DEN Texas

Welcome back to school everyone! This is starting to look like one of the more exciting years yet with the Texas DEN. Please keep coming back to the blog this year as we will be keeping it more current throughout the year with the help of several Leadership Council Bloggers. Stay with us as we share new resources, DEN news, and event announcements.

New STARS
Please welcome new Texas DEN STARS that have joined during this summer. Give a big TX DEN Howdy to: Senyda Elizondo (Pharr), Ana Centeno (Glenn Heights), Pam Donze (Flower Mound), Angela Conrad (Kingwood), Linda Cross (Tuscola), and Sylvia Basaldu (Corpus Christi).

New Event: Texas DEN Photo Walk 2009
The TX DEN Leadership Council is organizing a great opportunity for the amateur and dangerously talented teacher photographers in the state. On September 12th, several cities will have small groups of teachers enjoy a Photo Walk, where the group will travel together taking pictures that support the day’s theme. Each city will gather afterwards for lunch and select their three favorite photos of the morning with each winner getting a prize that day.  For more fun, each site will upload their top three photos for a state-wide contest with bigger prizes for the top three photos.

The event is free and open to all in the Texas DEN. Come back soon for more registration details, but keep the morning of the September 12th open!
Happy New (Academic) Year!
From all of us on the Texas Leadership Council, we hope you have a fantastic and successful year.

As we all wrap up the end of the school year, isn’t it great that we don’t have to see the end of great DEN events? Some of you will be going to the DEN National Institute, others like myself, will be going to the DEN LC Symposium. Many lucky people will be going to the NECC pre-con and other fabulous regional events throughout the summer.

Give a shout out and tell us where you are going this summer, whether it be DEN related or not, and if you are interested in being a guest blogger this summer, send me an email at eplybon@gmail.com.

This is one that everyone will want, but not everyone has just yet - read on!

Discovery Education streaming videos are now available in Flash! The catch is that it is not available unless your district DE administrator has requested it. So what are you waiting for? Get your DE administrator to call 1-800-323-9084 to get this great feature enabled for FREE!

Yes, that is right - having this incredible functionality is absolutely free to any district with a current DE streaming subscription - all you have to do is ask for it!

This is a great opportunity if you manage to be one of the lucky few! According to the Wall Street Journal online, STA Travel is giving students and teachers the opportunity to buy round-trip tickets to London or Paris for only $30. The catch is that there are a limited number of fares and the tickets will only be sold after noon tomorrow (May 20). You can either line up at the office or call 1-800-360-9273, but they will not sell the tickets before noon (CST). This offer is also open to full-time registered students aged 13 and up and anyone under 26. For additional information, read the article HERE.

From guest blogger, Howard Martin:
Digital video has had a presence in Austin for a good number of years. The Austin Student Digital Film Festival (ASDFF) has been providing an outlet for teachers and student for the last 8 years to show off their digital films.  This year, the ASDFF Showcase event will be held on May 30th at 5:30pm in the Reagan High School Theater in north Austin.

The film festival has accepted films from across the state and had teacher workshops in the Fall to help bring digital video into the classroom as an instructional tool. With sponsors like Austin Independent School District, the Texas Computer Educator Association, Apple Computer, Dell, the University of Texas and many others, the festival has been able to provide a night of fun, sharing, and usually, some good door prizes.

For more information about this year’s festival and some examples of films from past years, visit http://asdff.info .

Maybe you are burned out, chilling out after TAKS, or maybe you would just like to get away, but need an excuse . . .  you are in luck! Region One is hosting its annual Technology Conference in beautiful South Padre. The conference will be May 12-15, but it is not too late to register!

May 12 and 13 will be full of educational technology, integration and content area workshops. May 14 and 15 will include all of the above plus business services and administrative workshops.

For more information, visit the Region One Technology Conference website. If you would like to see the sessions that will be offered, click HERE.

The folks at the DEN are wanting to hear everyone’s story - how has being a member of the DEN affected you? How has it impacted your students’ experiences in the classroom? As a result, they have posted a short survey for all of us to take. Please take a few minutes to visit THIS LINK and take the survey.

Need inspiration? A few months ago, I made a Voicethread about this very subject. I asked my DEN peers to add to it. You can view it HERE.

Remember the last few years when spring at the DEN means recruiting? Well, this year, spring at the DEN means sharing! The DEN is building a wonderful library of resources for teachers which cannot be done without the help of fabulous DEN members like you!

Between now and May 22, any STAR Discovery Educator who uploads at least two resources will receive a DEN Spring Training T-shirt featuring the logo in this article.

Since the DEN is all about collaboration, what are you waiting for? Dust off those lesson plans, videos, writing prompts, or whatever resource you’ve created that you think other teachers will benefit from, and get them uploaded. The entire community will be the better for it!

For more information on spring training, visit the DEN National Blog.

As a result of the growing presence of the state-based leadership councils and their activities, the DEN has decided to begin an annual review and election process. What does this mean to you? It means that now is your opportunity to express your interest in becoming an active member of the Texas Leadership Council.

If you are already a part of the Leadership Council and would like to continue your work, you will need to complete the self-nomination form by May 15. If you choose not to do so, your tenure with the council will terminate. If you are not already a part of the Leadership Council, you should also complete the self-nomination form. Note: If you have not been on the Leadership Council, you may only choose to serve as either a part of the blog team or the events team. Coordinator and Chair positions can only be filled by individuals who have already served for one year on the Council.

For more information on roles and responsibilities, and for a link to the self-nomination form, visit the DEN National Blog.