Pennsylvania

Discovery Education engages in creating partnerships, both national and global, to bring the best professional development into our classrooms and homes. November is National Epilepsy Month and Discovery has partnered with the Epilepsy Foundation to launch Understanding Epilepsy - a site designed to broaden the understanding of epilepsy and erase stigmas associated with seizure disorders.  I spent about an hour, maybe less, previewing the materials, and was impressed with this new partnership at DE.  I think you will be as well.

Online at www.discoveryeducation.com/epilepsy, you’ll find a wealth of free materials developed by the Epilepsy Foundation including:

• Lesson plans
• First aid guides
• Seizure training for school personnel
• Online training for school nurses focused on managing students with seizures
• Videos featuring teens who speak out about living with epilepsy.

Discovery has a SPECIAL OFFER!

Be one of the first 50 teachers or school personnel to send us your feedback regarding the Epilepsy Foundation’s materials and you’ll receive a free Discovery Education DVD.
Visit www.discoveryeducation.com/epilepsy to learn more. Click here to provide feedback.

Teens who register on GoEYC.org can receive a free laptop skin! Learn more here.

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In this very special edition of Shining STARs, tonight at 7 PM we are featuring students from the Wilkes/Discovery Education Instructional Media program, who will be sharing some of the best projects that they’ve created during their coursework. Be prepared to be dazzled! You still have time to register.

Vince Hill is the Director of Credenda, an eSchool in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Two additional presenters, Sue Hellerman, a math/science teacher from Vancouver and Ruth Abatzoglou, a science teacher from CA will share their work. The fourth and final presenter, Jennifer Brinson, our own PA DEN STAR and PA Leadership Council Events Team Member, will present her Google Earth project on the 10 richest v. 10 poorest countries on the planet, her digital story on therapy dogs, and frustration-free technology, some of the work she did for differentiation, lesson plans for World War II, Model UN, and Person of the Century. Brinson is the Instructional Coach at Salisbury High School in Allentown, PA (and loves llamas too).

In my current position, or should I say positions(I wear many hats) I get to see a lot of exciting activities.  In addition to being the Director of Technology Integration for Propel Schools, I am the science coordinator.  I am the SOS or Specialist on Site.  I believe that this was due to my knowledge and experiences that I had through my years of teaching elementary and middle school science in 2 previous jobs.

Our district implements ASSET Science which is an Inquiry-based, hands-on science curriculum.  Many of you may be familiar with the FOSS curriculum which is very similar to Asset. If you do, you know that it is hands-on and comes in a kit.  If you do teach either FOSS or Asset, here is a great resource for you to use. http://www.fossweb.com/ Another component of Asset is the use of Carolina resources in addition to the Foss kits.

While at Propel East, I stopped into a classroom teaching a Catastrophic Events unit. In this unit students investigate the causes and effects of thunderstorms, earthquakes, and volcanic activity. Global heating, the water cycle, plate motion, plate tectonics, magma, ash, and effects on the atmosphere are studied in depth.  On this day, there was no lab, no small groups, no experiments, but rather a very interesting, engaging, and intriguing guest speaker named Mara Falk.

At first glance, Mara seemed like just another guest speaker until she began to tell her stories of being a Storm Chaser with Discovery. She talked about how she had interviewed for a job that just turned out to be an extreme weather show on the Discovery Channel called, “Stormchasers.”  Her stories were captivating, telling how she was the driver of the scout(storm chasing vehicle) and how every second was of such importance.  Watching the student’s engagement while she talked what was interesting to me, as 100% of the children were engaged and posed such great questions for Mara. One story she mentioned was of an elderly man who wanted to wait out a particular storm.  On this particular day, it was not a great idea as the storm was very intense and had started to rip through his house.  Lucky for him, the force of the winds through his house took him to his bathroom where he was thrown into the bathtub with the door forcefully falling on top of the tub.  This miracle in disquise saved this elderly man’s life as his entire house crumbled on top of this bathtub. 

With this said, I cannot believe that our school was fortunate enough to have this guest speaker come to speak to our children. 

Now….here is the cool part.  Since you are reading this, you are probably a teacher who has access to Discovery Streaming.  If you do a keyword seach for Storm Chasers, you will see various videos from the Storm Chasers series as well as other teaching materials you will find useful.

