OCTOBER 2012
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September Science Live Stream and Community Night at Orange County Schools, NC Click here to view the Live Stream archive
Techbook Times
A Monthly Correspondence for the Betterment of the Techbook Community
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Implementation Tips and Tricks
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Professional Development
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Spotlight: Science Techbook Challenge
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Discovery’s Partners in Education
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DEN Community
Implementation Tips and Tricks Have you seen the updates to Techbook? Here are just a few new features that we love!!
STEM Focused Resources Check out the newest lab resource called Engineering Lab: Tote and Sit. The purpose of this Engineering Design Virtual Lab, which should be used over a period of days, is to provide a realistic experience in the practice of engineering design. The advantage of a virtual lab is that it allows students to focus on the process of engineering design — the initial design, testing, and improvement — without the distraction of handling materials.
Create Your Own Assessment
Reading Passages that Read
In the Evaluate Tab you will see a tool to create your own assessment in addition to the student self-assessment and the brief constructed response. Using this tool you can choose from our bank of questions and/or add your own questions.
Any document in the Discovery Education Techbook can be read aloud as soon as it is opened in the DOC Reader tool, which opens automatically for all reading passages and student guides. This allows all of your students to gain information from the materials available in the Discovery Education Techbook regardless of their reading level.
Meet the Needs of Your ELL Students The typical traditional textbook does not come in a Spanish version, but Discovery Education’s Science Techbook is available in Spanish for students in grade K-8. Simply point on the word English in the upper right side and choose Spanish to convert t h e t e x t . T h e re a d - a l o u d a n d highlighting features work regardless of the language you choose.
Bits and Bytes from the Blogs Life is a Highway They say “Life is a Highway” but where is the roadmap? What signs are you seeing along your educational highway?
Mousey Monday Cache and Cookies’ blog dives into how you change your media settings in your Discovery Education account.
The Value of Ignorance Jerry Jennings shares his views on Stuart Firestein’s Ignorance: How It Drives Science
Evernote Skitch as a Teaching Tool David Andrade (CT) talks about the use of Evernote and Skitch as teaching tools.
Implementation We are constantly updating content and features. Most recently we added a new engineering virtual lab at the middle school level called “Tote and Sit” Check out this new lab here
Professional Development Hundreds of in-person events occur across the US and Canada each year. You may have attended one of these in-person events, but have you ever logged in to one of our webinars? Between the upcoming and archived webinars you have hundreds of topics to choose from and even a few famous Discovery celebs pop in from time to time. I encourage you to take a look at the upcoming webinars to the right and join us for one, two or all of them. You just need an internet connection, computer and speakers. You don’t even have to get out of your PJs. To learn all about everything that’s new, attend one of the many upcoming Techbook 2.0 webinars. Click here for the schedule.
Upcoming October Webinars Click event to learn more & register October 10, 5:00 PM EDT Techbook Admin Webinar October 17, 7:00 PM EDT Build Your Lesson with the Discovery Education Science Techbook October 22, 7:00 PM EDT Discovery Education Builders 101
“I have done 2 techbook bootcamp webinars and I LOVE this curriculum. I feel so empowered!”
October 23, 9:00 PM EDT Engage with Vocabulary and Wordle
- Dani-Lynne Wright, 4-6 Coquina Elementary Brevard Public Schools, Florida
October 25, 7:00 PM EDT 10 Tips for Sparking Curiosity for Teachers
Professional Development One of the main goals of the Discovery Educator Network is to connect educators with their best resource, other educators. Here’s an opportunity for you to challenge yourself with our weekly “Spotlight on Strategies” blog series. Check out 3 Truths, 1 Lie: The Strategy Spotlight Challenge, the first of many strategy challenges.
Click to see entire Techbook webinar list
Spotlight: Lesson Presentation Challenge Challenge: Create a lesson plan presentation that is engaging and ready Requirements: ✦ to use in the classroom to receive a Discovery Education Science We would like your presentation to be a minimum of 10 slides. Techbook lab coat. Presentations must be submitted through There is no maximum length. Mediashare between October 8, 2012 and February 28, 2013. ✦ A title slide that includes concept and grade level(s) Click here for submission instructions. ✦ A slide with the lesson objectives Lesson Presentation Options: ✦ Representation of an existing Discovery Education ✦ A slide with essential questions Science Techbook model Lesson ✦ Adaptation of existing Discovery Education Science ✦ At least one slide (activity) for each component of a typical 5E Techbook model lesson to support specific lesson (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) students (e.g., special needs, ELL, academically gifted students, struggling readers, etc.) ✦ At least THREE uses of digital resources from the Discovery ✦ Original lesson using Discovery Education Science Education Science Techbook Techbook resources ✦
Presentation tools: You may use Microsoft PowerPoint or Keynote for your presentation.
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Remember that the Discovery Education Model Lessons represent several days of learning, your lesson presentation should as well. Click here to see an example presentation. Not sure how to build a lesson presentation? Attend a Lesson Building webinar!
