Wisconsin

On November 2, 2009 approximately 600 Verona Area School District staff and administrators had an amazing “Day of Discovery”.  Steve Dembo, from Discovery Education, was the featured keynote speaker for three outstanding presentations.

He started out the day with a thought-provoking session in the morning called “Learning to Speak Native: How education is being transformed in 140 characters or less.”  He began by explaining how the amount of information online keeps increasing while the barriers to accessing it continue to decrease. He also showcased how thousands of teachers are providing access to free lessons every hour of every day and how we could access these lessons. He emphasized that educators who create a personal learning network will always have the resources they need to stay ahead of the curve.

The second keynote presentation he did was called “The Native Lifestyle“.  In this fast paced, session, Steve pointed out how web 2.0 tools are being utilized, and shared some of his favorites along with some concrete examples of how they could be used in the classroom K-12.

If that were not enough for one day, we had lunch and then the high school staff was treated to one more presentation called “A Day in the Life of a Discovery Educator.”  Steve took us step by step through a day in the eyes of a 21st century digital educator.  From the moment we get to school until the last bell rings.  He showcased how digital media rich lessons can be used in all curricular areas to meet the needs of all learners. While doing so, he also demonstrated and highlighted the features of the Discovery Streaming site.

This was by far one of the most engaging staff development days I have ever been a part of.  By the noon break, many of my staff were already checking out microphones, trying to access the websites from the morning’s sessions, and just really, enjoying the information that Steve shared.  I would highly recommend every district have a “Day of Discovery” with Steve Dembo.   – Rita A. Mortenson, STAR Discovery Educator, Educational Technology Coordinator

Steve’s presentation was thought-provoking and practical.  By early evening I had already received three emails from teachers who had successfully used Web 2.0 tools that he demonstrated.  They were proud of their accomplishments and excited to integrate them into their curriculum. – Bill Lemberg, STAR Discovery Educator, Educational Technology Coordinator

In my opinion, Steve hit a home run.  He inspired our staff.  He gave practical ideas for using technology.  And he challenged us to use tech solutions in ways the original creators hadn’t even thought of.  – Linda Christensen, Director of Instruction, Verona Area School District.    –blog post written by DEN Star Rita Mortenson

This is crossed posted at chadlehman.com, my personal blog.

Today marked the first time I was presenting at a conference.  My friend and colleague, Rachel Yurk, and I were scheduled to present a session on Personal Learning Networks at the WEAC Convention.  This is the state convention in Wisconsin, put on by our state Teachers’ Union.  I have attended this conference in past years, but have never presented.  This year, I thought it might be fun to present.  Well, what happened today, was not fun.

We arrived about 30 minutes before we were to start, took care of registration, wandered around a little, and heading to our room about ten minutes early.  I thought there was a presentation before us, but when we arrived, the room was empty.  This conference is not a technology conference.  Now that I think about it, shouldn’t ANY conference about education include technology?  I honestly had no idea what to expect as far as an audience. I was hoping for ten people.  I pulled out my laptop, connected it to the projector, and started getting ready.  At this time, we had two people trickle in and take a seat - wow, a real audience.  I tried to pull up the wiki we put together on PLN’s, but couldn’t find a wireless signal.  I tried the “Free Public Wifi” that popped up, but couldn’t connect.  I saw a signal for the conference center, but that was not free.  About this time, I sort of panicked.  We were about to talk about networks and connecting to other educators, demonstrating Twitter and other PLN related ideas, but couldn’t get online.  Luckily, someone from the conference came in and asked how things were going.  I told him we couldn’t get online.  He said there is no wireless in the presentation rooms.  I asked about the paid option and he said it worked great in the common areas, but might be pretty weak in the room.  We decided against paying for something that probably wouldn’t work.  He did say there was a hard wire option and he would send someone from the conference center IT department in to help us.  Okay, this might work.  In the meantime, one of the people in the room left.  We were down to one.

