Tennessee DEN

Hey gang!  Here are some things to consider as the TN DEN steps forward into the future:

1.    The National Middle Schools Conference is next week in Houston (November 7-10).  If you are going, please consider meeting with us at the conference.  Email me at tchilders.den at gmail.com and we’ll set something up!

2.    Teryl and Tim are presenting at the TETC workshop in Nashville (November 28-30).  Our sessions are on the 29th and 30th.  We would love to get a group of DEN members together for a dinner while in Nashville.  Put a post on this blog if you are interested in meeting with us at TETC.  It will be great fun!  AND it will give us a chance to meet some great DEN members from across the state.

Let’s get the TN DEN together whenever and wherever we can!  We are pumped about the great work you do throughout the state!

The National Middle Schools Association (NMSA) will host its annual national convention in Houston, TX from November 8 to 10. If you are a STAR DEN member and would like to attend a social gathering of other DEN members while attending the NMSA convention, we need your input.

Finding a space to host us (whether a few or a lot) will take a little time and effort, so we need to know something fairly soon. If you would like to participate in such a gathering, please email Tim Childers (tchilders.den at gmail dot com). Discovery Education has agreed to help us with a budget, so our goal is to make this as “free” as possible for all attendees. When you send your email, include the following information:

• Your Name, email address, and a contact phone number while in Houston
• State of Residence (this is NOT just a TN event)
• Preferred day of event (8th or 9th)
• Would you prefer a “sit down” dinner or a “drop in” session?

We need your email no later than midnight, October 31st, in order to make this happen. We will need ONE email PER ATTENDEE.

Hey, we’ll get together if there are just 2 of us able to do so, but we would love to have a whole big bunch of STAR DEN middle school teachers in attendance. Remember, this is a social gathering, not another workshop for NMSA. We hope to hear from you soon!

Get your own Moonk!

This past Wednesday evening the DEN staff hosted a dinner at the T&L Conference in Nashville. The dinner was at The Old Hickory in the Opryland Hotel. Around 20 people attended, including DEN members from Tennessee (west, middle, and east), Wisconsin, Maryland, Maine, and more. It was a wonderful evening of sharing and laughter.

Teryl Magee and I drove in from our respective places of abode, had dinner, then drove home. Teryl was home around 1:30 or 2:00 AM and I got home at 2:30 after a brief nap on top of Mount Eagle! Whew! Thursday was hard, but well worth it.

For me, the highlights of the night came in two areas. First, I was able to talk nearly non-stop with the Hall Davidson. What a wealth of information and creativity! Second, was my Caesar salad. I’ve never had a salad that included just four lettuce leaves stacked on top of one another. We all got a good laugh, wondered if every course would be like this, and then breathed a huge sigh of relief when the main course came. We were definitely full at the evening’s end!

I’m sorry I didn’t include pictures of everyone at the table, nor get the names of all the Discovery staff present. A big special thanks to Lance for putting it all together!

Teryl Magee and I did two workshops for the TN Association of Middle Schools (TAMS) at Farragut Middle School in Knoxville, TN, on Saturday, October 13th.  Between 35 and 40 teachers attended in all with a little over half of them unitedstreaming, uh, I mean Discovery Education streaming subscribers.

We were able to do hands-on workshops in the computer lab at Farragut.  Out of all the teachers who use streaming, none (that’s spelled “zero”) used any of the three builders.  I’m finding this is a common theme at workshops I do.  In fact, it is a common theme at my own school where I am responsible for training!  Of course, I must admit that for the first 18 months of my DEN experience, I didn’t even know they existed either!  The Builders are streaming’s best kept secrets.

So here is a question for all our DEN members in TN: Do the teachers at your school use the builders?  If not, would you consider hosting, attending, or even promoting a training session in your area?  The TN DEN LC stands ready to assist in any way we can.  You know, if you are not a STAR DEN member you can use this opportunity to do some training with 3 or more teachers at your school and show them how to use the builders yourself.  These trainings can go toward your application to become a STAR!

We had a blast, met some really nice teachers, and got to share our passion for teacher collaboration using the DEN.  All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.   Teryl and I are already planning for the state conference in Franklin, TN, next summer!

Last weekend I took part in the eastern regional workshop for the TN Association of Student Councils (TASC).  I was asked to do a presentation on digital scrapbooking, but when I explained I had never done that they let me do a Photo Story workshop for personal memory making.  I had fun doing 4 20-minute sessions with middle schoolers.  Virtually none of them had ever heard of Photo Story, let alone used it.

We have used Photo Story in our lab classes before, so our students were familiar (although none of them were actually in my sessions).  However, I think I learned something valuable from this experience.

When we used Photo Story, we jumped right in to storytelling.  We had students write a script, edit and revise, etc.  Then, they brought pictures from home and we scanned them into the computer for use with their story.  Some had real trouble tying pictures to their theme.  Others didn’t have any pictures, so we had to make do with selected shots I downloaded from the Internet and made available.  By the time we were finished, many of our kids had grown tired of the project.  The excitement I expected didn’t materialize.

I saw something different in this workshop.  I talked about loading random personal pictures and adding music (no narration) to create a 30-second to 1-minute video of something important in their lives.  Then, they can upload those videos to their MySpace accounts and entertain their friends.  When I use Photo Story again in my classroom, I believe I will take this approach.  They might use photos of their favorite music artist, skateboarder, or other celebrity to make a statement about their own personal tastes.  You get the idea.