We had a Leadership Council webinar last evening, so I would like to share some of the important reminders and information from Lance.

Without a doubt, the DEN Tech or Trear Fall Virtual Conference was an astounding success. We held the same numbers of attendees as we had last year. But–and here’s the good news–we grew our Live Event sites and numbers.

In addition, we were global in our outreach and welcomed a world of participants from abroad. Speaking for our PA Live Event at IU 21 in Schnecksville, I would like to echo Meg Griffin, our LC President’s sentiments in thanking all the people who made this event possible–Michael Cichocki, Patti Duncan, Tracey McGrath, Jennifer Brinson, and of course, Meg herself. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes who logged on and supported PA. Great job!!

Want to be a DEN GURU? That would step you up to Level 4 in DEN. You ask, what are the “levels.” And the answer is:

1. DEN
2. DEN STAR
3. DEN LC
4. DEN GURU.

There are advantages at any level, but if you step up to GURU (up to 5 people will be chosen this first year), you will have noticeable benefits that set you apart. Perhaps the largest benefit is that Discovery will take you, free of charge, to a national convention. Application deadline: November 15, 2009

This brings me to the big event I really want to push because completing this one is easy and a lot of fun. You can make a podcast or a video telling how you use Discovery Education resources in your classroom. Doesn’t have to be a big deal project–keep it short and simple (the KISS philosophy) and then upload it. Fun, fast, and a FREE Discovery hoodie, limited edition is in the mail to you. And just in case the idea of uploading to Media Share daunts you, this upload is to a simple spot where Discovery will mine your golden uses. Do it today, because the deadline is November 15.

Some of my best friends are actively engaged in pursuing the MS in Instructional Media offered by Discovery Education and Wilkes University. I remember the kick-off two years ago at the National Institute. We were even offered 3 credits for a minimal fee to begin the degree work with our week’s intense completion of learning. Although I am not one to regret decisions, I often wish I had made the choice to study for this degree. Keeping in touch with my friends who were the first class to begin this program, I can tell you that the subject matter is extremely engaging, timely and worthwhile.

This summer I had the good fortune to follow the China Adventure. What an amazing trip this was, packed with singular experiences that only could be found in a Discovery Education adventure. Nothing beats repeating a good thing, so the China and Australia trips are encores. New to the venue are the Arctic, Anarctica, Costa Rica, and Ecudor/Galapagos Islands. You will definitely need to have your prospective students fund raise, but if you get 5 students to sign on, you as their teacher travels free.

Not exactly Fast Five, but there you have it, a synopsis of some of the best and time-sensitive offers from Discovery.

Not that long ago, I found Repower America in my Google Reader and subscribed via emails. This message is the most recent one I received, and as educators, we can see the unlimited opportunities to take this idea of impacting our energy issues to the classroom. If you are concerned with our country developing clean energy, you might be interested in adding your voice and your students’ voices to the Repower America Wall, after, of course, you have investigated some of the wonderful resources from Discovery. Consider using the abundant resources from Discovery Education partnerships: Fuel Our Future Now and Waste Management’s Think Green Classroom.  Don’t forget about a wealth of award-winning resources from Science Elementary or Science Middle School.  And remember to check out the multimedia opportunities you will find in Discovery Streaming/Plus. Even if you are just Getting Started with Discovery Education, Tracey McGrath and Patti Duncan will walk you through the basics from their webinar (see Getting Started link).  And if you could not attend one of the 25 live events for the DEN Virtual Conference, or attend virtually, you can peruse at your leisure the archived webinars for a treasure trove of more ideas.  After you have done all that, you will “discover” you can make a truly informed post to the Repower America Wall.

Here’s an excerpt from the email from Al Gore:

The Wall is a place where literally thousands and thousands of people committed to a revolutionary new energy future for our nation and the world are coming together — to express our hopes, share our resolve, and step up to a leadership role in building a grassroots movement for change like nothing America has ever seen. It’s an opportunity for you to be part of the climate movement in a new way, in a way that takes us beyond ourselves.

