Pennsylvania

Ever invent something on the fly in the classroom?  I did last week, looking for a five-minute filler that would wrap a class.  Enter Fast Five.  Post a mini-blog: 5 sentences or 5 minutes–whichever comes first–for five points.  Students seem to like it.  Here’s the DEN translation: 5 links to previously posted items or 5 minutes–whichever comes first–on weekly updates or new news.

Want to be a DEN GURU?

Want a DEN Hoodie?

Tech or Treat (new page link):

As part of our Tech or Treat theme, many STARs dressed up as their favorite Discovery personalities.  After a week’s worth of voting, we are pleased to announce this year’s winners (each will receive a HD Flip camera).

Christie Berrier, as the MythBusters

Bekka Stasny as The Deadliest Catch

Vasantha Rayman as the DEN STAR

Five minutes came first, so that’s all, folks.

Image by curiouslee via Flickr

I posted about Google Wave a while ago, but now happily am using it and must say I really love it. The Wave promise was that it would redefine email and web communication. You might want to try it yourself to see if it lived up to the hype and the promise . I’ll let you decide.

Here are some related videos that can help you get started with The Basics.

Starting A New Wave
A Wave can be both a document and a conversation.

Replying To A Wave
You can reply anywhere in a wave.

Editing Waves
All participants on a wave can edit any part of the wave, at the same time.

Reading Through Waves
To quickly read through unread blips in a wave, hit the spacebar.


Updating Your Profile
Help your contacts recognize you on a wave. In the Contacts area, just click your name. Learn more.

Working With Waves
The playback feature lets you move through the history of a wave.

Installing Extensions

Extensions let you add rich content and interactions to waves, or integrate with other systems.

Visit the Google Wave featured extensions

Attaching Photos And Files

To attach a file to a wave, start in edit mode. Then either:

• Click the paperclip and select the file from your desktop or
• To drag and drop right from the desktop into a wave, install Gears in your browser.

Learn more

Spelling Correction

Arranging Panels
You can make more room on your screen by moving and minimizing panels.

Scrolling
The scrollbars in Google Wave are a little different.

Organizing Your Waves
Clearing your inbox

You can remove waves from your inbox in two main ways:

* Archive: takes a wave out of your inbox until someone updates it
* Mute: takes a wave out of your inbox unless someone adds a private reply to you

You can always find these waves again by searching for them.

Learn more

Searching For Waves
Use the search box to find waves by typing keywords and advanced search terms.

Creating A Saved Search
Find a set of waves quickly with a saved search.

Adding Tags To A Wave

Making Folders
Create folders to organize your waves.

For more tips and trouble-shooting, visit Google Wave Help Center
(will open in a separate window)

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Saturday, October 24, 2009
9 AM to 4 PM ET

About the DEN’s Fall Virtual Conference

Thousands of educators online and in-person congregated together, as the DEN team went house to ‘house to house’ to explore the many digital treats available to educators today.  During this unique professional development event, attendees had the flexibility to attend online or in-person at one of many regional events hosted by the DEN Leadership Councils.

9 AM
Can I Help You With That?  The Student as Collaborator, Creator and Director
with Justin Karkow

10 AM
Do You Have the Audacity to Podcast?
with Jennifer Dorman
11 AM
Thinking Outside the Slide
with Mike Bryant
12 PM
Putting the Bling in Your Builders
with Steve Dembo
1 PM
What on Earth is a Gloggle?
with Traci Blozoski
2 PM
Be Nice and Share: Publishing Your Media-Infused Projects for the World to See
with Steve Dembo
3 PM
Can I Help You With That? The Student as Collaborator, Creator and Director
encore presentation with Justin Karkow

Virtual Conference Archive links and embedded code can be found in Media Share.

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.

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We are very excited to welcome our newest DEN Leadership Council from the great state of Connecticut!  You definitely want to check out their blog. Their first event, blogged by Steve Sokolski, shows that a good time was had by all.  Great sharing and “take aways” already abound in CT, so you might want to check out their list of resources.

 

Chair - Joe Fromme

Blog Coordinator - Jane Cook
Events Coordinator - Pam Skelly

Blog and Events Team
Ann Barney
Barbara Haeffner
Lynn Reedy
Howard Gunther
Steve Sokoloski
Gary Webster

Don’t forget: Stop by the CT LC blog and say hello!

Cross-posted from DEN Blog

Presenting at state and national conferences near you, that’s where! We’ve put together an ever-growing list of presentations by STAR Discovery Educators at state and national conferences around the country. If you are attending a conference listed below, please stop by and show your support for your fellow STARs.

And don’t forget, if YOU are going to be presenting at a state or national conference, if you include Discovery Education in the title or description then you really ought to let us know. We’d love to add you to the list, and we also have a little something to send you! If you’d like to learn more, visit this page.

If you attended but did not get the chance to complete our survey, here it is for you to finish at your convenience.  To the 30+ dedicated people who spent Saturday with us, we thank you for attending and hope your day with Discovery was a rich and rewarding experience.  Let us know.

What a great way to begin Tech or Treat–making your own name tags. I must admit when we discussed it via one of our LC phone conferences, I wasn’t sold. It just did not begin to sound as neat as it really was.  Thanks to Patti Duncan for the idea–and the recipe.  I see more making name tags in our future.  What fun!

Tech or Treat Name Tags Recipe

If you spent the day with the DEN Virtual Conference Live Event or participated virtually, you were definitely a winner.  You cannot leave any Discovery event without reaping huge benefits.  Sometimes you win prizes, as so many of our participants did, but even for those who did not walk away with a giveaway, they were still winners in a huge way.  If you have been to a DEN event, you know exactly what I mean, and if you haven’t, why not join us next time.  Maybe you’ll get to do the “happy dance.”  My favorite moment: the lad who selected all the tickets got to award his mother a prize.  Priceless!

Compiled by Jennifer Brinson, these links were culled from the chat feature from the DEN Virtual Conference.  Enjoy the wealth of resources.

DEN Tech or Treat

Resource List

DEN Tech or Treat