Tennessee DEN

The National DEN Blog has information related to local communities developing a Freedom Walk to commemorate those who lose their lives on September 11.  The Freedom Walk began in 2005 with 15,000 marching from the Pentagon to the National Mall.  This year, every community is encouraged to create their own local Freedom Walk.  See the DEN Blog for more details about how you can participate.

The TN LC has planned a DEN Event on September 8th at the TN Aquarium.  Due to room constraints, we only have room for 30.  We now have 36 who have requested to go!  As a result, we had to start putting names on a waiting list.

Our TN Chair, Teryl Magee, will be in touch with all attendees by email to let you know of your status.  If you are on the list to attend and you decide you cannot go, PLEASE let Teryl know by return email AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  We must confirm numbers with the Aquarium at least 48 hours before the event.

Keep putting your name and email in the comments section!  You may still be chosen to go if a position opens up!  Thanks to all the TN members who have commented so far.  We are pumped at your response!!!

It was just five days ago we posted that the TN LC would host a DEN Event at the TN Aquarium on September 8th in Chattanooga, TN.  We have space for 30, and we are over half-way there now!  Thanks, TN DEN!

During our workshop, we will experience one of the many interactive sessions offered to kids across all age groups.  Here are just a few of the possibilities:

Grades K-2 - Kids can learn about jellyfish in the Jellyfish Dream.  You can join J.J., a young and curious child as he travels through the ocean meeting various speciies of jellies.

Grades 3-5 - Kids in these grades will work together to build a jellyfish by becoming the different parts of a jelly that swims, stings, eats and, yes, excretes!

Grades 6-8 - Students can become corals as they play a game of chance.  Will they find food and reproduce?  Or will a hurricane or wrecked ship cause an early demise?  Playig Coralopoly will help students see how humans can impact corals both negatively and postively.

Grades 9-12 - Students conduct hands-on experiments to determine levels and types of water pollution as they set out on the Seahorse Rescure Mission.

And don’t forget that you can plan an overnighter at the Aquarium and "swim with the fishes."

Did I mention that the Aquarium now has penguins?  You can see how they created their :30 penguin commercial (a spaghetti western), by using one of DEN’s favorite props…the blue screen.  Click here for more info.

You can continue signing up at this blog, or the previous blog for the TN DEN LC.  Just give us your name AND your email address. We’ll be in touch to let you know who the lucky 30 will be on the 8th!

It is a well-known fact that Discovery Educators love Shark Week!  With that sentiment in mind, the TN Leadership Council has planned our next event at the TN Aquarium in Chattanooga, TN.  And yes, you can really Pet the Sharks at the Aquarium!!

The TN Aquarium is one of TN’s premiere tourist attractions, but it is also designed as a tremendous training ground for students.  They will even send their staff to your school to do workshops with your students or staff development for your teachers!  This workshop will highlight the ways the TN Aquarium can benefit you and your students.

This exciting DEN event will be held Saturday, September 8th, beginning at 9 AM and concluding sometime after 2 PM.  Here is a brief itinerary:

• Hands On Workshop with TN Aquarium staff from 9 to 10:30
• Tour of the TN Aquarium (both salt and fresh water venues) from 10:30 to 12:00
• Lunch provided by the Riverside Deli from 12:00 to 1:00
• IMAX 3-D movie from 1:00 to 1:45
• Debrief and drinks at the Mellow Mushroom from 2:00 to ???

Our wonderful team at Discovery will pick up the tab for the training, movie, and lunch.  All day parking is anywhere from $5 to $7 (your tab).  Refreshments at the Mellow Mushroom are not included, but this get-together time is optional.

The TN Aquarium will present an overview of the student workshops held there.  They have workshops for K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grade levels.  All workshops are interactive and hands on.  They are also aligned to TN, GA, and AL science standards.  You can find a complete list at their website.

You should bring a digital and/or video camera if at all possible (at least one for each school group).  We will give you an assignment to create a digital story of the day to be completed later. 

If you are interested in attending this workshop, please comment below with your name and email address.  We can only take 30 people on this event due to space limitations, so sign up early!  We will be in contact with you at a later date to confirm your registration.  We promise to have you out in plenty of time to get to Knoxville for the TN Vols game later that day (7 PM)!

