Many DEN members will attend the Orange County CUE Tech Fest at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana the same day and gathering “post fest” to socialize and plan for the upcoming CUE Conference in Palm Springs, March 15-17. Follow up with us at Claim Jumper for a day filled with learning, networking, and community.

Annual CUE 2012

March 15-17, 2012 – Palm Spring Convention Center

Discovery Education will be there sharing great resources, connecting educators, and having fun!  We’ll be joined by the one-and-only Matt Monjan – a spotlight speaker at this year’s conference!  Check out Matt’s sessions below, and if you haven’t registered for the conference yet, head to the CUE Annual Conference site and sign-up today!

Matt’s Spotlight Sessions:

Consumer to Creator – The Student as Both the Learner and the Teacher

Students have become producers and publishers of content. How do educators teach someone who is technically proficient, & social media-minded?  Come and explore nine free tools you can use tomorrow and one story that will inspire you.

When is Audio More Than Audio?  Using Discovery Education audio and close captioned files to help language arts curriculum

During this session we’ll examine different types of Discovery Education songs, sound effects, speeches and primary source material and learn how they can be incorporated into reading and writing lesson plans.  We’ll also explore how this content, when combined with free web 2.0 tools and current office software, can be used to reach different types of learners.

Digital Storytelling 2.0

Did you know that you and your students could make and edit movies just like the pros without an expensive editing bay or leaving your classroom?   Join us as we explore just how easy it is to import media, edit projects, and create movies with Discovery Education streaming media, iPhones/iPads, web 2.0 tools like PhotoPeach, and a simple green shower curtain.  Come see and learn media creation in a whole new way.

Join Martha Snider, California DEN STAR and Leadership Council Member, for this hands-on workshop!

About: This “Make and Take” is open to all! Not only will you learn how to create interactive writing prompts, quizzes, and assignments, you will discover how easy it is to use the Classroom Manager to provide your students with learning activities that can individually challenge all students at high levels. During this session you will be able to socialize with other DEN members. Not a DEN member yet? We’ll show you how easy it is to join the Discovery Educator Network.

When: Thursday, November 3, 2011, 3:30 – 7:00 PM

Where: Christa McAuliffe Middle School
3880 Iron Canyon Circle
Stockton, California 95209

Register today!

Steve Jobs died yesterday (http://www.apple.com/) and I am truly happy that he’s no longer in pain and suffering from cancer. I am also so very sad that he’s no longer here creating more of the wonderful technology he provided for the world. Such a terrible loss, but that is true of many creative geniuses.

I do happen to be a MAC person and I love Apple products. I loved them from the beginning as our family bought the first Apple computer. Well, it was actually the third as it was an Apple IIc, which followed the Apple IIe and the Apple III. It was, however, Apple’s first endeavor to produce a portable computer.

The ‘c’ in Apple IIc stood for compact as it was pretty much the Apple II housed in a small, notebook-sized case with a keyboard and a handle that flipped open and closed. I think it was probably the precursor to their “clamshell” laptop of the 90s. I don’t have anything to prove that, but it’s what I’ve always suspected. You also had to have an external disk drive and a monitor. We opted for a second external disk drive so we could play games and save our explorations. Thus began my own educational and constructivist voyage into computer technology and I loved every league of the journey.

Quoting Jobs’ speech at 2005 Stanford commencement (video and text)  “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”  and answering truthfully I can say, “Yes, because I love what I do.” While a spontaneous trip to Europe or a cruise would be nice, working in technology and coaching & mentoring teachers is something I never expected to be doing. I was happy in my classroom and saw myself there until I retired. Unexpectedly, fate and a good bit of luck changed that plan, and I am blessed that it did.

Steve Jobs brought so much joy into peoples lives giving them handy, useful, and (relatively) inexpensive tools for listening to music, combing the Internet, and connecting with friends, family, and others. While they are fabulous tools, they are also toys that allow us to play and learn creating lifelong learners. Did he recognize the constructivist part of his gifts to us? I like to think so. Appreciating that, I will just say, “Thank you, Steve Jobs. May you rest in peace.”

Discovery connections:  April 1, 1976: Steven Wozniak & Steven Jobs found Apple Computer, The Rise of the Personal Computer, Computers, Culture and Technology

customize the look and feel of the blog,

create posts and pages,

add multimedia and embedded objects,

as well as general strategies for successful blogging.