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Information in the notes section that describes the intention of each slide (what the teacher and the students are doing) Several opportunities for the students to be engaged with the content. Examples include notebook/journal entries, hands-on activities, group discussions, prompts for logging in to DE to do individual work, project work At least one slide that includes some form of checking for understanding
Register at links.discoveryeducation.com/sciencetechbook
Upcoming Educator Spotlight We have a robust network of educators that are utilizing the Discovery Science Techbook in their classrooms. Are you our next featured educator or do you know a colleague we should feature? If so reach out to Mike Bryant (michael_bryant@discovery.com)
Featured Programs Partners In Education Your Students Have the Power to Change Your Future! Discovery Education and the Siemens Foundation are pleased to announce the re-launch of the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge the premier national environmental sustainability competition for grades K-12 students. Through project-based learning, students learn about science and conservation while creating solutions that impact their schools, communities and world. To date, more than 62,000 students have made their planets a more eco-friendly place to live. Win Big At stake is more than $300,000 in scholarship money and dozens of other exciting prizes such as adventure trips around the world, green prize packs, school assemblies with Discovery Channel personalities, tech-savvy gadgets and more. New This Year An array of FREE, interactive tools are available to support student teams as they tackle the Challenge including a collection of videos, sample project ideas, helpful websites, and more to help participants learn and challenge their thinking. Enter Today Register at wecanchange.com today to get started. Empower your students to serve as agents of change.
New program, fit 4 the classroom, offers STEM resources to encourage a healthy lifestyle among students Discovery Education has teamed up with Sanford Health and WebMD to launch fit 4 the classroom, a unique initiative that promotes a healthy, balanced lifestyle among students. The program provides elementary school educators with dynamic, up-to-date cross curricular lesson plans that span STEM subjects and also includes videos aligned to national education standards. Win a healthy helping of prizes! Now through February 14, 2013, elementary school teachers can enter once a day to win one of three fabulous prizes designed to jump start schools on the path to fitness. The grandprize winner will be awarded a $5,000 cash prize, $5,000 for his/her school to fund health and wellness education and a special school assembly! Second and third place winners will each be awarded a $1,000 cash prize and $1,000 in funding for their school. Homeschool teachers can use the school funding toward a local non-profit.
Visit http://www.fit4theclassroom.com/ to enter today!
Educational Partnerships Discovery Education partners with multiple organizations and corporations to bring the best content and programs to educators, parents and students around the globe. Explore these great programs by going to www.discoveryeducation.com clicking on teachers>featured programs
DEN Discovery Educator Network Fall is here...
Upcoming In-Person Events Click event to learn more & register October 17: MI REMC 5 Day of Discovery 2012 October 19: MI REMC 7 Day of Discovery 2012 October 19: LA Rapides Parish and Discovery Education Community Night October 20: Fall VirtCon: Multiple Inperson Locations
October 24 - November 1
October 20th, 2012. 9am-4pm ET
...and winter is coming to a classroom near you. Are you interested in taking your students to the tundra to observe polar bears? Is that slightly out of your field trip budget? Well, no worries. We have once again joined forces with our friends at Polar Bears International® (PBI) to bring four incredible virtual field trips live to your desktop.
To celebrate the Discovery Educator Network's (DEN) 10th Virtual Conference, we've made some exciting shifts to the event. For the first time, every session will be broadcast LIVE, so attendees will be able to see the presenter's that are sharing, along with their presentaitons. We've also added more of... well, everything! More sessions, more Face 2 Face (F2F) events, and most of all, more opportunities for you to get involved.
Click here to learn more.
Click here to learn more.
The Discovery Educator Network As one of the largest professional education learning communities, the DEN has impacted more than 1 million educators worldwide. Get connected and follow the conversation at http://denblogs.com
November 2: MA Brockton Public Schools Family Night
Instructional & Techbook Implementation The Discovery Education Techbook implementation team is here to serve. How can we better support you using Techbook with your students?
Meet the team: Brad Fountain brad_fountain@discovery.com
Mike Bryant michael_bryant@discovery.com
Erica White erica_white@discovery.com
Instructional Implementation Director
Instructional Implementation Director
Techbook Implementation Director
Duane Waber duane_waber@discovery.com
Patti Duncan patti_duncan@discovery.com
Emily Waters emily_waters@discovery.com
Instructional Implementation Manager
Instructional Implementation Manager
Techbook Implementation Manager
Looking for additional help or you need technical support? Check out the Help section. The “Help” section can be accessed by clicking “Help” in the upper right of the screen. Here you will find Step-by-Step Guides, User Guides to help you provide access to your students, searching for content, accessing resources, and virtually any other issue you may experience. You will also find the phone number to our technical support team, who take great pride solving issues in a timely manner.
Techbook Times
A Monthly Correspondence for the Betterment of the Techbook Community