Virginia

The DEN National Institute for 2009 will take place from July 13-17 at the Headlands Institute just north of San Francisco in the beautiful Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  You’ll have the opportunity to connect with your colleagues from all over the country and discuss the best ways to use media in your classroom AND you’ll get to do that in beach side sessions surrounded by 180,000 acres of parkland.

Ready to apply?

Check out the FAQs first.

March 6
DEN National Institute Announced – Application Open

April 3
Deadline for applications

April 8
Applicants notified

April 24
Deadline for accepted applicants to RSVP

April 27
Wait-listed applicants notified

May 8
Deadline for wait-listed applicants to RSVP

Apply now for the 2009 DEN National Institute.  Good luck

What a day!  It was great and I am totally exhausted.  So much happened that I can only give you the highlights otherwise this post would be way too long.

We started the day with a keynote by Steve Dembo.  As usual he said what I’ve been noticing, but of course I had yet to make the full connection.  So he starts by talking about the characteristics of a digital native.  Then he reminds us that in order to reach these kids we need to start thinking like them.  Digital natives have a need to be connected and teachers who are responding to the change in our global community have begun to exhibit the same characteristics.  In the end, it’s these innovative teachers who are finding ways around the limits established by the technology barriers in our school systems – just like our kids.  I know the web nazi here in Portsmouth sees me coming and knows that we will be doing the two-step about some website.  Steve said if we took one thing away from his session we should remember to find a way to share the information that we learn with each other and “just do it”.  Not everybody is able to blog or podcast or do a presentation in Second Life; but some can and the rest can twitter or plurk and let folks know what’s going on and where to find the info.

We had several professional development sessions today as well.  I decided to go to the geocaching session.  There are some TRTs in Portsmouth who have begun to geocache, but since the charge was being led by those working in the secondary sciences, I thought it could not apply to what I was doing.  Boy was I wrong!! We learned that geocaching could be very much cross-curricular and/or elementary in focus.  I was so intrigued that I actually decided to join the group who was going out to geocache in the afternoon.  Yeah, I know, those of you who know me would never believe that I would actually go out walking around the city of Silver Spring in the middle of July in 90 degree weather. Have I got news for you!  I was so motivated by Bridgette and her enthusiasm that I actually moved out of my comfort zone.  We found three out of the four caches that we went looking for.  We were out for two hours and we must have walked 50 miles!!  (OK – that’s an exaggeration)…I was hot and sweaty, but it was oh so worth it. I’ve got pictures and video for those of you who need proof…

We ended the night with a tour of the DC area.  We had tour buses and professional tour guides and some of the best folks – all of my new friends who are fellow DEN Stars.  I’m ever so grateful for this opportunity.  Discovery has treated us so well. I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow…

Ruth Okoye - DEN STAR - Portsmouth, VA

After Day 2 of the DEN National Institute, I can only second the excitement and AWE you read in Dani’s blog!

Today THE Hall Davidson started us out with a presentation on using cell phones in education and he shared so many websites and information, I was pumped from that first hour!  Then the rest of the day began. . . moved from a session on Discovery Assessment–which can do some amazing data aggregation–to Second Life–which I TOTALLY  was inept at until Faythe helped me–a DEN helper from California!  Then I popped into Joe Brennan’s digital storytelling session, where he showed some neat tips and tricks with iMovie!

THEN I ended up the PD part of the day again with Hall Davidson, who is an amazing thinker–and fabulous presenter–who keeps in mind not only 21st century kids, but how to make things work for teachers as well.  He shared tons of tricks for rewriting html code in ways any layperson could “get” and the ideas he shared for using Google Earth in the classroom got my brain going overtime! One of my favorite was Jerome Burg’s Google Lit Trips, where the book is extended through visiting sites that expand kids’ comprehension and understanding of the references in the literature. My word, Hall is a visionary!!!

I spent some time this afternoon sharing some of what I have learned on my county’s local CTIP (Curriculum and Technology Integration Partner) wiki.  Check out ctip.wikspaces.com and look at web tools and food for thought!

Tonight we had a DEN carnival– fun and games, carnival fare (complete with cotton candy!) and lots of opportunities to win tickets.  With the tickets you “bid” on door prizes.  VA STAR Eileen Mallick was the Virginia BIG winner–I think her name was drawn at least four times. . she walked out with a PILE of goodies!   We all also got a bag of goodies from STARS all over the US, and a special treat from Discovery Ed!

What an amazing day! DEN knows how to feed us, teach us, give us opportunities to learn from one another AND share what we know. . . this is a GREAT  professional development opportunity.  And, the networking, making new friends, and reconnecting with old ones is unparalleled!  Thanks to all!

Paula White - VA STAR - Albemarle County, VA
Photos - Dani Hall

Our first day at the DEN NI in Silver Spring Maryland was SUPER GREAT!  When I walked up to the Discovery building a small smile crept on my face just thinking about the possibilities of the week. When I walked in there were tables all over and people twittering, networking, “plurking”  their were even a few people talking.  Right away Lance broke us into groups and got us going on a project.  The groups were based on our region and we were tasked to make our very own Boom De Yadda video (of course the VA group was the BEST if I do say so myself).  We immediately got to work brainstorming out script after we had the script we broke up into smaller groups. Some of the group went to take pictures while others went to sing some used BOOM STICKS on Matt and Lances heads (thanks to Paula White).  It truly was a group effort.  The final project was great and was received with thunderous applause.  After dinner from Macaroni Grill with GREAT conversation and sharing we watched all of the groups videos and they were fun and hilarious! Matt then gave a quick overview of the changes in Discovery Streaming.  There is a great student center coming so keep an eye out it is going to be so useful and seems user friendly.  The final events were break out sessions called “Dessert Sessions”  (that included key lime pie and brownies).  I went to one with  Dennis who shared a great photo editing site called Gimp a FREE application that does almost, if not all of the great things that Adobe Elements does. I recommend you check it out! WHAT A FULL DAY! CAN’T WAIT FOR DAY 2!

Dani Hall - DEN STAR - Arlington, VA

Kathryn and I are attending a session to learn how to use Blabberize.

Enjoy the video!

Heather