den ambassador spring 2014 - austin

“DEN Star Ambassador training is a GREAT way to learn about new

classroom strategies and all the fantastic DEN resources available!”

I have enjoyed spreading the word about all the fantastic resources available to our teachers and students

on the Discovery Education site. Our second grade classes are creating slide show digital movies.

We all love it!

STAR Ambassador Program

Bryker Woods Elementary School— Melissa Tothero

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“DE allows my students

opportunities to learn

using visual and audio

support. The content is

engaging and safe!”

I have learned an incredible amount about all of the resources Discovery Education has to offer. I have tried

out many things including the Science TechBook, Board Builder and S.O.S. However, my goal is to get my

students on more frequently. I met with colleagues and demonstrated the ease with which they can create

Boards that organize resources to differentiate work for students. I am currently creating Boards for our

science curriculum and sharing them with my campus. My plan is to have my students use Board Builder to

present their animal research projects in the upcoming weeks. I love that they will be able to use images,

sound, and video to demonstrate their learning. My administrator was excited to hear about the awesome

tools, and we are planning to organize opportunities for me to help others on my campus learn more about

DE as a rich resource of media and strategies for supporting all learners..


Lauren Fox at Mathews Elementary, Austin ISD

Since I do not have access to a classroom, I have shared my Discovery Education Musings through my

online Professional Learning Network- Techno Innovators via the Intel Teachers Engage Community. I

also have shared both resources and strategies (SOS) as well as Board Builder with my Instructional

Technology Team as well as with the district administrators. We plan on utilizing Board Builder and other

resources in our summer trainings.


Austin ISD- Vanessa Jones

“ I didn’t know Discovery Education did all of that!”

I was able to share many of the wonderful resources that Discovery Education Network has to offer with my

administration, my fourth grade team and my students. I was also able to get several teachers on my

campus to create new accounts with DEN. My fourth grade team was most excited about the Visual

Walkabout activity! We used it to introduce the Texas Revolution by placing images from DE around the

classroom and having students write connections to the Texas Revolution or questions they had to guide our

instruction. The teachers and students loved it!


Patton Elementary – Julie Hildebrand

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“I feel privileged to have begun my journey with such a talented group of

professionals. We can do so much more for our students as a community of

learners than we can as individuals.”

In the beginning, I was looking for a way to use my Discovery Education account in more ways than the

occasional video clip. The DEN nurtures the spirit of curiosity, wonder, and discovery by encouraging

educators to challenge themselves and then share the fruits with their peers. The appeal is universal.

Veteran teachers and freshmen alike are able to find inspiration in the creativity of the DEN milieu.


OHE – Deborah Petty

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• “The collaboration between local teachers and administrators is essential to the DEN Star program. It is an excellent example of a successful professional learning community.”

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Bailey Middle School – Jennie Andrews

The Discovery Educator Network Ambassador program is transforming teachers and touching kids across our district. I am so grateful to have participated in this growth opportunity. My students are thriving in science with this new innovative approach to education. I use the Discovery Education site to integrate media and enhance students’ long term comprehension of academic content. DEN has given me the opportunity to share lessons, SOS strategies, and integrate new technology effectively with purpose. My students use Edmodo daily to access collaborative content at their own pace. We have used screencasts, video clips, audio files, images and links to the Discovery Education science games. I can’t wait to have students apply Board builder duringour space unit this month! All of these resources are changing education and teacher perceptions of what a student centered classroom can achieve.

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“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and

leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson


Lisa Hernandez- 2nd grade teacher at Baranoff Elementary

This year I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in the DEN Ambassador Program. I was only able to attend 2 out of 3 meetings but what I gained from the program has been beneficial. I learned so much from Howard in such a small amount of time. He has wonderful ideas and is always willing to help anyone that has technology questions. My students have been very excited to learn about Discovery Streaming and they absolutely love the Board Builder. Howard came out and taught my class in the computer lab and my students had a very enjoyable learning experience. Several teachers on my campus are very interested in having further training on using Discovery Streaming in the near future. We are so fortunate to have technology programs that provide us with tools that we can use to engage our students and educate them on using technology appropriately. Technology is all around us and the students need to be taught the skills they will need to succeed in the future. I could continue to go on and on about how great this program was…but I know we are all overwhelmed and nobody has time to read my long-winded reflections. Thank you again Howard for teaching me so much this year. -Lisa Hernandez

“Inspiring teachers to prepare students for the future”


Brooke Elementary – Crystal Batty

Showing teachers how to use board builder and other

awesome Discovery Education resources to transform

teaching and learning.

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“I LOVE DISCOVERY EDUCATION! It has so many resources beyond video.

My students and I are so fortunate to have such an incredible tool!”

This is an image of our class using one of the SOS strategies titled, “Silence is Golden.” We were learning

about natural disasters and how they effect land and civilization. First, we watched the short film on

volcanoes with no sound. They just wrote about the images they were seeing (mostly adjectives). After

sharing their adjectives with each other and the class, we watched it again while I explained the important

information they needed to know. While I explained, they wrote things they were learning. We shared what

they learned with each other and the class. We watched it a third time with the sound and they, again,

shared what they learned with each other and the class. They LOVED the activity. We were able to have

such rich conversation and it served as a nice segue into our next topic which will be planets and their

physical features.


GOVALLE ELEMENTARY – JISELLE JONES