Another EdTech has pulled together South Carolina’s best and brightest STARS!
Last week, educators from our wonderful state traveled to Myrtle Beach for some fun in the…well, not much sun at all. What we DID find were fellow DEN members and STARS who were ready to learn, collaborate, and share.
STARS were all over the Grand Strand convention center. Doing what you may ask?We could be found strutting our stuff to a room of eager audiences, as well as in the exhibit hall- manning vendor stations and building connections with future STARS. And if you didn’t catch a STAR at the Convention Center, then you were sure to see them rubbing elbows with crews from ETV, Know It All, and ITV at Amici’s on Broadway.
Did you attend EdTech? Got a funny story to tell? Care to share a new site you discovered? Would you like to post photos from the DEN event at Amici’s? YOU CAN DO IT ALL!
Leave a comment below for us to see, or email photos to the DEN Leadership Council and we will post them to the blog. We would LOVE to hear from you!
A note from the LC Chair:
Greetings!
The best plans sometimes get changed! The city of Columbia is having a Spider Lilly Festival in the afternoon on Saturday at the Riverfront park. Because of this, the park will be closed in the morning. So, instead of meeting on the Columbia side of the river, we’ll meet at the West Columbia Riverwalk which is right next to New Orleans restaurant. We’ll meet near
the ampitheater at 10 am. The directions are below:
To the West Columbia Riverwalk - 121 Alexander Road, Columbia, SC 29169
From West Columbia
Go down Meeting Street toward the Capital. Make a right onto Alexander Road before the Gervais Street bridge. You will see the
amphitheater and the parking lot on the left beside New Orleans Restaurant.
From Columbia
Go down Gervais Street toward West Columbia. Cross over Gervais Street bridge. Make your first left onto Alexander Road. You will
see the Amphitheater and the parking lot on the left beside New Orleans Restaurant.
From Spartanburg
Go down I-126 from Spartanburg toward downtown Columbia. Veer off onto Huger Street. Go down Huger Street about 1 mile and make a right onto Gervais Street. Cross over Gervais Street bridge. Make your first left onto Alexander Road. You will see the Amphitheater and the parking lot on the left beside New Orleans Restaurant.
Please go to the Discovery blog and add your name to the spreadsheet of people who will be geocaching. You may need to scroll down a bit on the page. Discovery will be using this list to award prizes later next week.
We’re excited about seeing everyone on Saturday. We will have some breakfast snacks and then learn how to use the GPS receivers to navigate to several caches in the area. We will also plant our own SC DEN cache with an offical DEN travel bug. I look forward to seeing you! Please contact me by e-mail if you have any questions.
Donna Teuber
SC DEN Leadership Council
A message from the Leadership Council Chair:
I hope that you all enjoyed your spring break!
The SC DEN Leadership Council is gearing up for the Virtual Conference that will be held around the country on Saturday, April 25. Mike Bryant from Discovery is coordinating the events for us in South Carolina. We will host the conference at Ridge View High School (in the northeast area of Columbia) located at 4801 Hard Scrabble Road, Columbia, SC, 29229.
We’ll begin the day at 8:30 with breakfast and then have a mix of breakout sessions and
virtual sessions. Discovery is providing lunch and the day will end at 3:00.
Sessions by our Leadership Council include:
Senteo and SMART Activity Toolkit - Amy Dent
iPod-a-bilities in the Classroom 2.0 - MaryAnn Sansonetti
Roundtrip Tickets Anywhere: Google Earth in Education - Donna Teuber
Web 2.0 - Julia Davis
You can register for the conference by going to http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/denvirtcon/. If you’re planning to attend our in-person event at Ridge View, be sure to indicate that on your registration.
Don’t miss this great opportunity to network with SC educators and DEN Stars, and to learn about new ways to effectively integrate technology into your classroom activities. We hope to see all of our SC Stars on April 25th!
Please post any questions or leave a comment on the blog!
See you soon,
Donna Teuber
SC DEN Leadership Council Chair
Is it really over? Did three days packed with networking, learning, and sharing really have to end? StreamlineSC and the SC DEN may not be able to provide you with a stimulus package, but they can definitely stimulate the minds of some of the Palmetto State’s greatest STAR Discovery Educators!
For some people,March Madness means basketball courts and hoop dreams, but for the generous folks at ETV, it means engaging educators from all over the state of South Carolina in three days worth of educational technology know-how. On Wednesday, March 18th, ETV opened their doors and studios to educators for a series of free workshops and seminars. Participants sat through sessions facilitated by educator experts in topics that ranged from Google products to digital storytelling. Registered participants had opportunities to learn how to incorporate new techniques on the SMARTBoard Interactive Whiteboard, as well as how to create eFolios for students.