By asking people from all over the country to share their thoughts and images on the Wall, we are fueling a campaign that brings together the power of national media with the strength and connection of on-the-ground organizing in a way that no one has ever done before. Your voice, and the voices of your friends, neighbors and colleagues, will become the language of our campaign on TV, in print, on billboards, online, and in brand new ways that you will help us invent as we create the Wall.

We know that the political will to transition America to a clean energy economy already exists. You are part of it. But now we must make sure our leaders know it too. The Wall will become our collective voice and thus transform the debate into action.

It’s an ambitious strategy — and it has to be.

Nothing short of every one of us joined together is needed to overcome the resistance of the powerful special interests blocking our path to a clean energy future, settling for the dangerous status quo.

But the time for politics is over. We have the power to force change in America.

We understand the concept of a “back story” and a “back channel,” but I noticed I almost never think of the front story, what comes before something. So it was last evening when Steve Dembo began with all the initiatives that Discovery has embarked upon, before Chris Dede’s opening EdTechConnect webinar. I missed the first screen capture about the Discovery Adventures Abroad, but have the rest, and want to share these opportunities for you and your students the way we like best: images. Here they are, beginning with the Siemens Challenge.

Discovery Education and the 3M Young Scientist Challenge just crowned this year’s winner, Marina Dimitrov of Boseman, MT. One of your students could be the next top young scientist.

Scotch Science Fair Central lends a whole new sense of meaning to the old-fashioned science fairs of my day. Interested in a 21st century science fair and tips for winning. Just check out Scotch Central.

Fuel Our Future Now — could anything be more timely. Again, I guess you would have to be old enough to remember waiting for hours in gas lines on the days of your license plate number’s ending. Remember the odd and even days when you were allowed to get in line, waste gas waiting, just to buy gas. When you live through gas line, you learn never to let your tank get lower than half, a resolution that has remained with me to this day. Can’t think of any better reasons for for fueling our future now.

According to November’s Body and Soul issue, Americans produce more garbage from Thanksgiving to Christmas than many other countries do in an entire year. Do we need a better reason to go green. Check out Discovery Education’s partnership with Waste Management.

Like it or not, emergency preparedness is a reality of everyday life, be it at home or especially in school. This DE partnership provides a wealth of resources for dealing with emergency situations. If you mouse over your state, you will find additional resources available to you.

With all the DEN blogs out there, it is impossible to choose a favorite. But if there is one go-to blog that I keep checking, it has to be Porter Palmer’s The DEAN’s List. Why? Many reasons. I met her at last summer’s LC Institute and we clicked. But even more, she is a walking wealth of resources on an often-neglected aspect of education: assessment. My biggest hope is that the predictive assessment piece is soon developed and marketed for PA, because I know that Discovery has a better way of teaching and learning with predictive benchmarks. AMEN. I want the tool, and I want it yesterday for my district.

If like me, you think that Discovery Education provides an array of amazing partnerships, perhaps you will explore how you can use these resources in your classroom.

Reposted from the DEN National Blog.

CDW-G and Discovery Education are pleased to bring an awesome free resource to educators around the globe about ways to use Web 2.0 in your classrooms.

The program features lesson plans, activities, links and more to help you conquer technophobia and learn all about Web 2.0.  My favorite part of the site is the collection of powerful videos featuring our very own Hall Davidson and Steve Dembo.  They are perfect for staff development workshops!

Check out the site today and share it with your colleagues.

Absolutely no one could argue that Discovery Education provides a lot of great webinars through the DEN, but our partners also do some amazing work.  I know this post is cutting it close (better late than never) but we encourage everyone to tune into a special webinar this Wednesday with Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, about Digital Content and the findings from the annual Speak Up surveys.

When?
September 16, 2009 at 12:00 PM PDT (3:00 PM EDT)

Where?
Online.  Click here to register.

What?
Hear about authentic views from the first-ever national study of students, teachers and parents on the emerging use of digital content in classrooms. You will also learn what students and parents would deem the “ultimate online textbook” if they created it.

Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, the nation’s leading education nonprofit organization that facilitates the annual Speak Up surveys, will present the data findings and moderate a panel discussion with students, teachers and administrators from various school districts.

Reposted from the DEN National Blog.