And we've come to the end...

I'm actually quite sad and emotional as I sit to write this last post. My time with C-SPAN has been more extraordinary than anything I ever could have imagined. The people I met and the experiences I gained were worth every second spent away from my home. The opportunity to work in a corporate environment where people truly care about each other, their job, and their mission has changed me as a person. Everyone in this organization that I have come across is so dedicated, so kind, and so excited about what they do that one can't help but catch that same spirit. There are not even words to describe the efforts of the Education dept and Brian Lamb's vision for C-SPAN's role in education. The resources and access and support that they provide to teachers - for free - are unparalleled.



Joanne, Craig, Josh, and Pam have provided the best working environment I could have asked for. Amanda, our intern, continued to amaze me with her maturity and preparedness. My fellow fellows (is that a thing? How would you phrase that?) provided inspiration to me in different ways, as each is a unique individual bringing different talents and perspectives to the table. Dan Tulli, an AP Government teacher from Richmond, VA, has a knowledge of his content that I have never seen. He created a phenomenal project using the Supreme Court timeline and I am so excited to get back home and use it with my own students, and proud to have worked on a small part of it with him. Mary Sue Maurer, who teaches Government and Economics at a private special education college-prep school in Calabasas, CA has an enthusiasm and passion for education and for life that I hope to bring back to Iowa.

Brian Lamb, with whom we had the privilege of eating lunch at the Washington Court Hotel yesterday, has created something truly amazing here at C-SPAN. His vision has changed America - they may just not all know it yet. The public access that C-SPAN 1, 2, and 3 provide us with is astounding. It's not often you have truly unbiased presentation in media, and I truly appreciate all that he and C-SPAN offer.

So there's my sappy part. Wait - had to turn in my badge today, so I took a picture so I could share it with all of you (bad photo and all):

Okay. Now THAT was the end of my sappy monologue.

Yesterday we got to have lunch with Brian Lamb, as I mentioned, and I have to say that he has some of the most amazing stories that I have ever heard. Today Joanne took us to lunch as an education department for a final farewell. Our work is wrapped up, our time has ended. Dan is leaving tonight, I leave tomorrow afternoon, and Mary Sue isn't sure what she's doing yet. :)

This will be my last true post, but if I come across anything that I have done for C-SPAN that gets put online, I will be sure to share it here.

Race to the Finish

Yesterday and today were crazy days, trying to get everything done before we go home. Yesterday I worked on my PBL lessons all day, as well as writing questions for 7-8 of Dan's Supreme Court videos. The Supreme Court timeline is going to be such a great tool for everyone's classroom. The Library of Congress documentary aired last night, and I think Mary Sue finished the study guide to go along with it. I came up with some fun alternative activities that I think are going to be added.

An act of God allowed a shoe that I *really* wanted to fit me in the only size available - 8! I haven't worn an 8 since... I'm not even sure. So it was quite an exciting day solely because I got these shoes (on sale):



Pam posted a few pictures from the conference from her camera, so I have a few of me doing my presentation and working with the educators.



Today was a big day, too. I came in early so that I could record my tutorial for the video library and Google maps for the C-SPAN classroom website. That was really fun, and the guy who set it up, Devo, was super nice. I also had a SUPER publicly embarrassing moment. This morning I fell asleep on the train. That wasn't a problem. What was a problem was that I woke up and there was only one guy left in my entire car - everyone had left. I got up quickly, dropped my phone, hit my head, and proceeded to stumble - twice - in the aisle. It was so crazy. I don't know if my foot fell asleep, or what happened, but the man definitely just sat and stared at me like "Why is this girl drunk at 8am?"

As far as my work today, I took Brian Lamb up on a challenge to teach an entire class using his Booknotes programming as the basis of the curriculum. I had to adapt it, but I was able to find clips for every week but 4 for both my American History classes. I think the interviews will give the kids some different perspectives, which could spark some interesting discussion, and often times I picked clips that showed popular culture or some other aspect that we might not otherwise get into. So I spent a chunk of yesterday and a good part of today sifting through all 811 episodes of Booknotes and applying them to my curriculum. I may not get it every week, but it's nice to have either way for enrichment purposes.

This morning we went to the Newseum. It was fantastic. Quite possibly my favorite museum in DC, but definitely top 3. The exhibits were fascinating. I found this wall display of free press rights throughout the world. Green = free press, Yellow = Partially free, and Red = Not free at all:



The next two pictures I cannot wait to use. The Newseum has 8 real pieces of the Berlin wall. I believe they said it is the largest display outside of Germany. I cannot think of a better way to illustrate the differences between East and West Berlin/Germany than these images:



I also had the opportunity to "sit in" on a Google Doc with the amazing IACoPi educators who met in Des Moines this week to IGNITE and start moving ahead with the project. I have to thank Monte and Erin for all the notes and tweets!

I was supposed to go to the Library of Congress tonight after work, but I got kind of head sick on the walk to/from the Newseum, so I had to miss that. I am feeling better, though, so hopefully tomorrow will be better. It rained tonight, so I'm hoping it cools down a little.