If you are new to DE blogging, want to brush up on the changes to the blog engine, or have questions that you’d like to get answered, please plan to attend of the sessions. These webinars are open to ALL STARs, not just Blog chairs, so take advantage of these great webinar opportunities. They start this week and go through early October.

Friday, 9/2, 1pm EST
Tuesday, 9/6 8:30pm EST (All Florida bloggers should be in attendance)
Thursday, 9/8 7pm EST
Monday, 9/12 2pm EST
Thursday 9/15 5pm EST
Monday 9/19 7pm EST
Tuesday 9/27 7pm EST
Thursday 10/6 7pm EST

You can register for any of these webinars by visiting the link below and looking up the appropriate date. https://discoveryed.webex.com/mw0306ld/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=discoveryed&service=6

One more note …

Did you know that there is a new Webinar info page? You can visit http://discoveryeducation.com/webinar to find upcoming-featured webinars, as well as a showcase of some of the most popular archives.

Pass it on!

Students volunteered “Don’t talk,” “Don’t hit,” Don’t run,” and various others that were part of the classroom behavior they knew. To each answer their teacher responded, “How would you say that in a positive way?” Not a hand went up and the students tipped their heads as they wondered what she meant. One of them had an “ah-ha” moment and rapidly raised a hand, ready to share. “Do you mean, Be Quiet” he asked? “Very good,” she replied. Others quickly whispered to each other and found, ‘Keep your hands to yourself’ and ‘Walk in the Classroom’. Soon the list was full of positive behaviors rather than negative.

I learned a good lesson that day and continue to modify my own speaking and writing to be positive. The title of the rule board wasn’t “Don’t Forget!” it was, REMEMBER, and I did.

DE connection: Hip Hop Song, Say I Can. This song is about having a positive attitude – If you think you can, you can. http://lsurl.me/1D9

The battle is on!

Catch one of Animal Planet’s most watched series as it airs across the country, with a post-screening Q & A with stars of the show and Animal Planet executive producer Jason Carey.

Friday, June 3

Santa Monica Drive-In at the Santa Monica Pier

No ticket required.  Gates open at 7:30 PM, screening starts at 8:30 PM

More info at http://thisisbrandx.com/propaganda

On Saturday, May 21, sixty-five Southern California educators, community members, and kids gathered at Santiago Park in Santa Ana for great morning of geocaching!

Diane Main and Barbara Barreda kicked off the day with the low-down on geocaching, including ideas for math, science, and social studies connections and classroom management strategies.

With those ideas in mind, we were off!  Special caches were tucked away along Santiago Creek with FTF (first-to-find) prizes awarded.  While the coordinates got us close, keen eyes and cleverly written clues were a must for finding the camouflaged caches.

Many thanks to SoCal PBS, Orange County Department of Education, and Orange County CUE for a great event!

P.S. Aren’t these photos beautiful?  The one and only DENnis Grice was a geocaching/photographing multi-tasker.  Here are a few more of his beautiful shots.

Blooming Jacaranda tree, Glendale, CA, by Techy Nana

It happens every year during the month of May. Suddenly trees are proffering purple flowers where there was naught but green. Summer is approaching and the Jacaranda (dzha-ke-randa) trees bloom en masse down many of the Southern California streets. These trees actually have two blooming periods, Spring and Fall, although the Fall foliage is not quite as spectacular as what bursts forth during Spring.

Originally from South and Central America the Jacaranda trees were originally imported by the horticulturalist Kate Sessions, nicknamed the “Mother of Balboa Park”.

We had a Jacaranda tree in our back yard, just outside the back door. My mom built an L-shaped sandbox under the tree so she could see my little brothers as they played outside. Little did she know that this amazingly violet-blue tree would shed its blooms and leave a sticky residue everywhere. (I think she discovered the residue when my brothers tracked it and the flowers onto the playroom floor after playtime.) Yuck!

Despite the mess she was always awed and excited to see the blooms and her feelings became mine over the years. I now drive to work down a street filled with purple blooms and smile as I remember my childhood and think of the coming summer.

Jacarandas drop their blooms making popular purple puddles.

Discovery Education has two short items on the Jacaranda. If you have a Discoverystreaming account you are able to click the links to see them. Jacaranda video and Jacaranda article.