Virginia

Saturday, October 24, 2009
9 AM to 4 PM ET
Click here to register for the virtual sessions.

Click here to register for our in person event in Silver Spring at 1DP

The top 10 Reasons to attend the Fall Virtual Conference from the National Blog

10.  College football is overrated.

9.  The digital treats you’ll take away won’t cause cavities.

8.   You can attend in your pajamas (virtually or in-person, we’re flexible).

7.  Two full hours of the soothing sounds of Justin Karkow
Can I Help You With That?  The Student as Collaborator, Creator and Director (9 AM and 3 PM ET)

6.  A chance to win a HD Flip Cam for dressing up as your favorite Discovery personality

5.  Brand new interstitials

4.  Any time Steve Dembo uses the word “bling” in a presentation, watch out!
Putting the Bling in Your Builders (12 PM ET)

3.  The archived sessions just don’t have the same pizazz.

2.  Amazing professional development for the very reasonable price of…FREE.

1. Networking, networking, networking!

For the schedule and more information, visit: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/virtcon09.

The VA and MD LCs are joining forces at the virtual conference on Oct 24th.  Sessions will run all day at 1DP in Silver Spring and 2DP in Second Life. Both leadership councils have been working hard to provide you with a spooktacular day. Want to join in Second Life but aren’t sure? The experts in the SL LC will be at 2DP on October 24th to help you get your avatar in order and even help you find a costume for Halloween!

In addition to the webinars hosted by DE personnel, we will be presenting 3 live seminars for groups of attendees to rotate through:

Renee Henderson and Selena Ward will present on Podcasting (with a
Ghost Story theme)

Laura Pilker will present on Second Life To register for the in person event click here

To register for the virtual event click here

Click here to download the 1DP Conference Flyer.

As part of the day’s festivities the DEN is offering up three HD flip cameras for the best costumes that day.  Whether you are attending in-person or online, get dressed up as your favorite Discovery personality and you could win a flip cam for your classroom.

We hope to see you there.

It’s that time of year again. DEN Streamathon is here. Register and learn how Discovery Content can take your teaching to the next level.

Click here to register for the DEN’s Annual streamathon.

Schedule All times Eastern

9 AM
Back to School Changes in DE streaming         
10 AM
A Day in the Life with DE streaming        
11 AM
Streaming the Solution: DE streaming in the Math Classroom
12 PM
Supporting 21st Century Literacy with DE streaming    
1 PM
Back to School Changes in DE streaming       
2 PM
Dialing in the Digital Compass: DE streaming with Social Studies
3 PM
Multimedia Einsteins: DE streaming with Science
4 PM
Homework Gone Digital
5 PM
A Day in the Life with DE streaming
6 PM
Back to School Changes in DE streaming        
7 PM
Crunching the Numbers - Using the DE Admin Tools to Show Your Success
8 PM
The Discovery Educator Network 2009-2010

Welcome Back to School! The DEN Events calendar page has been updated. Click the DEN Events Calendar tab at the top of the page to view upcoming Discovery Webinars, Second Life Events and VA DEN events. The great thing about the calendar is it is done using Google Calendar so you can add it to your current Google calendar.

Digital cameras can be used to engage and empower learners, but many of you may wonder how you can use this technology in your classrooms. Learn how digital cameras can be used to help students observe, conceptualize, share, and communicate with the world around them. This ISTE webinar showcases digital photography projects for elementary teachers and students and demonstrates how to incorporate digital photos into websites, multimedia presentations, newsletters, and more. You will also receive numerous links and information on online resources such as tutorials, repositories, and search engines to name just a few. Don’t wait—register today!

I know that VSTE just ended but I just received an email informing VSTE members about next year’s conference. Next year VSTE’s state conference moves to the fall at the Hotel Roanoke. It is scheduled for November 30th - December 2, 2009. As I was reading the message a familiar name jumped out at me. It was none other than our own Matt Monjan. Drum roll please…….