I have two brand new baby teachers in working with me this year.  They are terrific, and I strongly believe they will make great teachers in a few years. During a planning period, one of them shared Sharon Creech with me.  Sharon is the author of about 15 books aimed at upper elementary and middle school kids.  Her website is fantastic and includes study guides for a couple of her books.  If you are a language arts teacher, you may want to visit this site soon.

Yes, the pitter patter of little feet have once again filled the hallways and sidewalks of our campus.  Okay, I teach middle school.  There is no pitter patter of anything, so let’s try this again.

The slapping sounds of flip flops, the loud incessant chatter of early teens, and the weird vestages of leftover hair color have now invaded the sanctuary we call school.  Was that better?

This is our first full day with students.  In our labs, we have mostly 6th graders so we are seeing wide-eyed kids scared to death and lost as a goose.  We are assigning computers and playing games to learn everyone’s names.  So far I have Krispy Kreme Chris, Excellent Elijah, Magnificent Matthew, Exciting Evan, Talktative Tyler, and Karate Kristen to name a few.  We begin our days with a Name Game that assigns every kids an adjective that begins with the same letter or sound of their first name.  For the next nine months, I will be known as either Mr. Childers, Mr. C., or Terrific Tim.  I love it!

As usual, our labs were not quite prepared for the opening day of school.  We remodeled one room and the electrical is not done.  The air conditioning didn’t come on early enough and it will be over 100 degrees today with the heat index.  We’re having so much fun!

Seriously, as much as we complain and can’t wait for summer to get here, we also complain and can’t wait for school to get started again.  I look forward to hearing how your opening days are going.

Okay, this is way cool!  Check out the site Sun In Motion.  There are lots of cool videos that show sun spots, sun flares, and other interestingly scientific sun activities.  I don’t really have a use for this site in my classroom, but I thought it was fantastically super!

I think your kids will find looking at the sun a totally new experience (not that you want them looking at THE sun!).  You can see the electromagnetic fields at work up close and personal.

Let me know what you think.  And welcome back to school (that’s another blog!).

For those of us just experimenting with Second Life, this is great news!  The Second Life Leadership Council is hosting the first-ever Discovery DEN Event at the world famous DEN Headquarters in Second Life on August 15 from 5:30 to 7:00 PM SLT.  They promise games, demos, dancing, and door prizes (but you must be "present" to win).  You can find them on EduIsland II.  I plan to be there!

In a related topic, I received an update from Innovate, an e-learning journal free with registration, about a new study published on the impact of multi-player games online.  The full title is, "Leveraging Identity to Make Learning Fun: Possible Selves and Experiential Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs)."  Whew!

Anyway, the article tracked 14 high school students in a summer enrichment program.  Part of their assignments included interacting in Second Life and another virtual site called There.  The catch was they had to change genders.  The students experienced this world in a completely different way with boys logged in as girls and vice-versa.  Not only did they have to act differently, but they were actually treated differently by other gamers they met online.

Second Life is off-limits for me at the moment because my kids are a little young for the "powers that be" to grant them access.  But what a learning tool this could be!  I know some kids are doing this already when they play such games.  Heavier kids find avatars that are muscular and lean, short kids find those that are taller, they change skin color, hairstyles, and may even grow beards.  Kids are already changing things about them online when they interact with others on MySpace and other social sites.  But….and this is the educational but….are we asking them to reflect on how those changes make them feel about themselves, about their interactions, and about how they feel when they are no longer online?

Hey, I’m pumped about the SL Leadership Council and some of the really cool stuff I’ve seen at SL.  It is a terrific opportunity for kids to experience learning in a whole new way.  But, it may be an educators dream to get them talking and writing and acting out in plays or music what the experience is actually doing for them and to them.

So, let’s do a little experiment.  Go to the SL DEN Event.  Then come back here and comment on your experience.  It’s okay to comment on things you learned and demos you saw.  But try to reflect on what went on socially.  Did you find yourself talking mostly to avatars of your own gender?  Did you try to find those who were from your state?  Did you mostly stick to yourself and not "talk" much with others?  Did you stand on the edges and just watch?  Did you act differently in SL or the same?  What did you learn about yourself from that experience?

Man, you can tell school is about to start.  I’m beginning to blog like a teacher again!