Teachers are Over the Moon at the San Antonio Day of Discovery

This last Saturday, December 5th, KLRN School Services teamed up with TCEA Area 20 (THANK YOU! Jennifer Faulkner, Area Director) to host the first-ever San Antonio Day of Discovery for educators. Featuring KLRN Connect, the premiere digital video service from Discovery Education, the event kicked off with a fantastic keynote from award-winning education blogger, Steve Dembo of the Discovery Educator Network. Steve took the audience on a tour of the 21st Century classroom. As he did, he reminded us this is the classroom of today not the future...we are nearly 10 years into the 21st Century! Here is a podcast of Steve's keynote thanks to Miguel Guhlin of San Antonio ISD.

Throughout the day, teachers had an opportunity to learn how to use digital media and technology in the classroom including taking a virtual field trip to the Moon with Google Earth. In this session, teachers were exposed to the rich resources from this Google map tool that even includes the sky and a virtual 3D representation of the moon.

Teachers also got an overview of how to take digital media content into software such as iMovie, MovieMaker, and Animoto (featured above) that allows you to edit and create multimedia presentations. This is great way for students to do presentations as well. Long gone are the days of dioramas and tri-fold poster board.

Steve Dembo hosted a session that took on the theme of a "Day in the Life of a Discovery Educator". He gave a minute by minute overview of a technology-rich school day. All of the resources presented were easy to find and use through KLRN Connect and other online services.

Whether you are an educator, parent, or a fan of KLRN, take a look at what we do to support K-12 teachers in the classroom and beyond! All presentations are archived at Justin Karkow's DEN Blog. Thanks again to the DEN for bringing us this Day of Discovery. And, a special thanks to Steve Dembo for coming out on his birthday!

But most of all thanks to all the great educators who attended. Those teachers go above and beyond everyday and gave up a Saturday to learn even more. What can I say other than these teachers are truly the STARS in the classroom!