As we shared our frustration with the only attendee in our session, a first year teacher, the IT guy came in.  We asked about an internet connection and he calmy stated that a hard wire connection would cost us $400.  I honestly thought he was joking, but he was not.  Trying to present on PLN’s without an internet connection is pretty challenging.  She clearly understood our frustration and was very cool about it.  I was pleased she wanted to stick around and still hear from us.  I’m not sure I would have done the same.  We ended up sitting around and talking to the one person who stayed.  Rachel did most of the talking while I went into the hallway to see if I could pick up some kind of signal - no luck.  We continued to discuss the advantages of having a PLN, shared the wiki address with her and encouraged her to contact us in the near future, for any help.  I do think she picked up a few things from our discussion, but it was not clearly the same as if she could have seen everything live.  Oh well.

After we were done, we headed back to the presenter checkin area to find out about internet connection in the building.  I was pretty upset that things didn’t work out, not to mention feeling pretty much like an idiot.  The woman at the counter asked us if we checked that we needed internet access on our presentation form.  I told her that option didn’t exist and she pulled up our form and confirmed I was right - there was nothing on the form that asked whether we needed access or not.  She mentioned that WEAC had to pay about $400 dollars for internet access in the rooms.  Apparently, assuming there was internet access at a large, statewide education conference, was a mistake.  She did page the man in charge of the entire conference and we continued to discuss with him the fact that not having internet access is pretty ridiculous.  He did bring up the incredibly high costs of certain things the convention center was charging them for - $500 for an LCD projector rental, for example.  We did discuss the idea of considering access at this type of event when looking at venues for the future.  He was nice, apologized, understood where we were coming from, but at this point, probably could not have done anything that would have satisfied us.

It really was a shame.  We had great information to share, much of which has come from our own PLN’s.  Needless to say, my first time presenting will most likely not be forgotten.  Unfortunately, it’ll be remembered for what it wasn’t, not for what is was.

Hi Everyone,

If you are like me and work in a school system that blocks YouTube ( for good reason) I have a way you can download the video and then import it into your Notebook file or PowerPoint presentation.  Here’s how:

Go to YouTube and find the video you want. (be sure it’s appropriate for the kids)

In the URL box remove “www.” ( remember to include the dot)

Replace with “kick”  ( no dot, no parenthesis)

Hit enter.

You will see buttons for all kinds of formats. The default format is MP4. NOW HERE’S THE IMPORTANT PART, don’t click the “download” button.  On the  right side of the window there is a green “go” button. Click that, it will turn blue.

Then download the same way you would do any other file( right click, or control click).  The rest is the same for inserting or importing a picture (in this case video) to your program.

There are some great videos our there, well not as many as Discovery, that you can pump up your presentation or Notebook file with.

Good Luck!

Jackie

Recently, there has been an updated version to the Shift Happens video. You may have seen this earlier version, or perhaps even this version. Regardless, as you can see in the video below, times are a changing.

If you follow the DEN National Blog, you could find this information here - but you might not, so I’m sharing it again with my Wisconsin friends and those in other places.

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This post was originally published by the spectacular Steve Dembo.

Summer School Archives

We’ve been busy converting and uploading all the archives from our incredible Summer School webinar series. While we still have quite a few to go, nearly half the webinars have been posted and are ready for you to download and share them with others!

As they get converted, we’re posting them here, so check it out and let us know what you thought of the series!

What better way to “Get in the Swing of Things” for school than to have an awesome Wisconsin DEN event at Miller Park.  Recently, about 15 Wisconsin Star DEN members and others gathered for a great afternoon at the Milwaukee Brewer Stadium.  The event, held on Friday, August 21, was a great way for DEN members to connect and learn about the latest and greatest there is with Discovery Education.

Rachel Yurk, Wisconsin DEN Chair, Chad Lehman, Wisconsin DEN Blog Coordinator, and Tony Heinowski, a member of the Events Team, helped coordinate this event.  Here’s what Rachel had to say about the event, “It was a fantastic opportunity to ‘get your head in the game’ with fellow educators.  We need to gather like this to learn more about what we all do and improve our own beast practices.”
The event started with a tour of the beautiful park.  After the hour-long tour, DEN members met in a club house room and got an opportunity to hear from Mike Bryant, Wisconsin Discovery Educator Account Manager.  Rachel Yurk also presented information about an upcoming Race for the Cure Event.

