Tennessee DEN

This year we purchased DE Assessment for our school.  I have been sold on this product since I first saw it 3 years ago (as Think Link).  I’ve done a little training, and we just finished our first round of benchmark tests (yes, we started late).

Today, I realized it was really going to have an impact on somebody besides me.A teacher walked into my room with her eyes wide and said, “OH…..MY…..GOSH! This is the coolest thing ever!”  When I finally got her to calm down, I was able to ask her what she was talking about.

It turns out she had just created her first Practice Probe in language arts.  The question bank directly addressed the skills she was working on, and several questions applied directly to the stories they read (Tell Tale Heart and Legend of Sleepy Hollow).  She was able to choose easy and moderate questions for most of the test, then added one or two hard questions to help separate advanced students from the others.”It only took clicking a few buttons! And I was done in minutes!” she exclaimed.  ”I used to have to cut and paste questions I found to make my tests look like TCAP tests.  Now it is automatic.”  With that, she was out the door to go talk to her department head about how much she loves DE Assessment.

This type of response is what it will take to get the program again next year.   My fingers are crossed.

A short while ago, I got a Skype message from Danielle Abernathy asking me to take a look at an upcoming post for her new blog, NetTrekker d.i.  I was quite honored to do so.  The idea of a blog for NetTrekker was quite appealing to me, and I immediately thought about posting a short blog here at Discovery to let others know it was out there.  Then, I found out it was “live” yet.  Shhhhh.But now, the blog is very much live and is one I highly recommend you add to your RSS feeds.Our school has had access to NetTrekker as long as we’ve had access to DE Streaming (long enough that everyone still calls it unitedStreaming except me).  Yet, I feel it is a greatly undervalued tool at our school.  The quick and easy way to search, I’ve heard, is Google.  Google rules the world.  Yet, I can personally attest to the fact that I have spent countless hours over the years searching Google in vain for “just the right resource.”NetTrekker can solve that problem.  NetTrekker allows you to really zero in on what you want, and the results have been vetted to make them relevant to educational uses.  If you haven’t used NetTrekker, or if your school or district doesn’t subscribe to NetTrekker, you are really missing out on a great tool your teachers will come to love.Danielle’s new blog will help you learn a lot about how to use it effectively.  So what are you waiting on?  Head over there now! 

This afternoon we took time to look at things other than DE Streaming.  Brad took us through some nifty tricks in PowerPoint.  My favorite was creating a scrolling bar across the bottom of a slide much like the news feeds you see on the cable news shows.  Very simple trick, but it will have your kids (and other teachers) guessing how you did it!  Another cool trick I noticed (but it was not commented on) was the use of a short DE Streaming video embedded as eye candy in a slide.  The audio was muted or removed and a very small version of the clip was inserted next to the next.  It simply played like an animated .GIF file.  Pretty nifty!  You can see his entire presentation on his Discovery Blog site.

Next up was Justin Karkow.  He took us through Photo Story, the moved to Movie Maker, and finally Adobe Premiere Elements to demonstrate how to use editable DE Streaming clips.  The presentation was topped off with a tag team preso with THE Hall Davidson on the use of green screen techniques.  Very quick, down and dirty, bare bones view of some really great tools.

Last, Hall showed a few quick Web 2.0 tools.  He demonstrated how to use VoiceThread, Google Languages, and Closed Captioning with DE Streaming.  With Google Languages, you can type a letter to the parents of an ESL student and then change it into their home language.  In addition, you can change an entire website into a foreign language.  Think about it.  Using Google Languages you can take your school’s website and create an identical version in Spanish, Portugese, Ukranian, Klingon (yes, that’s right!), and more.  Then, just add a link on your homepage to the link provided b Google.  I’ll have to do an entire post on the tricks we learned with Closed Captioning.

During dinner, we had a sharing time called Dinner and Dazzle.  Various participants showed off some of their favorite apps and sites.  One person won an iPod in her district for the creation of a Boom-De-Yada video with her elementary kids.  We looked at Wordle.  Did you ever think about creating your own wordle and using it to imprint t-shirts with slogans about your football or basketball team?  What about posters for class on the use of idioms?  I showed of Free Rice, Voki, and Pixlr. Teryl demonstrated KerPoof!  Brad talked about Go Animate (very easy animation site).  There were several others, but I wasn’t taking notes! Ack!

Tonight we’ve been working on projects. We’ll post more tomorrow.

Tim

The long-awaited DEN Southern Regional Conference begins this morning.  Brad Fountain, Teryl Magee and I are working feverishly to get the room ready.  Well, OK, Teryl and I are surfing the net to make sure DE Streaming is working, and Brad is working feverishly to get the Internet connection and projector working.  The first participants should show up in about a half hour.

Teryl and I are going to spend some time going over the basics of DE Streaming and the 3 Builders.  After that, we will be all over the map looking at how to integrate Web 2.0 into DE Streaming and how to integrate DE Streaming into everything on the planet.

Throughout the day, I’ll post another short blog about what’s going on, so stay tuned!

Tim

Looking for a way to get something for nothing?  OK, maybe that’s a bit much.  You actually have to do something to get these items from the DEN.  But, they do come to you free!

First, if you log into your DEN account and update your information (even if it hasn’t changed), you will be registered to receive a cool DEN Hydro Clock! It was a great reminder for me.  I have moved over the summer and forgot to update my mailing address.  I’m waiting on my clock now!

