DEN Geocaching Day

I hosted an event today in Milford, Michigan, as part of Discovery Educator Network’s Geocaching Day. Similar events were held all across the country (25 of them, I believe). It was a great day of collaboration, learning, and outdoor fun. My group gathered at the Milford Public Library and found seven caches along Milford Trail, a path that goes from the library to Kensington Metropark. The scenery was beautiful and sun was shining!

After finding all seven of the caches we searched for, we discussed plans for implementation in the classroom. A high school science teacher who teaches a forensic class (like CSI) plans to use geocaching as part of a problem-solving crime scene to catch a murderer. A middle school math teacher plans to use geocaching as part of her algebra class, creating a multi-cache scavenger hunt with a study of slope at the end. We brainstormed many more ideas as well!

We all appreciate the sponsorship by Discovery Education for events like this. Thanks, DEN!

On a Techie High

The annual MACUL Conference was held this past week.  The word on the street is that the conference was the best ever.  This is good news to me, because I'm on the Board of Directors and helped plan and carry it off.   :)    There were over 4,000 attendees and I could feel the high level of energy and enthusiasm among those who were there.  I kept really busy with organizational tasks throughout the conference, and was only able to make a few of the sessions, so I look forward to keeping my own learning going; there are many ways to do this:

• Check out the awesome resource materials posted by presenters on the Speakers' page of the MACUL website.


• Browse through the #macul11 tweets. Conference attendees posted quotes, links, ideas, questions, photos, and more.


• Follow the discussions going on at MACULSpace.  I just added a forum for sharing your "best of MACUL" stories.


• Read the posts on the MACUL Conference Blog.


• The keynotes and some of the featured speakers were videotaped.  The videos will soon be available on Michigan Streamnet.

But wait... there's more!  The day after the MACUL Conference, my district hosted the Stir it Up with Discovery Education Conference.  It was sponsored by Discovery Education, and it was like a "mini MACUL Conference."  Many educators who were not able to get away for the MACUL Conference came. There were 75 attendees from at least 15 SE Michigan school districts.  We were lucky to have Discovery Education's Mike Bryant, Matt Monjan, and Porter Palmer there.   The Michigan Discovery Education Leadership Team planned and presented at the event: Cheryl Lykowski, Eric Strommer, Gina Loveless, Lisa Wickman, Cindy Carson, and me.  Walled Lake educators who presented included Mark Lada, Randy Micallef, Jennifer Bond, Rob Osterman, and Mark Hess.  Support for technology integration by the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools administrative team was apparent, as many attended:  Superintendent Gutman; Assistant Superintendent Barry; Director of Technology & Data Analysis, Mark Hess; Director of Community Relations, Judy Evola; and the hosting school's principal, Brad Paddock.  AWESOME!   You can check out the conference wiki for session handouts and other electronic resources.

I'm tired physically, but am intellectually energized!

Must-Have Guide to Facebook for Teachers

Someone in my PLN, Jackie Gerstein, shared a post on EduDemic (via the Discovery Educator Network Diigo group) that included "A Teacher's Guide to Using Facebook" by Bernadette Rego.  She's licensed it with Creative Commons 3.0, to allow others to use and share it.  Thanks, Bernadette!  She's included some helpful tips that I think ALL teachers should read, even if they don't currently use Facebook.   It's 21 pages, but don't let that scare you; it won't take more than 10 min to read. 
Teacher's Guide to Using Facebook (Read Fullscreen)

DEN Virtual SciCon 2010

On January 9, 2010, the Discovery Educator Network hosted an online conference (with a twist) focused on providing participants with some of the most effective strategies for transforming their science classes through the meaningful and effective integration of digital media content. Over 1,000 people participated.   I was not able to make it, but learned today that the sessions have been archived and posted.

Sessions include:

• Change the Present, Change the Future with Lance Rougeux


• No Paper Left Behind: A New Age of Science Instruction with Brad Fountain


• Hands-On Digital with Patti Duncan


• Polar Bears in a Changing Climate featuring STAR Discovery Educator Julene Reed


• Where Do Old Sneakers Go to Die? Real-World Science with Mike Bryant


• Teaching Process Skills with the Mythbusters with Patti Duncan


• Do Try This at Home: Fun, Easy and Effective Science Experiments for Your Students with Mike Bryant and Brad Fountain

View all presentations (with audio of the presenters) and corresponding resources on the DEN SciCon website.  Thanks DEN, great stuff!

Discovery Institute: An Awesome Week of Learning and Fun!

I was fortunate to be able to go to the Discovery Educator Network National Institute last week.  It was fantastic to be able to network and learn with like-minded technology enthusiasts!  Highlights of the week included:

• Meeting new people and forming friendships that can be maintained on-line with social networking tools.


• Going to the Discovery Studio to be videotaped in front of the green screen used by Discovery Channel stars.  We made a video to help teachers understand what the DEN is all about and to learn about the benefits of becoming a DEN STAR educator.


• Learning how easy it is to use Adobe Premier's chromakey feature.


• Creating my own Mobulus Station that I can use to live broadcast professional developement when needed. 


• Learning about the benefits of cell phone technology for the classroom from Hall Davidson.


• Discovering the benefits of geocaching.  Now I want a hand-held GPS to try it myself!


• Becoming aware of many cool web-based tools such as Poll Everywhere, Jott, and Riffly.


• Signing up for a Plurk account, a Twitter-like social networking tool.  I lOVE IT! 


• Creating a video modeled after the Boom-de-Ya-Da commercial.  This was the opening activity.  I worked with teachers from Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Texas.  So fun!


• Spending time in a "green building."  Water is saved by moving the toilet handle up for liquid waste, and down for solid waste.  Maybe Discovery can be highlighted during Earthcast 09! 


• Strolling the National Mall with friends before catching our flight home.


• Creating/sharing lessons & projects that use DiscoveryStreaming. 

My advice is to become a DEN STAR and apply to attend next year!

Something Cool to Try This Summer

I was just browsing the Discovery Educator Network's "Streaming A to Z" blog, and found an entry about how to do the "green screen"  effect in Windows MovieMaker, something I've been wanting to try.  As you will see by reading the post, it is actually a BLUE screen/chromakey feature.  Links to step-by-step directions with screen shots are available, shared by Jen Dorman.

Why would you want to do this?  How cool would it be to be able to add yourself or your students to  an existing DiscoveryStreaming Video?  You can swim with sharks, interact with past Presidents, and explore the rain forest!