Woohoo!

I am very big on Discovery Education and the Discovery Educator Network (DEN). I became a Star DEN member back in 2005 quite by accident. I was a new teacher and looking for anything and everything to help me along the way.

A fellow veteran teacher suggested that I check out a unitedstreaming training taking place at one of the elementary schools. There I met other teachers finding out what this "unitedstreaming" thing was all about and two representatives of the DEN. At the end of the training, they told us about the DEN and what it was. Being an eager first year teacher, I signed up - I thought it would look great on my resume!

I went to my first DEN summer institute that summer at Valley Forge, PA and met people like Lance Rougeux, now the Director of the DEN; Jenn Dorman, another teacher and now an account manager with the DEN, and Heather Blanton, a great TRT down in southwest VA. I learned the most about podcasting and making movies with Windows Movie Maker and got to hear Will Richardson speak live to us about blogging. These were things I had never done before! It was an adventorous four days for me. It was also my first trip driving on I-495 by myself! And then some pretty nasty storms had gone through the Philly area before I arrived and half the roads I needed to take to the site were flooded and closed down. It was literally a miracle I found it, because I can tell you, I really did not know where I was going!

There have been other opportunities such as this one that have made me a true believer in the DEN. I've gotten a wealth of information from the online and FREE webinars, the Days of Discovery (like the one hosted by CRSTE I went to about two weeks ago), and the pre-conference events before the major technology conferences.

But I had no idea the hold this organization would have over me. It is such a great community of teachers! Everytime I go to an event I learn something or make a great contact, like the wonderful ladies from South Dakota I met at a DEN lunch when I went to FETC. So when I heard that the leadership councils were looking for new members I applied thinking I could give back some of what I've gotten. There are 22 leardership councils in the DEN and Virginia is one of the lucky states to have one.

And guess what I got yesterday? The official email telling me I was selected to be on the VA leadership council and then several other emails from current members congratulating me! I very much hope I can represent the DEN and the great state of Virginia as I take on this new role. I can't wait to bring some great professional development and learning to more teachers and get some new Virginia DEN members along the way!