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!

Student Access to Discovery Education Videos

Discovery subscribers:  Do you know that there is a way for students to view Discovery videos on their own computers?  Perhaps you have found some excellent videos you would like students to watch as homework.  Maybe it would be helpful for your students to have access to videos about the same topic, but at differing levels of difficulty/depth.   Sharing videos with students is possible with Discovery’s Builder Tool.

It is easy to set up.  Save the content (videos, images, podcasts, etc) as you normally do.  Then open the assignment builder wizard.  Just follow the prompts and fill out the required information.  After three steps, you end up with a custom URL to post on your web page or Moodle site. 

Get started by logging on at http://www.discoveryeducation.com, and then go to “My Builder Tools.”  Go to the Assignment Builder section and click on “Create New Assignment.”



If you have any difficulty using the wizard, a step-by-step guide is available on the Walled Lake tech integration website:  http://www.wlcsd.org/files/457499/discovery%20builder%20tools.pdf

Discovery Education Webinars

Some free and outstanding teacher professional development webinars are coming up soon.  Click here for dates/times and registration information. They will be worth your while!