Fellow Star Educator Rita A. Mortenson was back from the Discovery Student Adventure Trip in China, and was able to give a glimpse into the life of what she and her 4 students from Verona Area High School got a chance to experience while in China.

The event contintued with some door prizes, laughter and great conversation amoung other educators.  It was really such a great opportunity to connect with others and learn more about the upcoming Wisconsin and Regional Events.  A special thank you to Rachel and others who helped organize this event!

Hi Everyone,

My name is Jackie Shanti.  I’m the newest member of the “blog team”. Just a little bit about myself;  I’m the Library Media Specialist and Learning Technologies Leader at a small urban school in Milwaukee.  In a previous life I taught special ed. and first grade.

You may have seen announcements in the DEN about a Master’s program in Instructional Media that Discovery and Wilkes University have teamed up and have offered it for a little over a year now.  I’m in my second year and I must tell you that the program is fantastic !  I haven’t ever had the caliber of instructors that Discovery and Wilkes have leading these graduate courses ( Kathy Schrock for example).  I also have had to work my butt off!  I grow so much from every class I take ( all online) and I’m so glad I decided to do this.  You might want to check the program out at : http://www.wilkes.edu/instructionalmedia.

Next post: Things I picked up at NECC this summer

I look forward to meeting many of you at the Miller Park event in the coming weeks.

Jackie

Verona, Wisconsin educator and students prepare for a “trip of a
lifetime” to China.

Star Discovery Education member Rita A. Mortenson, from Verona,
Wisconsin was selected as one of three teachers in the United States to
participate in the China Discovery Student Adventures Pilot in 2009.

Rita, a technology coordinator at Verona Area High School, was chosen to
be a participant in this exciting program.  Ms. Mortenson was also able
to select four students from her school to participate in this adventure
as well.
Participants will leave from Chicago, Illinois for their international
flight to Beijing, China on Saturday, August 1 and will return on
Saturday, August 15.  While in China, they will have an opportunity to
participate in amazing cultural, historical and adventurous experiences.
They will get to camp at the Great Wall - one of the seven wonders of
the ancient world, visit the National Stadium known as the “Bird Nest” -
the site for the 2008 Olympic opening ceremonies, observe Chinese
athletes who are training for the upcoming 2012 Olympics and also tour
the National Aquatics Center knows as the “Water Cube”.

They will get to explore the mystery of the Pagoda Forest, attend the
Kung Fu school and being an introduction to Chinese Kung Fu alongside
Chinese students, and meet one of the pioneers of the “Ping Pong
Diplomacy”.  They will also get to explore the Forbidden City, the
Hutongs, meet local families, practice Tai Chi and more.
This exciting 15 day trip is packed with history, culture, martial arts
as well as modern and ancient architecture.

Rita and her students (Becca, Maha, Melissa and Emilie) would like to
invite everyone to follow along on the Discovery Student Adventure Blog
as they travel in China from August 1-15.  To follow along, go to the
following website and click the follow me link on the right hand side.

http://dsachina.blogspot.com/

Hello all WI DEN Educators!  The post below will also be delivered to you via email although Chad asked that as the WI DEN Chair I write a post on the blog.  This was the information I really had to share so…. here it is again.  As I prepared to put it also on the WI Blog, it occired to me that this was a great test for our members.  If you did not get the below message from me via email, then you may need to check which email you have for use with Discovery.  We have so many of you that filter out our communication unknowingly or simply have changed email addresses.  So, if you do not receive an email with the same information as below, let us know how we can update your information so that we are communicating better with you.    Happy reading!

Welcome !      

Meet the Leadership Council

Greetings Wisconsin DEN!  As you prepare to head back to school I hope that you will be including the Discovery Educator Network in your thoughts.  Your WI DEN Leadership Council has had a great summer of learning and planning for a fantastic year ahead.  Each month you will be receiving a newsletter to assist you in staying up-to-date with the happenings of the WI DEN.  We have new members of Leadership Council that are preparing many ways to have fun, learn and be the best educators we can be.  There are so many opportunities out there and we are planning on making them all happen.

