As I travel the beautiful state of Florida, I am so excited to meet DEN members and their teachers who are constantly learning and sharing new ways to integrate unitedstreaming in their classrooms. The last two weeks were coast to coast trainings that I would love to share with you.

I’ve started to put a little pushpins in this map in my office when I travel to a DEN school and have noticed that I actually travel in a circle. Every once in a while there’s a little stray pushpin, like Arcadia or Hialeah, but basically our schools are along the coasts. I am very grateful for the opportunity to see so many beautiful places and most importantly our amazing teachers in South Florida. Here are just a few that I’ve enjoyed in the last two weeks.

In Sarasota County, I met with teachers at Southside Elementary.  This school was built about 80 years ago (that’s really old in Florida) and has one of the most architecturally beautiful campuses I’ve seen in my travels. Half the teachers were able to take unitedstreaming to the next level in the morning and the other half trained all afternoon.  I can’t wait to hear how they are making a difference in their classrooms with digitall media.  Welcome Maria Newell to the DEN!

In Manatee County, I finally go to meet Bob Gehle, STAR DEN member with whom I’ve been online with many times, but once you get to put a face with a name, I feel complete!  I loved how Bob not only had his media specialists gather for a meeting and unitedstreaming training, but that he created beautiful placemats and snacks for them.  Great job, Bob.  Most guys don’t get it!  Welcome Angie Sasse to the DEN!

In St. Lucie County, I entered Field Manager heaven.  STAR DEN members Jeanne Moniz, Carole Gooden and Marj Armstrong had a Day of Discovery for their teachers that included Writing Prompt Builder, Quiz Builder, Assignment Builder and even Movie Maker!  It was amazing.  You are SUPER STAR DEN members ladies.  Keep it up!

In Osceola County, Debbie Bohanan and Wendy Norton had COSMEO nights for their parents.  The kids played with  Brain Game simulations and the COSMEO commerical drew parents’ attention over to the computer that was projected to the wall so that everyone could experience the amazing homework help that can be found on COSMEO.  Parents that sign up for COSMEO through Learning Adds Up also get fundraising money for their school!

In Palm Beach County, the elementary computer teachers were invited to the beautiful Jupiter Elementary School by STAR DEN member Lee Kolbert to continue their training in unitedstreaming through a Make ‘N Take workshop.  The teachers had fun and walked away with the beginnings of a unit plan that they can use in their labs.

Finally, yesterday I witnessed the most incredible training on how to use unitedstreaming if you don’t have a projector.  STAR DEN member Diane Darling at Mill Creek Elementary School encouraged her teachers who don’t have a lot of technology stuff to be creative.  She hooked up older Macs to projectors, older laptops to TVs and demonstrated how to use unitedstreaming on desktops.  What great solutions Diane.  I even had to throw in the incredible capability of showing unitedstreaming movies through the video iPod.

Needless to say, there’s a lot of good news going on in South Florida.  What are you doing at your school to help the teachers take unitedstreaming to the next level?

As always I am,
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen

Cool Quiz Builder event reporter