JPeg’s Blog

Discovery’s PA Leadership Council hosted a dynamite Day of Discovery at Frank Lloyd Wright’s fabulous Fallingwater in southwestern PA.  Google SketchUp, Animoto and Geocaching were among the topics presented.  Bridget Belardi’s Top Ten Web 2.0 list was unveiled.  Discovery Educator Network Director, Lance Rougeux, shared Discovery updates. Highlighted in the morning were students, Jeff and David, who showcased their SketchUp skills and projects.

Google recently sponsored the Doodle 4 Google competition.  K-12 students were invited to reinvent Google’s homepage logo and doodle around the theme “What if…”  One of the state finalists in the K-3 category was from Pennsylvania.  Finalist Emma is STAR DEN member Jim Hopton’s student.  Congratulations to Emma and Jim!!

We just love Animoto - and so do our students!! Matt Monjan turned us on to this wonderful 2.0 resource at PETE&C in February, and we use it with both our Elementary and University students. To our excitement, Animoto recently launched the Animoto Education Program !!!  Educators are abuzzabout this fantastic educational Web 2.0 tool.  Animoto has established a hub for teachers to share their cool videos.  Contact Animoto’s Rebecca Brooks at rebecca@animoto.com to share videos or to obtain an All Acess Code for your class.

Looking for a compact digital camcorder where you can just shoot and share?  Well, the answer is Flip.  That Dan Barger just bought it for me for my 57th birthday and now JPeg (Jim and Peggy) are wild about it!!  Check out David Pogue’s (keynote speaker at PETE&C 2008) take on Flip.  Flip is awesome!

The Media Coordinators Forum was held at the  Allegheny County Intermediate Unit 3 (aiu 3) at the Waterfront in the Pittsburgh area on Thursday, March 13, 2008.  Discovery’s Matt Monjan and Shelley Santora-Jones, and PA Star members Peggy Barger and Jim Hopton (JPeg) provided a tech-filled Day of Discovery to a most enthusiastic group of southwestern PA media specialists.  Among the topics presented were 50 Ways to Use DE streaming, Building a Bigger Builder, Turning History on it’s Head with Blabberize  (Using Blabberize Ppt) and Animoto (Using Animoto Ppt), Successful Case Studies, What’s Coming Down the Pipeline, and Becoming a DEN Star.  The highlight of the event was connecting with the most valuable resource… each other!!

           Applications from K-12 schools are currently being accepted for the 2008 Picturing America Grants, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.  We were one of the pilot recipients of Picturing America 2007.  A set of 40 American artist images (24″ x 36″) representing various topics of American life, politics, literature, and other subjects, along with a teacher resource and lesson plan guide were awarded to our school.  We cross referenced over half of the prints to Discovery Education resources.  Consequently, our teachers are able to enhance instruction via the beautiful images complemented by Discovery streaming video clips and other Teacher Center Tools.  Additional information is provided in the Picturing America Brochure.  The application deadline for the 2008 Picturing America Initiative is April 15th.

     The Discovery Educator Network (the DEN) is a global community of educators who are excited by the power of digital media and want to collaborate and share resources with other educators.  There are more than 26,000 active Discovery Educators across the world providing professional development for over 400,000 teachers.  Combining standards-based digital media and a dynamic user community, Discovery Education services empower teachers to improve student achievement.  Discovery School is now the School Resources section of Discovery Education - same great content - all free of charge!!