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!

I have an ID badge - with the standard ugly picture

Yesterday was my first day at C-SPAN and it was WONDERFUL!

I started off the morning by going to bed - yep, couldn't fall asleep, finally fell asleep at around 12:30am. Woke up a 2:30, went back to bed, and then my alarm went off at 5:30. I was out the door by 6:20am - had to hit Wal-Mart for a few necessities (Diet Mt. Dew, anyone?) before I got to the train. Then.... I waited 25 minutes for the train because I just missed the 6:40 train and had to wait for the 7:05. Upon boarding the train I was hit in the head by an automatic door. Taking the 7:05 train put me in D.C. by 7:50. That's okay, I had to walk to C-SPAN, right? :Yeah, well, C-SPAN is approximately... right across the street from Union Station (about 2 blocks).





Once I got to work, I hung out in the hallway for approximately... 20-30 minutes, hiding because I was there an hour early.



I finally went in and one of the men in charge of the entire operation (aka Brian Lamb, founder and CEO) showed me around - the directors of C-SPAN walk around all the time greeting everyone and joking with employees. We got a tour, got our ID badges, met a lot of the employees, etc. Typical first day kind of stuff.



After lunch (at Union Station) we had time to work on our projects. We have four collaborative projects to work on throughout our time here:
1. Preview new Library of Congress piece produced by C-SPAN and analyze for teacher use
2. Develop presentation for Educator Conference in 2 weeks
3. Find clips related to the Constitution to add to Constitution Clips library
4. Analyze 2004/08 Electoral College maps for improvements to 2012 map

We also have the opportunity to develop individual projects, but more about that later.

It was SO WONDERFUL to be given time to simply sit and work on creating teacher/student resources. I made it safely onto the train home, successfully pulled Mark's truck into the garage, and then watched Falling Skies with Mark & Kay.

Day 2

I didn't leave until 7:15 today, catching the 7:35 train so I didn't get into the city until 8:30 - much more reasonable!

This morning I got to work and we just went to our desks and got to work! It's such a strange feeling, and I know that will get repetitive, but it really is a strange feeling. We had a team meeting at 10:00. At this point I learned that my work will be slightly challenging in that education in Iowa is moving in a different direction than that of either of my colleagues (California and Virginia). We also had the opportunity to look through teacher suggestions from all across the nation on different C-SPAN education topics and I found that all across the nation teachers are still SOOOOOOO focused on facts and "Google Curriculum". I'm trying to decide to what extent I push the envelope with these people at our educator conference later this summer. I don't know that that's really my place as a fellow, but I do feel like, as an educator, it is my job to remind my fellow educators of our changing times (Think Tony Wagner's Global Achievement Gap). Input on this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Embarrassing item today? Falling *UP* (yep, up) the steps in the middle of Union Station at lunch!

That's all for now. I will post again soon about the individual projects I will be working on - incorporating a lot of 2.0 and PBL!