A virtual drum roll please… We are thrilled to officially open the application process for the Discovery Student Adventures Pilot Program.

Join us as we discover more of our incredible planet earth together with adventure trips to Australia, South Africa, and China. In order to participate in this pilot trip, you must be a STAR Discovery Educator. Not only are you able to take part in this once in a lifetime opportunity, each STAR selected will be able to choose four of their students to join them on the adventure!  This is at no cost to you or your students!

So with no further ado… here’s the official wording and post importantly the link to apply.

In 2010, Discovery Education will launch Discovery Student Adventures, education-based international trips to eight destinations including: Arctic, Australia, China, Cost Rica, Ecuador/Galapagos Islands, Italy/Greece, New Zealand/Fiji Islands, and South Africa.

To effectively integrate educator feedback into these inaugural trips, a select group of educators will have the opportunity to travel with Discovery in the summer of 2009 as part of a one-time special opportunity to pilot a Discovery Student Adventure trip.

Educators will serve as chaperones to a group of students, and once selected for a trip, will also be an integral part of selecting the students for these pilot trips. Travel program will be at no cost to the selected educators and students. We are looking for educators that teach 5th through 12th grade.

We invite you to fill out an application for the opportunity to travel with us, giving us your thoughts and opinions along the way to help make Discovery Student Adventures a unique, premiere student travel program that brings the world to life for students and the teachers who lead the trips.

Australia
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 – Thursday, June 11, 2009
Description: Melbourne, Ayers Rock, Townsville, Great Barrier Reef

South Africa
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Description: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Kruger National Park

China
Tuesday August 4, 2008 – Tuesday, August 18, 2008
Description: Beijing, Chengde, Luoyang

Travel Dates are estimates only and subject to change.

To apply please visit https://discoverystudentadventures.wufoo.com/forms/pilot-program-application/

The application will be closed on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 5 pm PST. All applicants will be informed of their status by April 1, 2009.

Let Your Inner Movie Critic be heard!  

The 2009 DigiTalkies finalists have been narrowed down and now it’s your turn to decide who is the best.  Please take some time to view each grade level (elementary, middle and high) and each category (A day in the life…., Animated, Original Music Video, Public Service Announcement, Sell Me Something, and Tell Me a Story).  Winners will be announced at the NCCE Conference in Portland.

Here are the links to the NCCE DigiTalkies Finalist blogs.  

Elementary:     http://ncce.edublogs.org/

Middle:           http://ncce1.edublogs.org/

High:              http://ncce2.edublogs.org/

 Our very own Allison Bakken’s class created a great Public Service Announcement to promote their Tech Fair.

Students and teachers have put their hearts into these videos.  Please take the time to vote if you are a NCCE member.

January 365 Photo Challenge
Originally uploaded by roswellsgirl

I made it through the first month of the 365 Photo a Day Challenge. I am really loving this challenge. I find myself much more aware of my surroundings and am learning a lot about photography both from experimenting with shots and from following others who are participating in the same challenge. When I started the challenge, I really thought that it would be just me posting photos to remember the year. But what I am finding is that I am beginning to use Flickr as a social networking tool. Flickr now is more than a place where I store and organize my photos, it is a place where I learn and share with others and build networks. I look forward to visiting the EdTech365/2009 group each day to see what everyone has posted. Often I comment on other’s photos and find that others have commented on mine. I have even learned how to use this tool as a way to learn more about good photography. When I see a shot I really like, I can read about the type of camera, the exposure, etc. It has only been one month and I feel that I have learned so much. I look forward to what I will continue to learn from the project and my new CLN (Creative Learning Network.)

Google Certified Teacher Sharon Eiltz shared this amazing find and I wanted to share it with you. This video by Metroamv on YouTube was created for the AARP U@50 video contest and placed second.

It is based on the Argentinian Political Advertisement “The Truth” by RECREAR

Not only is this a great message, but it is a very clever writing assignment. It really does matter which perspective we use to see the world.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Thanks to Steve Dembo, I discovered BeFunky a while back. BeFunky is another fun program for playing with your photos. Since the last time I checked, the site has changed a bit and there are lots of fun new things to do on the site. This is a fun way to make an avatar of yourself if you don’t want to just use a photo. I did a mashup of several apps at Christmas to create a poster for my brother-in-law. I found a photo of his beloved motorcycle on his blog, I used the cartoonizer to create a VanGogh effect and then I went to Big Huge Labs and used his favorite quote to create a motivational poster. Give BeFunky a spin. I am sure that you will have a lot of fun and create some interesting photos.

