Wisconsin

Do you know what a Ning is? A Ning is an online site that allows people to create their own social network.  You could create one, I could create one, and so one.  Some schools have Nings set up for the staff to communicate and share ideas.  Neighborhood groups have set Nings up to have their own little social network.  In educational technology and the wonderful world of web 2.0, the largest (I believe) and best Ning is Classroom 2.0.  According to the site,

“Welcome to Classroom20.com, the social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and Social Media in education. We encourage you to sign up to participate in the great discussions here, to receive event notifications, and to find and connect with colleagues.”

I’m a member of this Ning, although, I honestly don’t visit the site nearly enough or participate in the discussions as much as I should.  I know I’m missing out on great learning opportunities.  With that being said, this site is outstanding.  If you’re looking for a place to connect with other educators, I recommend starting here, and joining the over 37,500 members.  One of the features I really like about this Ning is the online professional development opportunities offered.  Every Saturday, there is a Classroom 2.0 LIVE! show.

 ”Classroom 2.0 LIVE is an opportunity to gather with other members of the community in real-time events, complete with audio, chat, desktop sharing, and sometimes even video. You are invited to join us for our weekly Saturday show with co-hosts Peggy George, Kim Caise and Lorna Costantini!”

I’m on an email list from the Ning that sends me a weekly email with information about the Classroom 2.0 LIVE show, the times, and the topics.  It’s a nice reminder of the free opportunities offered by this group of teachers.  Steve Hardagon is the creator of the site and does a fantastic job keeping everything running smoothly and providing educators a ton of exceptional learning opportunities.  Without a doubt, check out Classroom 2.0.

Did you see the appearance this morning of a groundhog at 1 DP - Discovery Headquarters?  Well, he was there, along with Steve Dembo, sharing 5 tips about Discovery Streaming.

Check out the DEN National Blog for more info.

The Olympics are right around the corner and before we know it, will be gone.  About 8 years ago, when I was a classroom teacher, we celebrated the Olympic games.  Students could earn a medal based on how many pages they read, the number of math facts they completed, and a few other academic challenges.  The kids had fun, we kept a medal count, and talked about what events we might have watched the night before.  The online coverage of the Olympics wasn’t nearly that of today’s coverage.  We will be bombarded with coverage online and off.  Much of what we watch will probably be online.We have a great opportunity again to enrich our students with a current event that is pretty special.  The coverage will be everywhere.  We might as well take advantage and go for the gold!  If you need resources to learn about the Olympic games, check out this blog post by Larry Ferlazzo.

Take a look at this blog maintained by Matt Monjan.   If you’re ever looking for DE info previously posted,  ideas for integrating DE in the classroom, or differentiating instruction, you’ll find it here ( power points, videos, lists, suggestions).  Matt is also a big fan of Digital Storytelling, which is greatly enhanced with DE resources. Subscribe to the RSS feed and keep up with the latest information while you are there.

This is one of my all time favorite places!

Here’s the link:

http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/matt.monjan/the-bird-house-your-source-for-geekybird-stuff/

On January 15 - 17, members of the Wisconsin DEN Leadership Team participated in the Illinois/Wisconsin/Michigan Leadership Council Retreat which was held downtown Chicago, IL.  The weekend started Friday night with a team dinner with representatives from the three states.  The task at hand…to continue planning innovative and creative, professional staff development events for members in our states.  The networking and ideas were plentiful.

On Saturday we headed to the Discovery headquarters on Michigan Avenue and got a tour of the offices while enjoying the beautiful view of the city.  The majority of the day was spent networking and learning more about new things that the National DEN has in store to roll out, talking and collaborating about ideas shared the evening before, and breakout sessions by each state to plan out some specific events and details for each state.  All of the states have some exciting things in store for the remainder of this year as well as next fall.  Watch the WI DEN blog for upcoming details for Wisconsin members.  Although the day was full of event planning, the evening left some time for some bowling and fun.

Sunday morning, we regrouped for a team breakfast and final planning of event details.  After a morning of planning we headed out on on Michigan Ave. for a group photo and then said our goodbyes.

It was such a fun weekend and it was so much fun not only to connect with people from Wisconsin, but with Illinois and Michigan, it was even more special.  A special thanks to our regional representative Mike Bryant for such an awesome weekend.  We learned so much, had a lot of fun and are all looking forward to the upcoming events we have planned.