I, Rachel Yurk, am the Wisconsin DEN Chair and would love to hear from you if you have ideas, questions or concerns.  My role is to communicate effectively between you and those at Discovery.  The Leadership Council consists of three areas, the chair, the blog team and the events team.  Our blog chair, Chad Lehman would love to hear from you!  He will be updating the blog, sharing information, posting events and handling the ideas that will keep the WI DEN strong and active. Also on his team is Jackie Shanti.  I expect you will be hearing great things from them in the 2009 – 2010 school year.  Our events team has been charged with filling up the calendars with exciting opportunities to learn, have fun, and grow as educators.  We are fortunate to have a dynamic duo heading this team, Rita Mortenson and Keith Schroeder.  Their fantastic team includes people from all over the state, allowing us to be able to provide events in great locations.  On the events team we have Malena Koplin, Wendy Liska, Den Donley and Toni Heinowski.  Please feel free to contact any of us if you have ideas questions or concerns.  I would be happy to forward emails along to the correct person as needed.  Now on to the fun things!

 

Wisconsin DEN at Miller Park

Friday’s Front Row ~ August 21 2:30 – 5:00 PM

Join the Wisconsin DEN at Friday’s Front Row at the TGI Friday’s inside Miller Park and learn about all the great opportunities the Discovery Educator Network has to offer you in the 2009-2010 school year! Enjoy the great atmosphere of Miller Park home to the fabulous Milwaukee Brewers, see presentations from fellow DEN members, learn more about Discovery Education, have fun meeting the DEN community and enjoy a sneak peek at all the great things going on in the WI DEN and the Midwest this fall. Register on the WI DEN Blog.  RSVP to the event by completing this RSVP form!

 

DEN Summer School Webinar Series!      

If you have not already checked it out, there is a fantastic opportunity to hop into learning with the DAEN Summer School Webinar Series.  Discovery has planned the entore month of August with free webinars on all the best topics. 

Digital Storytelling week – August 3-6

Leadership Week – August 10–13

Science Week  - August 17-20

Web 2.0 Week  - August 24-27

Tell a colleague, invite your principal and join us for Summer School with the DEN.  Enroll today at: http://community.discoveryeducation.com/webinar.

All sessions begin at 11 AM ET.

 

Keep Your STAR Status!

Don’t want to loose one precious Wisconsin STAR!

Keep Your STAR Status
In order to maintain your STAR status, you must report at least two of your events for the 2008-2009 school year by August 31, 2009.

What is an Event?  An event is any time you share the power of Discovery with 3 or more colleagues.  Share an integration idea over lunch with your grade-level team.  Demonstrate to your peers how you use a Virtual Lab in DE Science.  The list is endless.

Log in to the DEN website and you’ll see “Report Event”  If you are not sure of how many events you’ve reported send an inquiry to den_events@discovery.com.

Direct link to the event report page: https://den.dabbledb.com/page/denactive/pAZRbWIy

 

Save These Dates!

WI Miller Park Event – August 21, 2009 REGISTER NOW!!!!
DEN streamathon – September 23, 2009
Fall Virtual Conference – October 24, 2009

Respond to this email or post to the blog with any questions!

Rachel Yurk

WI DEN LC- Chair

If you’ve been checking out this blog recently, you’ve obviously noticed the daily list of links that have been provided.  These links are all coming from an automatically updated Diigo group.  There are a number of great educators adding links to the DEN Diigo group, including Jen Dorman, who adds many of them.  As new bookmarks are added to the group, they are sent to this blog on a regular basis.  However, these links are not supposed to coming directly to this page.  Take a peek just above the first post of this page and you’ll see a “Home” tab and a “Links” tab.  The links being to our blog are supposed to heading to the links page, not this main page.  Obviously, I have to get this straightened out.  I’ll apologize for not having that set up correctly, but am working on getting it fixed.  Hopefully, we’ll be good to go by the end of the week.