Team up with DonorsChoose.org, the DEN and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to get your project funded.  This could be the perfect storm if you are a DEN member teaching in a rural or high poverty high school.  Teachers in my district have had great success with getting projects fully funded through DonorsChoose. DonorsChoose matches teachers with people and companies interested in funding worthy education projects.  The DEN has made it even easier to get funded by offering to promote DEN members proposals to interested donors.  Add those two great resources to the fact that the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is currently offering to provide 50% funding to elligible proposals submitted by February 1.  The only criteria is that the proposal  be from a teacher teaching in a rural or high poverty high school and the project helps prepare students for college.

Even if you do not meet the criteria for the Double You Impact Grant, I think that you will find great success in getting projects funded through DonorsChoose.org.

Here are some tips for writing a successful proposal:

• Give your project a great title and your essay a snazzy first line.
• Keep your project cost to less than $400.
• Speak from the heart when writing your essay.
• Check your project essay for spelling and grammar.

Ideas of projects that could be funded.

• Novel Sets
• Dictionaries
• Cameras
• Web Cams
• Art Supplies
• Games
• Headphones
• Speakers
• Document Camera
• Microscope
• GPS Receivers

Photo:

DonorsChoose.org card by bookchiq

I love blogging.  I have a travel blog, a photo blog, a professional development blog, a class blog   AND I blog here at the Northwest DEN blog.  In addition to all of this blogging, I also microblog on both Plurk and Twitter.  Blogging is a great way to reflect, share and be a part of the conversation.  The difference between all my other blogs and this one is that this blog is not meant to be about me, my class, my job, my travels.  The Northwest DEN blog is meant to be about us, our Northwest DEN community and others.  Because of this, I try to find ideas and stories that are pertinent to educators in our area, not just what is going on in my own neighborhood.  I’m ok with big events like NCCE, NECC and the National Institute.  But it gets a little tricky when I try to share Northwest news.  We are a BIG area separated by mountains, snow, and in some cases water.  Getting together for “local” events  and face to face meet ups is really a challenge.  I need your help to bring us all together.  I need you to be a guest blogger and share what is going on in the beautiful part of the Northwest where you live.  Are you going to ITSC?  We need an on the scene reporter.  Are you East of the Cascades?  What great events and projects are happening in your area?  The DEN is all about sharing and we need YOU to share in order to make our blog powerful and meaningful for our Northwest community and beyond. Perhaps you are interested in being a guest blogger on a regular basis, chiming in monthly, bi-weekly or even every week.  Perhaps you are just interested in sharing a special event happening in your area.  We would love to have you participate in our blog.  If you have an idea for a blog post or would like to become a member of our blogging team, please e-mail me and let me know. t56linc [at] gmail [dot] com.  We would love for you to join the conversation.

Photo: I’m Blogging This: antigone78’s

Just received this e-mail from Jennifer Gingerich.
Friends,

I am looking for a few middle school classes to join me in an inauguration chat.  I will be hosting a chat using Stinto (http://www.stinto.net/) at 9am on Tuesday morning as Presidents Obama is sworn in and gives his inaugural address.   I am looking for classrooms from several different areas on the west coast.

I have several measures I would like to put in place to make this a successful experience:

Teacher will broadcast inauguration ceremony with digital projector/speakers CNN (http://www.cnn.com/live/)

Students will work in pairs (or larger groups if desired by teacher) on one computer

Teacher will demonstrate and discuss chat expectations

- Why chat? allows us to have a silent discussion with others from any place while sharing an experiencing to deepen our understanding, clarify our thinking, share an experience, broaden our minds.

- use the chat to share thoughts, feelings, questions, ideas, concerns

- be brief

- be appropriate

- zero tolerance - inappropriate chatters will be removed from chat immediately

Teachers will assign each group of students a login name

“school name + city name + state + #”  for example  ”Sunrise Clackamas OR 1″

Students will login to Stinto using login name and participate in chat.  Teacher will walk around and monitor students and also participate in chat.

I will save the text of the chat and send you a transcript.  Chat will remain at link for only 24 hours.
Please email me as soon as possible if you know of a teacher who would like to participate.  I have posted an entry on my blog about this opportunity. http://web.mac.com/jennifergingerich/jennifergingerich/Blog/Entries/2009/1/15_Inauguration_Chat.html#

Thanks for your help,

Jennifer