Be+a+DEN+Star

 I am a member of the Discovery Education Network. I became a DEN STAR and it has been my avenue of training and for staying on the cutting edge of using technology tools. Six years ago I attended a training session in Dallas. I won the door prize of a video ipod. My son had a video ipod, but I did not own an ipod. I began to learn all that I could about using the ipod for classroom instruction. Now our school uses video ipods in 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades. Discovery Education opened the door for me to learn about ipods in education. Since that time I have attended preconference training sessions before TCEA. I attended a Discovery Education workshop at SMU in Dallas and was introduced into the world of Web 2.0 tools. I have hosted Virtual Conferences sponsored by Discovery Education. All of those training sessions were FREE!!! They were possible because I was a DEN STAR.

You can become a STAR Discovery Educator. Go to the Discovery Education site and click on the blue star on the top right hand corner. Follow the steps 

Last summer I attended the Discovery Education National Institute July 18-23, 2010 at Bentley University in Waltham, MA just twenty minutes west of Boston. I had the opportunity to connect with fellow STAR Discovery Educators from all over the US and Canada during an exclusive, intensive, week-long networking and professional development event.

In 2009, I was chosen to attend the Discovery Education Network National Institute in San Francisco, California. It was an awesome experience where I was able to meet 79 other educators from 22 different states and learn more about integrating technology resources into the curriculum. The second day, we toured San Francisco and this is our group during the tour, stopping for a Kodak moment. Jen Dorman was my group leader. She is a master at digital storytelling.  I am a part of the Texas Discovery Education Leadership Council and the Rising Star Team.