ISTE13 Reflection

It's been about two weeks now and I've been thinking about blogging about about ISTE13 since I started my journey to San Antonio, Texas. I had a post written in my head about the anticipation of ISTE...then I hit HackedED and had a post written in my head about my first conversation there, App Creation on the iPad, then I went tot MakerSpaces in Schools and learned so much I just had to write a blog post about it, and that was before lunch on Saturday before the conference even started. So while each of those blog posts didn't happen, this one did.

 

HackED was my second ISTE UNconference experience and my favorite part about ISTE. Having conversations with other educators about what works (and doesn't work) in education, how does it get any better than that?  As a tech specialist, this is the kind of experience I want to create for the teachers I work with.  Time for teachers to share with each other what they're doing in the classrooms so we can learn from each other.  I am so grateful for Steve Hargadon and David Warlick for this experience.  It's inspired the KS UNconference held last month the day before our KS EdTech Conference and edcamp Honolulu.

This year I signed up to volunteer at the Newbie Lounge.  ISTE13 is my fourth ISTE and last year I walked by the Newbie Lounge, but never ventured in.  Let me just tell you, if you want to be around positive, supportive, friendly, connected educators, whether you're a newbie or not, hit the newbie lounge.  JoAnn Jacob's shared with me how wonderful Paula Naugle is, so I followed her on twitter and she's even better in person.  What an admirable, connected educator! I get a little timid approaching people and starting conversations which was my "job" at the Newbie Lounge and what Paula is great at.  She made everyone there just feel good!  My other Newbie Lounge highlights include meeting Lisa Dabbs and catching part of the Haiku Deck conversation where I won a $10.00 iTunes Gift Card (woot woot) AND learned what awesome tweeps Rafranz Davis and Jamie Vandergrift are (you should totally check out their blogs if you haven't already).

 

"ISTE is the glue that holds us together"
Adam Bellow

Adam Bellow gave an inspiring closing Keynote at ISTE13.  Not only the best of all three ISTE Keynotes in my opinion, but the best I've ever seen.  He not only spoke about the importance of being a connected educator, but modeled it.  He was obviously thrilled for the opportunity, and grateful to the other educators he learns with by being connected.  It's a must see and is embedded below.  He starts at about 22 minutes in.

I went on a mini vacation after ISTE and as I browsed my twitter feed while waiting for a flight someone tweeted something about ISTE being over and now what are you going to do with what you've learned.  I had been thinking about it and I think this is what I'm going to do:

1. Create an opportunity for teachers I work with to share.  I mentioned this earlier in my post and have been working on this for a while but even if it's five minutes at the beginning of a faculty meeting, this is going to happen.
2. Start a club for student tech help.  This is something I've been talking about for a long time and now is the time to make it happen.  
3. Learn how to play minecraft.  I've witnessed students collaborating, problem solving, and building positive relationships playing minecraft AFTER school in the Library.  Time to integrate it into curriculum (Doug Kiang gave a great presentation on how he uses it to build positive relationships in his class).
4. Blog more.  I say this every year.  Blogging doesn't come easy for me and when I write, it takes a long time (believe it or not).  So I'm making a plan.  I'll blog about it ; ).

ISTE13 was just a breath of fresh air.  It was so positive and I can not wait until next year.  I do not want this post to go on and on, but I'd like to also mention that I am blessed that I was able to travel to ISTE with some magnificent teachers I work with, meet up with some of my Apple Academy friends, and present with two of my favorite KS teachers (pictured below).