Tennessee DEN

I know what I’d like to do!  Take a look at this great opportunity from Discovery.  Just one more reason why the DEN is the greatest Personal Learning Network on the planet!

Join us as we discover more of our incredible planet earth together with adventure trips to Australia, South Africa, and China. In order to participate in this pilot trip, you must be a STAR Discovery Educator. Not only are you able to take part in this once in a lifetime opportunity, each STAR selected will be able to choose four of their students to join them on the adventure!  This is at no cost to you or your students!

So with no further ado… here’s the official wording and post importantly the link to apply.

In 2010, Discovery Education will launch Discovery Student Adventures, education-based international trips to eight destinations including: Arctic, Australia, China, Cost Rica, Ecuador/Galapagos Islands, Italy/Greece, New Zealand/Fiji Islands, and South Africa.

To effectively integrate educator feedback into these inaugural trips, a select group of educators will have the opportunity to travel with Discovery in the summer of 2009 as part of a one-time special opportunity to pilot a Discovery Student Adventure trip.

Educators will serve as chaperones to a group of students, and once selected for a trip, will also be an integral part of selecting the students for these pilot trips. Travel program will be at no cost to the selected educators and students. We are looking for educators that teach 5th through 12th grade.

We invite you to fill out an application for the opportunity to travel with us, giving us your thoughts and opinions along the way to help make Discovery Student Adventures a unique, premiere student travel program that brings the world to life for students and the teachers who lead the trips.

Australia
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 – Thursday, June 11, 2009
Description: Melbourne, Ayers Rock, Townsville, Great Barrier Reef

South Africa
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Description: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Kruger National Park

China
Tuesday August 4, 2008 – Tuesday, August 18, 2008
Description: Beijing, Chengde, Luoyang

Travel Dates are estimates only and subject to change.

To apply please visit https://discoverystudentadventures.wufoo.com/forms/pilot-program-application/

The application will be closed on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 5 pm PST. All applicants will be informed of their status by April 1, 2009.

Over the weekend the TN DEN hosted a training event at a Best Buy store in Knoxville with PhotoStory and iMovie training afterward at Panera.  We have been getting a lot of positive feedback from both participants and others who have read about it online.

As part of the after training assignments we asked our participants to send us a picture they took yesterday for a photo contest.  The pictures are posted below and numbered 1 through 7.

We need YOU to vote on which picture you like best.  The winner will receive a Best Buy gift card courtesy of Discovery Education.

You can click in the bottom right corner of the slide show to see the pictures full screen.  Press escape when you are done. Here are the pictures:

Cast your vote below! The poll closes this Friday, February 27, at midnight!

Saturday, seventeen teachers, librarians, and principals gathered at a Best Buy store in the very early hours of the morning (yes, 8:30 is early on a Saturday) to see, touch, and play with digital cameras and camcorders.  It was awesome to be in the store before it opened.

We spent a little over an hour learning about things to look for in a digital camera for use at school.  Our educators learned about stabilizing focus, pixels, zoom, the rule of thirds, and more.

After our time at Best Buy, everyone moved across the street to the Panera Break Company to learn about PhotoStory and iMovie.  Many of our attendees had never used either program.  Those that had helped us move from table to table getting the programs installed and seeing all the cool stuff they can do with photos.  Discovery provided us with gift cards to get everyone their favorite munchies and drinks.

BUT IT ISN’T OVER YET.

The attendees have until midnight tonight to email one picture they have taken today to our Council Chair.  They were tasked with using the knowledge they gained yesterday.  When we have all their submissions, we will post them to this blog and allow YOU to vote on your favorite.  The winner will win a Best Buy gift card courtesy of Discovery Education.

In the meantime, you can see a little of what we did yesterday in this video.