Patti Harju’s Blog

I just returned from The Discovery Educator Summer Institute (DENSI) in Bozeman, Montana. It was the most intense and amazing Professional Development experience. In Wes Fryers’ presentation on Thursday morning, he asked how many of us were forced to attend DENSI. Not one hand was raised. That in itself speaks volumes. Over 125 educators from all over the U.S., Canada and one educator from Romania wanted to be there. We applied to attend, creating videos to show our passion for education, technology and Discovery Education.  Many of the educators not only chose to be there, they paid over $500 (or more!)  to cover their travel expenses. We waited anxiously to find out if we were accepted, rejoicing for ourselves, yet understanding and sharing the disappointment of those not accepted this year. We knew that this was going to be an amazing week, one that would permanently and positively impact how we teach and who we are as educators.

 

The DENSI is the perfect professional development model. We attend because we want to. We spend every minute working, networking and learning from each other and when DENSI ends, we hug, we cry and we stay in touch. The friendships that we made are professional and personal. We have connected with these people on many levels and those connections continue long after DENSI. DENSI is the beginning of the professional development, not the end.

 

I have been home only 15 hours, at least 10 of those sleeping and I have already shared my experience with two colleagues, two friends, my family, and another teacher I met in line waiting to pick up Chinese Food. I have communicated with several of the DENSI participants through Facebook, Twitter, Edmodo and Text messages. The conversations began at DENSI and they will keep going all year.

 

If all Professional Development could be like this, imagine the impact it would have on education.

Thank you to Discovery Education for a wonderful, exhausting, engaging, energizing week!

I am having a great time networking and learning at the Discovery Educator Summer Institute in beautiful Bozeman, Montana. The view from my dorm room is spectacular. What a great way to begin each day.

I am thrilled to be among so many amazing educators and am a bit star struck. Many of these people are my Tech Idols and it is great to be learning from and with them. Luckily it is okay to ask for autographs as we are signing each others’  Trading Cards and DENgo sheets.

 

We had a great time visiting Yellowstone on Sunday. I have never been to Yellowstone, or this far West before. The High Altitude does take some getting used to – I need to stay hydrated and running in the mountains leaves me pretty winded. Yellowstone was beautiful. We saw hot springs, and geysers and a buffalo. Old Faithful did not disappoint and we were able to see her blow her top twice during our visit.

 

Our first day of sessions was packed with great speakers and I am still sorting through all I learned. I very much enjoyed Karen Ogen’s session and made my first Popplet with her help. I used my pictures from Yellowstone in the Popplet and found it such an easy tool to use. I can see my second graders having no trouble at all learn this tool and start creating. (See Popplet Below.)

This evening I participated in my first ever DEN-mazing Race. I had a great time as did everyone else. Porter Palmer did a fantastic job putting it all together. I enjoyed working with my team, and getting the help of other teams along the way. All of the events were fun (easy for me to say as I did not have to put the horse head on) and not too difficult.

I am happy to be here and look forward to more great days of learning.

 

2nd Graders will be Skyping with Author Jean Marzollo (http://jeanmarzollo.com/) on Tuesday. Ms. Marzollo is the author of the I Spy books. We created a class collage with items the children brought in (and many items that I found in my desk – I really need to clean.) The students wrote poems that rhyme (not as easy as it sounds) and we posted them on our Kidblog. http://kidblog.org/Harju2/tag/i-spy/
We sent the link to Ms. Marzollo and she replied that she read them all and complimented the children!

The students also created I Spy Collages on Edu.Glogster. You will find those on our class wiki. http://harju.wikispaces.com/I+Spy+Glogs
Ms. Marzollo Re-Tweeted my Tweet about our I Spy Glogs!

Also in preparation for our chat we watched a movie showing how Ms. Marzollo and photographer Walter Wick worked together to create the I Spy books. We have the I Spy Spooky Nights app on our class iPads and we watched some of Discovery Education’s collection of I Spy Videos. http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=DD10E96D-DA5F-4B41-8A43-8C978BA70559

This will be our second author chat this year. The first was author Erin Dealy author of Goldie Locks Has Chicken Pox. We plan to Skype with Ms. Dealey again soon.

The second graders have been playing with Glogster this week. They are creating collages with as many of the graphics as they want. This is a great introduction and exploration activity for the students. They get to play with with Glogster, which is the best way for them to learn all that Glogster has to offer. The first challenge is to find at least one pair of items that rhyme. We looked and together made a list of a few of the rhyming pairs. Bear-hair, skate-eight, star-guitar. After they finish creating their collages, we will work to write the rhymes and add them to our glogs. Follow this link to see some of the Glogs under construction. http://harju.wikispaces.com/I+Spy+Glogs Check back in a week to view the finished products.

I saw one of my second graders over the weekend, and the first thing he said to me was, “Did you see what I did to my Glog?” I of course promised to check it out right away!

We have been reading the I Spy books in class in preparation for a Skype Chat with Jean Marzollo, the author of the I Spy rhymes.

1000+ students
43 schools
6 continents

Rock Our World – founded by the DEN’s Carol Anne McGuire, the band Alma Desnuda and over 1000+ students from around the world collaborated on this amazing Global Music Video. We were the representatives from Michigan and we had a great time. Each class filmed video clips to send to the band and recorded singing of the lyrics. We are all represented and are proud to be part of this amazing project. Visit Youtube to LIKE the video and spread the word. We want the world to see it and sing with us! We Love the Life We Got!