Joining the DEN
This summer I've followed along on Twitter during various conferences and edcamps as well as hash tags/ chats. The conversations that impressed me the most so far in terms of scope and sharing were ones DEN stars were involved in. These are the unassuming yet very knowledgable people who are part of a larger network of educators supported by Discovery Ed. Going back to the beginning of mycareer I started by using united streaming in my power points and found the amount of resources put together there was impressive. Now that this service is now part of Discovery it just seems right to get involved and "give back" a bit. So, I've decided to get more involved in the DEN network. My first goal is to help my colleagues in my school use the DEN portal to create classes and assign videos and ancillary assignments. I've realized that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for making their own videos so the Discovery site just makes sense for teachers who want to get their feet wet in video instruction w/ out making their own content.
Ongoing professional development
This initial class I'll be running at my school will be the start of a regular series of opportunities I'll be offering in my district this year. It's not part of any bigger plan or going to be done for monetary gain. The reason I'm doing this is because one of the most important lessons I've learned from my online PLN as well as face-to-face network is that we are at our best when we are helping others learn and reach their potential. I hope you'll join me…