In addition to the numerous workshops provided, StreamlineSC’s devoted divas, Debbie Jarrett and Donna Thompson, teamed up with the SC DEN’s Leadership Council to bring iPod guru Tony Vincent to the big screen! That’s right, with Discovery Ed’s Justin Karkow at the helm, the Leadership Council hosted EdTechConnect with Tony Vincent. Before the webinar began, we all had an opportunity to sit down to a catered dinner and talk shop- that may not sound like a big deal at first until you realize that the peanut gallery included educators as far south as Berkeley County on up to Rock Hill. Not bad. And though we had a few technical difficulties at first, Justin proved that Discovery Ed managers are problem-solvers at heart!
We’re in the process of putting together pictures and video from the event, so check the blog soon for some familiar faces. In the meantime, if you were fortunate to attend one (or all three days) of the workshops, we’d love to hear from you. What did you learn? What did you teach? What did you see that you just cannot live without? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF OUR FEARLESS LEADER’S ENGINEERING SKILLS DURING THE WEBINAR?!
It’s time to enjoy some quality time with fellow DEN STAR educators from around the Palmetto State. If you’re already registered to attend the ETV workshops on March 17-19, then you may as well enjoy a free meal alongside some of the finest educators that SC has to offer!
See the invitation here to register. Participants will not only enjoy rubbing elbows with fellow SC STARS, but will also take part in iPod guru Tony Vincent’s exciting webinar!
Plan on attending? Be sure to reply to the invitation, then leave a comment to let the rest of the SC DEN know you’re coming.
That’s right, it’s that four letter word that makes educators happy…F-R-E-E.
Back by popular demand, the fun and fabulous folks at ETV are bringing you technology workshops to help you learn the latest and greatest trends in educational technology. Donna, Debbie and Dean (the three D’s of education) have lined up 3-days for you and your peers across South Carolina to learn, network, and collaborate.
Join the SC DEN as we meet in Columbia to teach and learn. DEN members, along with folks from Discovery Education, ETV, and educators in and around the classroom, share technology integration ideas for novice to advanced users. The workshops will be held at the ETV building in Columbia on March 17th, 18th and 19th. Registration opens next week, so check here for more information.
And why not spread the news?! Download a copy of the flyer to email to colleagues or post in the workroom. You may even be eligible for a 1-hour re-certification credit. So what have you got to lose? Oh…just three of the most information-packed days to make your classroom or school a more exciting place. That’s all.
On Saturday, August 16th, Animal Planet is popping in to visit South Carolina!
Animal Planet Expo 2008 will be held this weekend at the Exchange Park from 10am to 4pm. Check out all of the exciting vendors and shows before heading back to school. Bring the family for a day of face painting and fun. And hey- it’s Animal Planet, so your pets can be a part of the fun! Just be sure your furry friends are on leashes. (Leashed dogs and cats are invited to join in on the festivities… cats on leashes?! NICE.)
For more info on the Expo, or to see what Animal Planet is up to, visit the Animal Planet site. Care to get a sneak peek of what’s in store? Watch the video tour!
Any DEN folks plan on visiting the EXPO? Leave a comment and let us know! Will you have a furry friend in tow? Be sure to send us a picture and we’ll post it on the blog.
The South Carolina Leadership Council treated DEN members to dinner in Columbia last night. Dinner with the DEN is a treat, but being able to share technology tips with fellow educators takes the cake!
Cathy Nelson, Library Media Specialist and DEN member, shared two great sites:
Cameroid
Fun image generator for those who have access to a Webcam.
A flickrstream called “Interesting Snippets”
The photos consist of metaphorical creative commons pictures that have added motivational or thought provoking phrases, quotes, and understandings that have many uses. The idea I shared was to get to the photostream, use the slide show feature, and just let them rotate through (roughly 250 pictures) for educators as they wait for staff developments to begin. I suppose they would be good for parents at parent meetings in the same way. I noticed as I searched for them again tonight, others have picked up on this, like Dean Shareski and Alan Levine. They are tagging the photos “interestingsnippets.” The originator of the idea simply created a set named that. It’s a good idea, and one that can grow now that a seed of an idea has been planted and a tag has been formed and implemented.
Donna Teuber shared this tip:
Olympus has several cameras in the SW series that are shockproof and waterproof. These cameras are very durable in a school setting where students may be dropping cameras or taking the cameras out in the rain. The cameras are shockproof when dropped from 5 feet and some models are waterproof up to 33 feet. The cameras are also crushproof up to a weight of 220 pounds.
Thanks for the tips, ladies! Got a tip for the DEN? Let us a know all about it and we’ll post it here on the blog. You can post a comment here or email it to the Leadership Council at sc.den.leaders@gmail.com.
It’s almost time for more great workshops at SC ETV- so why not join your fellow South Carolina DEN members for dinner while you’re in the area?
On Wednesday, July 30th, the SC DEN is hosting dinner for our members at Longhorn’s restaurant in the Vista. We will be meeting upstairs at 6:00 pm. Join us for dinner and share some of your best technology tips with other DEN members from across the state!
DEN members should be getting an invitation soon- but why wait?! If you’d like to join us at Longhorn’s at the end of the month, post a comment below on the blog. Let us know where you’re from and if you’re attending any of the ETV workshops. You didn’t register for any workshops? Well, come join us anyway to network with fellow SC educators!
Via RSS