The rest of the week is just as busy, so stay tuned!

Discovering Kwout

C-SPAN Classroom | Free Primary Source Materials For Social Studies Teachers via kwout

Kwout allows you to copy and paste web images in a way that keeps hyperlinks enabled within the picture. Above you can click on any of the "Latest News in Education" links just as if you were on the C-SPAN Classroom website.

Where has the time gone?

It's been quite a while since I've posted. Last week was so crazy with the Educator Conference that I really didn't get a chance to post. Yesterday I woke up at 9:30 and was back in bed by 8:30. But I'll start at the beginning. Or where I left off anyway.

Last Saturday we went to Wolf Trap to see 3 Broadway Divas and the National Symphony Orchestra. First we went to a Japanese steak house with food that was sooooooooo amazing. Sat in the front row, center section. It was phenomenal. After (and before) we got to hang out in the Encore Circle - that's how uncle Mark rolls ;)



On Sunday I took the Metro into the city and met Mary Sue. We went to the Holocaust Museum and the Natural History museum. The Hope Diamond was at the NHM so I waited in a line 10 people deep on all sides of the case to get a couple pictures of that and the other amazing jewels in the exhibit.



Monday I worked on getting ready for the conference, ditto for Tuesday. Monday we were also informed that the Liaison Hotel had made a mistake and they could no longer house our conference. It could have been total chaos, but everyone worked together so well. Wednesday I went to dinner with the fabulous Jen Lawless, who was in town for the conference.

Thursday was crazy. The people who came to the conference were fantastic. Even after having been immersed in C-SPAN for 3 weeks already, I still learned so much from all the presentations that were given.



Thursday afternoon I picked up the most fantastic dress from Ann Taylor.



Then we went to this fabulous dinner at Art & Soul. It was great to get a chance to sit and talk with the other teachers. I got to sit with Karen Rehder (sp?) who is a StudentCam genius. :) Afterwards Jen and I walked to the White House before heading in to watch Dance Moms and go to bed!



Friday we gave our presentations. It was fun, Dan and Mary Sue's presentations were excellent, and even though I knew what they were working on I still learned a lot. The work sessions and small group work time were great.



Hearing the others' ideas was inspiring. After most of the educators left I had the opportunity to sit with Council Bluffs social studies teacher Ryan Loots and discuss Iowa education in particular. It was great to get another perspective on the direction education is heading in our state. I gave him info for the ICSS and demo'd Google Maps.

Take 2

Hmm... Too much?

Too loud for my presentation on Friday or "just expressing myself"?????

Holy. Cow.

Now I know you are all dying to find out who my big celebrity is for the day, but you have to read about the rest of my day first. Today was not overly productive in terms of actual work. I did come in early to get my time line done, which you should be able to see in a previous post. I got through the entire history section of the library, so that was great. It felt good to get through that. It was really interesting to look at the frequency of videos on certain events, where the gaps fell, and will be soooo helpful to have the clips organized in chronological order.

The reason today wasn't super productive was because it was tour day. At 9:25 we met the interns in the lobby and went to the Supreme Court. It was a great tour; short and sweet. It was really interesting, and we got to actually sit in the court room while she did her presentation. We then watched a short 24-minute video produced by none other than C-SPAN! The spiral staircase was amazing, the marble is amazing, the whole building is fantastic. You aren't allowed to take pictures in the court room, but here is the one I took from the hallway:



Public shame for the day: Sharing this photo ;)



After the Supreme Court we went back and worked for about an hour before going out again. Instead of doing lunch, we fellows decided to grab a hot dog from a cart out front and eat on the train on the way to the American History Museum! It was great - we only had about 30 minutes, but I was able to see the First Lady exhibit (and Michelle Obama's Jimmy Choos) and the immigrant exhibit before hitting the gift shop and getting a couple of great items there.

From the museum we ran straight back to C-SPAN where we met the fabulous Rick Stoddard, who gave us an amazing tour of the Capitol.

Since I couldn't take a picture in the current Supreme Court room I took one in the old Supreme Court room.

It was at the Capitol where I had my big celebrity (ish) moment. Ready? Really ready? Okay. We're standing in the old House chambers and all of the sudden all these cops come out and split the crowd. We're thinking okay, cool, House leadership. Then a hush falls over the crowd. Out of the hallway comes none other than (I know it's a little blurry)........................................


Yes folks, it was the Dalai Lama. How cool is that? Pretty much the coolest thing ever. I know. Here's his entourage:



So then we got back to C-SPAN and I stayed late with Pam stuffing name tags for the Educator Conference next week. Afterwards Pam, Mary Sue, and I went down to a restaurant on the ground floor of the building for drinks and dinner. I was able to catch a late train home, and here I am. Sharing my awesome story with you. I can't believe today is the half-way point of my trip away from home. Tomorrow is the half-way point at C-SPAN. It is all going by way too quickly. I wish I could stay and work another month! I honestly can't tell you what an amazing environment C-SPAN is to work in. Everyone is so amazing at what they do, and so passionate. It is amazing, I can't wait to see what the next couple of weeks bring!