Picture includes members of the WI DEN Leadership Council.  From L to R: Rita Mortenson (Verona Area School District), Malena Koplin (Pewaukee School District), Chad Lehman (West Allis-West Milwaukee School District), Cathy Houchin (Watertown Unified School District),Deb Donley (Verona Area School District), Rachel Yurk (School District of New Berlin), and  Wendy Liska (School District of Waukesha).

 Several the Wisconsin DEN Leadership Council are in Chicago this weekend for a couple of days of learning and planning.  We are at Discovery’s downtown Chicago office with other Leadership Council members from Illinois and Michigan.  I’ll be posting more about what the LC will be doing this weekend.

What do you do on a cold winter day in Wisconsin, with temperatures nearing 10 degrees below zero?  You stay inside your warm cozy school and participate in the DEN SCIcon 2010 Virtual Conference.

On Saturday, January 9, Verona Area School District was the place to be to participate in the DEN SCIcon Virtual Conference.  Wisconsin Leadership Council members Deb Donley and Rita Mortenson organized an event to promote STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering and Math) within their school district.

Teachers were able to participate in the following sessions:

Changing the Present, Change the Future
No Paper Left Behind:  A New Age of Science Instruction
Hands-On Digital
Polar Bears in a Changing Climate
Where Do Old Sneakers Go to Die? Read-World Science
Teaching Process Skills with Mythbusters
Do Try This At Home:  Fun and Easy Science Experiments for Your Students

Not only were the sessions informative and fun, but the onsite virtual event held at Verona Area High School really allowed teachers to share ideas and discuss ways in which they have been promoting STEM in their classrooms.  Thanks Discovery Education for offering another great FREE professional development opportunity!

Above is a photo of the few teachers from the workshop.  (Deb Donley, Hope Mikkelson, Teresa Voss, and Rita Mortenson)

Looking for great resources to use with your students or perhaps even yourself?  Did you know that the Discovery Educator Network is a great place to find those resources?  I’m sure you do, but do you know about the DEN Diigo group?  What’s Diigo?  It’s a social bookmarking site, like Delicious, but a little more powerful.   The DEN Diigo group is a resource sharing group organized by Jennifer Dorman, a fantastic educator and DEN superstar.  Members of the group, you can join for free, are able to save bookmarks which are shared with all members of the group.  If you don’t want to join the group, you can still access the links on the DEN Diigo group page.When I signed up, I chose to have the links emailed to me on a weekly basis.  If you’d like, you could have the links emailed to you daily.  The way I have it set up works well for me.  I simply receive an email with the new links and a brief description of the site.  I also find out who saved the site as well.Another place you can find the latest links is the Wisconsin DEN blog.  Yes, this blog.Simply click on DEN Links near the top of the page and you will find the 20 most recent links that have been added to the group.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!Let’s look forward to a fantastic 2010!

Hello Wisconsin DEN members and others - Verona Area High School will be sponsoring an on-site virtual conference and everyone is welcome to join us.  The virtual conference is called DEN SCIcon 2010.  DEN SCIcon 2010 is an online conference (with a twist) focused on providing participants with some of the most ef fective strategies for transforming their science classes through the meaningful and effective integration of digital media content. Join thousands of educators from around the world for an amazing day of professional development sessions, networking and sharing.

Location:  Verona Area High School, 300 Richard Street, Verona, WI

Breakfast will be provided.  Please feel free to join us for an hour or the entire day! Computers will be provided!

Session Schedule - January 9th 2010

9:00 AM Change the Present, Change the Future

10:00 AM No Paper Left Behind: A New Age of Science Instruction

11:00 AM Hands-On Digital

12:00 PM Polar Bears in a Changing Climate featuring STAR Discovery Educator Julene Reed

1:00 PM Where Do Old Sneakers Go to Die? Real-World Science

2:00 PM Teaching Process Skills with the Mythbusters

3:00 PM Do Try This at Home: Fun, Easy and Effective Science Experiments for Your Students

Register today at https://lrougeux.wufoo.com/forms/den-scicon-2010-verona-   

Download this pdf more information. 

Thanks to STAR Educator and Wisconsin DEN LC member Rita Mortenson for this post.