We are pleased to announce that our Conference keynoter (on Tuesday AM) will
be Matt Monjan of Discovery Education.  Matt has blended technology and
education for more ten years in the worlds of both business and  K-12
instruction.  Prior to joining the Discovery Education team in 2004, Matt
designed, developed, and implemented adult education and certification
programs for two of the largest trade associations in the country.  At
Discovery, Matt has worked with classroom teachers on the nuts and bolts of
implementing technology and with administrators on using data from
technology management to develop effective strategies for technology
integration. He is based in Discovery Education’s World Headquarters in
Silver Spring, MD and manages the Discovery Educator Network activities for
Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware, New Jersey, and
Washington, DC.

Congratulations to Matt! The VA DEN is proud of you and we know you’ll be an awesome keynote speaker.

Well your leadership council is off to the VSTE Annual Conference for 3 days of learning and collaboration. Please stay tuned for some posts and photos from out time there. Also check out the presentations from the VA DEN’s Day of Discovery. Just click on tab at the top of the page. We will add them as they become available. We hope to see you there!

Dear DE, MD & VA SMART Exemplary Educators (SEEs):

We are offering you a special extension to apply to the SMART Trade Show Teacher program for

NECC 2009.  We are looking for SEEs who are in relative close proximity to Washington D.C..

Here’s the link to the SMART Trade Show Teacher website for all the details.  You have until close of business on Friday, February 13 to submit your application, so don’t wait!

Shannon Matt, B.Ed
SMART Technologies
Education Specialist, K-12

Greetings!

VSTE is looking for a few good…Volunteers!  Our conference has always benefited from the numerous folks in the past who have graciously given some of their time to make VSTE the best conference in the state.  This year can we count on you for your help?

We have changed the time slots so that our volunteers will serve less time (so as not to miss as much of the conference) but at the same time, that means we need more people to fill slots.  If you happen to have that volunteer spirit and want to help out, please let us know what day would work best for you (Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday) by contacting us at volzet@comcast.net or kbusher@gmail.com . Once we get that information, we will work on putting the pieces of the puzzle together to fill our 100+ volunteer time slots and contact everyone for confirmation.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
Tracy Volz and Karen Busher
VSTE Volunteer Coordinators

The registration date is being extended to Tuesday, Jan. 21 to ensure DC area teachers will know and benefit from this workshop event.

TEACHING LINCOLN IN THE CLASSROOM
WHUT LOOKING FOR LINCOLN TEACHER TRAINING WORKSHOP

WHEN:  Saturday, January 24, 2009 - 10 AM - 2 PM
WHERE:  WHUT-Howard University Television Studio D, 2222 Fourth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001
Free On-site parking available
Workshop is free with registration - Register by January 21, 2009:

Join dozens of educators in the TV studios of WHUT - Howard University Television for a Teacher Training Workshop on teaching Lincoln in the classroom (K-12).  WHUT and Howard University’s Department of History are hosting this multimedia workshop and luncheon leading in to the nationwide Lincoln Bicentennial celebration and the PBS broadcast of LOOKING FOR LINCOLN hosted by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in February 2009.  Workshop includes keynote address by leading Lincoln scholar, hands-on demonstration, door prizes and more.

Teachers are being invited to rediscover Lincoln in a multi-media format and take away new resources that will engage students (K-12) in Lincoln’s life, legacy, and presidency.  The workshop offers a keynote address by Dr. Edna Green Medford, a nationally recognized Lincoln expert and professor of history at Howard University, an overview of the LOOKING FOR LINCOLN broadcast program, website, and hands-on lesson plan demonstration by education specialists from THIRTEEN/WNET in New York, door prizes including a brand-new Apple I-Pod and other take aways.  Lunch will also be provided and free on-site parking is available

Visit:  http://www.whut.org/lincoln.htm
or email lincolnwhut@gmail.com or call 202-806-3058

About the film:
In the film, Gates shows how the Lincoln legend grew out of controversy, greed, love, clashing political perspectives, power struggles, and considerable disagreement over how our 16th president should be remembered. His quest to piece together Lincoln’s complex life takes him from Illinois to Gettysburg to Washington, D.C., and face-to-face with people who live with Lincoln every day – relic hunters, re-enactors, and others for whom the study of Lincoln is a passion.