom.  For those of you who attended the 50 Ways to Integrate DE streaming session, you can click here for a copy of my presentation.  Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or if you have an idea that you would like us to share in future presentations!!!

Thanks to Kayla Steiner and the Region 11 crew for being such wonderful hosts (as usual)!!

Hello South Carolina!  I have attached the PowerPoint from our “Discovery Exciting Internet Tools” workshop below.  Be sure to let us know if you find any more sites that we can share with others!  Enjoy, and remember…there is so much more than the play button.  Happy exploring!!

Discover Exciting Internet Tools

If you ever want to visit a town that oozes with character, be sure to visit Manhattan Kansas, home of the K-State Wildcats! In addition to being the “Little Apple,” the streets are filled with purple passers by and some of the nicest students you will ever meet. Our time in Manhattan was filled with great opportunities to meet some wonderful educators, starting with a full room at the KS Day of Discovery on Wednesday and concluding with the MACE conference on Thursday and Friday. Thanks to Tanya Gray, Dean Mantz, Mary Frazier, Dan Brown and Jim Clark for being such wonderful hosts! For those of you who would like copies of the presentations that were shared, I have posted them for you below. Enjoy!

Discovery Education + Google Earth