This should have been written sooner but my summer has flown by. Since I got home from DENSI on July 20, I had two additional adventures. First, I had a booth at the Maker Faire Detroit at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. After that I was part of a high adventure trek to the Florida Sea Base in the Florida Keys. We spent four days on Big Munson Island. During our adventure we did deep sea fishing, night snorkeling on Patch Reef, kayaking through the mangroves and snorkeling on Looe Key.

The Discovery Education Summer Institute (DENSI) has been the best professional development I have ever experienced. Even though I knew just a few people through online connections, I felt immediately at home. New connections were made and old ones were strengthened. Everyone was willing to share what they knew and help with any challenges you may have.

At many professional development sessions I feel lucky if I can get one good idea to bring back to my school or classroom. All of the sessions here were filled with good ideas I will use in my classroom and school. The keynotes made you think of education differently and inspired you to do more.

The activities (formal and informal) were a blast! We had a great time at Shelburne Museum and Farm. I think the quilt and the circus exhibits were my favorites. We also attended a Vermont Lake Monsters baseball game and got to run the bases afterwards. At the dorms there were late night TV theme song trivia games (Thanks Dean Shareski!) and Artemis missions (Starship simulator Thanks Steve Dembo!).

It didn’t feel like a professional development experience, it felt more like going to camp with the coolest people and learning together. It really was an amazing experience and I look forward to more to come!