Second, the DEN has begun its latest recruitment drive for new STARs called The DENliest Catch.  All you have to do is recruit ONE NEW STAR.  That’s it!  Report your recruitment effort, and once they are official a STAR DEN member, you can choose among three different DVDs from Discovery.

Just click on the links in the section Kwouted below to get going.

Untitled via kwout

Susan Tompkins and I (along with several others) visited Discovery’s local tech headquarters yesterday to shoot some green screen footage.  When we found out we wouldn’t get the “good” footage right away, I asked Howard Martin to video what we did with my little hand-held video camera.  The result is the ad below.  I’ve included a link to the original eHarmony ad so you can see how our ad came about.  My special thanks to Susan for a great script and idea!

The original video can be seen here

We’ll catch you up on all things LC Institute later.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a whirlwind of activity at the LC Institute.  There were a total of 12 workshops offered by LC members.  Unfortunately, we could only attend 5.  Picking and choosing became quite difficult.

I took time to learn how to conduct a multitude of digital story types using both images and videos.  I also discovered how to combine the wonders of Blabberize with the “golden number” in math.  I learned some new things about Professional Learning Networks (PLNs), producing green screen effects in Adobe Premiere Elements (I need an upgrade!), and was informed of some really cool updates coming to the DEN blog site.

In a future post I will direct you to other blogs that cover some of the things I could not get to.

Last night was so much fun that I have lost the power cord to my laptop.  As a result, I can’t upload any pictures from yesterday because my battery is kaput.  Trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to miss pictures from last night’s DEN Carnival!

Watch this space!

This weekend the TN DEN LC, along with our Discovery Rep Brad Fountain, presented a Day of Discovery at Woodland Middle School in Brentwood, TN.  Despite our late efforts at getting the word out about this series of workshops, we had nearly 70 in attendance on a beautiful summer’s day!  Many thanks to Mrs. Fizer and her fantastic support staff for their efforts in making this a remarkable day!  Woodland Middle School is an awesome learning environment for both students and teachers.  Thanks also to TAMS President-Elect, Jubal Yennie, for helping us find Woodland MS and working with us to integrate the Day of Discovery with the TAMS Summer Conference.

We were able to obtain a booth at TAMS to talk to people about the DEN and STAR membership.  Teryl and I talked to several interested teachers throughout the morning.  More staff development may be headed our way! Woohoo! Go DEN!

The TAMS workshop was not without its problems.  We were scheduled to do a session on the 3 Builders in DE Streaming.  However, the day before our presentation Discovery rolled out a brand new-and-improved builders’ site.  Unfortunately, not all the links were working and the “My Content” folder had not been integrated into the changes.  When you add to that the fact that the Franklin Marriott wanted $150 to put an Internet drop in the room and my  Verizon USB modem connection kept disconnecting, the workshop was slightly less than stellar.  The atttendees were very understanding and still seemed to get some things out of it that helped them.

Look for some training on the blog about the changes to the builders as the links improve.  If you are responsible for training teachers at your school about all things Discovery, then you will want to plan some time to talk them through these changes.  If you need someone to train in your district or at your school, leave us a comment at this blog and we’ll talk to you about what we can do to help.

As always, even with the minor glitches, Discovery Rocks! Thanks to everyone who helped make both days a success.

The TN Day of Discovery is scheduled for Friday.  Yes, that’s this Friday, June 20th, at Woodland MS in Brentwood, TN.  The response has been overwhelming.  We only have a few limited seats left for this event!

The Day of Discovery begins at 10 AM and concludes at 3 PM.  Lunch is provided, and the entire event is free.  Yes, FREE.

The day will include a keynote by Brad Fountain of Discovery Education titled “From Consumers to Creators” and the following workshops: 50 Ways to Integrate Discovery Streaming, Digital Storytelling (for Mac and PC), Discovery Streaming Basics, and Web 2.0 in the Classroom.  And the great part is you get to attend all 4 sessions!

If you have not registered yet, follow this link to get your name on our list and guarantee your seat at TN’s Day of Discovery.

On a side note, if you are attending TAMS at the Cool Springs Marriott on Saturday and Sunday, be sure to come by Tim and Teryl’s workshop on “Campaign Promises: 3 Builders in Every Classroom.”  We’ll show you how to utilize the 3 Builders of Discovery Streaming in your classroom in 45 minutes or less.  Don’t miss it!

This past Monday, June 9th, three of the members of the TN DEN Leadership Council conducted a Discovery Streaming Basics workshop at Powell Elementary in Powell, TN. We had nearly 30 in attendance, and nearly all the attendees were brand new to Discovery Streaming. It was awesome!

Since the DEN loves to eat, we began the day with some goodies from Panera. Teryl Magee introduced the workshop and presenters. Tim talked for a bit about the basics of Discovery Streaming with explanations of how to search, the types of resources available, and more. Karla spent her time quickly going over the 3 Builders and then focusing on the Quiz Builder.

Powell Elementary is equipped with a Mac lab, so everyone had a laptop to work on. The most exciting part of any training is watching the teachers in attendance working side by side, helping each other with questions, and doing what they do best….teaching.

Our thanks to all those at Powell who made this day possible. I’ve included a short slideshow below built using SlideRocket. SlideRocket is still in private beta, but when it launches it could make PowerPoint obsolete!

(NOTE: If video will not play, try this link)