Anyway, here is an animoto video I created from pictures taken at TASC.  Enjoy!

I just got through with an hour long webinar hosted by Steve Dembo and attended by nearly 30 STAR educators from around the world (yes, the world).  In it, Steve laid out several of improvements made in our new website.  As time goes on, we’ll highlight some for our TN STAR Teachers.  Right now, here is a taste…

Forums: The layout of the forums are much easier to read and post.  In addition, they now include an RSS feed.  As a result, there is no need to keep checking back hourly to see if someone responded to your post.  With RSS you can receive email notifications!

Blogs: Yes, all STAR members still have their own personal blogs.  Now, however, they are hosted directly through the Discovery site and are extremely maleable to your tastes.  In the past, it was more of a “post” than a “blog.”  Now, the blog can be uniquely yours.  When you log in, there should be a link to take you to your dashboard.  Customize whatever you want from there.  The links to recent posts and writers will be back up soon.

Calendar: On the old website the calendar didn’t get much use.  Now, like everything else, it appears to be more user friendly.  Again, RSS feeds can keep you updated on events.  In addition, if you are hosting an event, you can set up your account to automatically respond with an email when someone signs up.  It will also automatically send a reminder to all attendees prior to the event!

OK, that’s enough for now.  Check out the new site!

Lately I’ve come across a number of blogs that list software, websites, tutorials, and the like that the writer just can’t live without.  The top 5, the top 20, the top 100 of everything.  It really got me thinking about the things I use the most (in fact, several times every day).

Discovery Educator Network: What list for the DEN would be complete (or even acceptable) without including the flagship of our collaborative efforts?  I check blogs, look for resources, and generally catch up on nearly everything from here.  The new website even has me already logged into all my subscription services.  I’ve lumped unitedstreaming under this banner as well.  And let’s not forget the free stuff  that gets launched to the STARs!

SegaTech: After reading about what our DEN members are doing, I turn immediately to the SegaTech blog.  For those unfamiliar, the name stands for SouthEast Georgia Technology.  Jeff Giddens and his partners really put out a quality blog with TONS of links to sites that might otherwise be missed.  It is generally updated every weekday.

Bloglines and Del.icio.us: I love these two sites that help me keep track of everything going on around me.  Both save me tons of time and energy!

Twitter: While I don’t post much yet, I am quickly becoming addicted to Twitter.  I have a few people so far that I keep track of.  I am growing the list, so feel free to twit me!

PowerPoint: Yes, I still use this tool everyday.  I create simple things for use in class, jpg files to use in PhotoStory or Adobe, uploadable files for SlideShare and Zentation, and other things.

Photo Story, Adobe PhotoShop and Premiere Elements: I received these two programs at the first National DEN Institute.  I am using them now pretty much daily.  I am creating video lessons to be used throughout our labs.  I use all three of these great programs in tandem to do simple 5 to 10 minute mini-lessons.

GMail:  What else can I say?  I’m about to totally ditch Outlook and stick with GMail.  It does nearly everything!

I could go on, but I’ll stop now and give you an opportunity to respond.

So…what can you not live without?

Each fall the Tennessee Association of Middle Schools (TAMS) hosts a drive-in conference on a Saturday morning.  This fall’s conference will be held at Farragut Middle School in Knoxville, TN.  The big event happens on Saturday, October 13th!  You can find more information at the TAMS website.

Teryl Magee and I will do two sessions in the computer lab on the 3 Builders in unitedstreaming.  Being in the lab means we can make these hands-on sessions!

 If you are a DEN member and plan on attending the Fall Drive-In conference for TAMS, send me a comment.  Maybe we can connect that day for a few minutes!

I recently discovered by accident that my Google Talk account works at school as long as the client has been downloaded to my computer.  All other attempts at IMing has been blocked by our filters.  As a result, some of our teachers are doing the same.  This allows us to stay in touch easier while on campus.  Of course, our school isn’t laid out like most schools.  Every team (we are a middle school) is in a separate building.  It is a loooong walk to talk to someone in person!

Then it dawned on me that as a TN DEN community we are not using our own technology to stay in touch either.  There are two things that work from schools of which I am aware.  As I mentioned, Google Talk works if the program is downloaded to your hard drive.  Also, Skype works great!

I’m not going to ask you to post your Google Talk or Skype IDs on this blog.  You may not be comfortable with it being out there for everyone.  However, I’ll take the risk and post my info here.  I invite you to join up with me and let’s use these tools to collaborate online (not just gossip people!).  We can talk about what we are doing in our classes, set up meeting times for several to get together, plan training sessions, share resources….the sky’s the limit!

You can find me here:

 Google Talk ID:   tchilders.den

Skype ID:    tim.den

Add me to your contacts and give me a shout.  Let’s put the Network back in Discovery Educator Network in TN!  Not in TN?  Hey, we’re an equal opportunity state.  Join us anyway!  See you in the chat.

Okay, we are back online with the new Discovery site.  Sorry for the delay.  I’ve been going into withdrawal not being able to post, and I know you all are salivating to find out more about what is happening across Tennessee!

There may be a flurry of activity on this site for the next week or so as I try to catch up on all the cool stuff I’ve been playing with.  I really hope you will join in the conversation about integrating technology into the classroom.

If you have a “best practice” you would like to blog about here, send me an email (or post a comment to this blog) and I’ll get your ideas out to the TN public (and the world).

Have a great day in Tennessee!