Saturday, October 25, 2008

Become a DEN Star and Teach to the Stars!

I cannot help it! I LOVE to learn and explore. I got an invitation to a FREE online conference on Discovery Educator Network (DEN) website. It was intriguing and promising! All about teaching with Technology. I immediately signed up and joined the conference from 9:00 AM till 3:00PM. I was listening to  the great, enlightening presentations and participated in the chat room with other 200 participants from all over the world. Teachers were sharing their experience with the Web 2.0 tools, their projects, etc. DE provided some flexibility in attending the DEN Virtual Conference - online or in-person at one of many regional events hosted by the DEN Leadership Councils. Here is the conference Flyer. I found out that the conferences happen every week and they issue Professional Development Certificates. What a generous gesture and opportunity for my teacher candidates!
Today's conference featured presentations from Discovery’s own Hall Davidson, Steve Dembo, who spoke about the powerful tools for teachers and students; Jannita Demian and Matt Monjan lead the discussion about the development of the research of H. Garnder on Multipple Intellingences and introduced the different types of Mind (Disciplined Mind, Synthesized Mind, Respectful Mind, and Ethic Mind) and the tools that could be used in the classrooms to feed and stimulate each type. Scott Kinney's presentation was about the Net generation from the point of view of the research on the brain. Fascinating and all presentations were masterfully designed with powerful images and convincing data. Participats were flabeggastered with the shcoking presentation of  Lance Rougeousabout the use of cell phones in the classrooms. All the presenters were involving the audience in their discussions and used tools to demonstrate the polling or surveying tools with the immediate results or video-streaming, etc. I do not regret I registered and spent half of my day on learning and interacting with the DEN stars. Do you want to become a DEN star? Go and explore the Discovery Educator Network site, filll out an application and challenge yourself to learn and prepare yourself for teaching to the Net generation - Digital Natives. Become a DEN star and teach to the stars!

3 comments:

Devon said...

I think that it is great that there is quality professional development for teachers online. teachers spend so much time outside class planning and grading that it is hard to fit in the professional development, this makes it accessible, user friendly and created by a good source.

Christine Southard said...

Hi Ludmilla!
I wish I found your blog sooner. I'm on the New York Discovery Educator Network Leadership Council and I'm in charge of planning events in Dutchess County, New York. Be sure to follow the NYDEN blog http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/newyork/ and you can also find us on twitter http://twitter.com/NYDENLC.

JShields said...

Greetings, I am the chair for the New York Discovery Educator Network Leadership Council. I came across your blog while working on something for the NYDENLC. I love reading what you had to say about the DEN. Discovery offers so much for teachers to discover for free. I am glad you are enjoying your experience. I hope you have become a member of our google group at http://groups.google.com/group/nyden so that you don't miss out on all that is going on in NY.