Meg’s Musings

I would spend it on all the cool tools and sites shared so far at DEN National Institute. The networking has been incredible (not to mention a lot of laughs and songs  “Silver Bells, Silver Bells…”.) We had a great tour of Washington DC and the monuments tonight. The night was lovely before the rain came strong and hard! One minor mishap but we believe all will be okay.  We all returned safely to the hotel but couldn’t pull ourselves away from some more networking over beverages and ice cream. Question of the chat: How does YOUR district handle Internet safety and appropriate use? When do they start? What do they cover? Share your thoughts.

Patty  Duncan and I are sitting next to each other as Steve Dembo wraps up his DEN blog presentation. we just figured out how to upload a picture in an appropriate size (see last post). We also learned how to add new widgets. In our celebration we tried to high five each other and realized that we are no longer functioning in the real world and need the html code for high fiving!

     The fun not only continued on day two but it ramped way up. I feel like I need to delete something from my brain to make room for all the new stuff I am learning! Today I went to super-cool sessions on Google Earth (Thanks Hall for the floating head!),  multimedia presentations (Who knew that learning homophones could be so much fun?!), and one of my favs so far….geocaching. Geocaching is a cool new sport – technology integration of modern day treasure hunting. It’s a great way to integrate fun, adventure, exercise, outdoors, technology…you name it. Thanks Bridget Belardi  (PA DEN) for introducing us to this!!  Stay tuned for Carnivale news…Which favorite DEN leader leads a second life as Zoldar? Who is the DEN leader with the best buns? These and other questions will be answered next blog. 

       Day one of Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute….Wow! That’s a mouthful and every syllable is well deserved. A leisurely lunch was followed with renewing acquaintances and meeting new colleagues. Pennsylvania DEN, all 12 of us, toured One Discovery with our own Geeky Bird, Matt Monjan.  During our tour we snapped lots of pictures to create our own DEN Boom de Yada.  After a few extensions, thanks Lance, we settled in for the showing. What an amazing display of collaboration and digital media….not to mention  FUN!! Dinner and bed? Oh no!! Dinner was followed by dessert sessions. Yes, Lance, the key lime pie was awesome! But even better were the moviemaker shout out, animoto, closed captioning, and GIMP sessions. Cool new tools…and there are four more days!!

Hot town, summer in the city…. Friday night, I had the exciting opportunity to cool down at Alma de Cuba and chat with Animal Planet’s own Jeff Corwin, not to mention Lance, Martha, and other DEN Stars!! . Jeff was in town for Animal Planet’s big Expo in Coatsville, PA. As usual, DEN scored some tickets for us, their Stars! Jeff shared with us his most recent project, an investigation into amphibian extinction, most specifically frogs. He stated that at least 120 species of frogs have become extinct since the 1980’s and as many as half of the 6,000 remaining species are endangered. He called frogs “the canaries for our planet.” Visit Animal Planet to learn more about what you can do to help save these creatures. http://animal.discovery.com/features/expo/expo.html

I had a technology stuffed staff development day. I spent 8 hours or so today (and 8 hours yesterday) at an AFI seminar through Discovery Educators Network at my local IU. Definitely brain overload!! Then, I spent another hour at a webinar with Lance going over all the cool assessment stuff through the builders and discovery streaming. To top off my day, I see the post on Ars Technica that Abilene Christian University (ACU) is giving all incoming freshmen an iPhone. Remember when you needed a special calculator for college? a desktop PC?, a laptop? They plan to use the iPhones for: homework alerts, in-class surveys, directions to classrooms and offices, and meal balance information, just to name a few. I may just have to return to school to get one for myself.  Do you think online freshmen get one too??

Welcome to the wonderful world of fourth grade. Stop by and see what is going on in our world.