There are events you attend which are filled with excitement; overwhelming with new ideas; and leave you with your head spinning. That’s how the International Society of Technology Educators’s conference was for me this past summer.
Now I had the intention of allowing myself sometime to digest everything I learned, saw, experienced, etc. I say intention because I have allowed too much time to pass. I now want to reflect on the event, knowing full well that there is going to be much I forget, but allow myself to then also cross off typing this post from my list of things to do.
Sunday
For me, the conference started Sunday night with two receptions. The first was sponsered by appoLearning, a company which originally reviewed educational apps but has expanded in many great ways. I was able to
Ive never been so close to William Penn!
finally meet Brad Spirrison in person. Several years ago Brad posted on Twitter that he was looking for educators to review apps. I responded and we have collaborated ever since.
SMART Technologies hosted the second reception. The view of the city was spectacular! They had guest speaker David Whyley talk to us about “How Teachers Reach and Inspire the Natural Learner Inside Each Child.” They also included giveaways, a ‘survival kit’ for everyone, and hinted at what’s to come with the company.
Monday
The first real day at ISTE, had me glad I was wearing my hiking boots. Let me tell you, between the Expo floor, all the different sessions spread throughout the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and the local amenities; if I had a Fitbit, my step count would have been quite high! I attended a variety of session topics including: ‘Drive it home with chrome’, ‘Adding and app smashing with addimals’, ‘Combined superheroes: Embracing the powers of media and technology’, ‘Discovering “App”ortunities for the classroom’, & ‘Host an appy hour in the library’. My night was capped with another reception; this time hosted by Nearpod. I was able to meet the co-founders of Nearpod and socialize with other “authors” and “pioneers.”
Tuesday
This day had my two main reasons for attending ISTE. First up, I was invited to assist at the Symbaloo booth. I talked with teachers on how I used Symbaloo in the past with students as a means of organizing and sharing links, in a visually appealing way. Other sessions I attended were: ‘Chrome extensions that will impact your classroom’, ‘Implementing a 30-day Twitter challenge in your district’, and ‘What is your APPitude? A teacher professional development challenge’. Then, it was my turn. I had applied
Do you see mine? Third from the bottom.
(submitting a proposal, actually three to be specific) was accepted, and now was facilitating a Poster Session titled, ‘3rd Grade Personal Heritage Project Created with iPads’. I had a display board, little tchotchkes, a monitor, and my two iPads. One phrase which kept getting repeated was, “we do something like that in my district!” I included a QR Code to a form where teachers could sign-up for an email of all the resources. Here is what I sent:
Thank you for taking interest in my ISTE poster session. Here is a link to a Google Folder with all of the resource documents. Just go to each document, click ‘File’, then click ‘Make a Copy’ to have your own version for your Google Account. Also here are a couple of links to student examples:
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/592033800981053440
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/592033814620930050
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/592033821566697474
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/592033790960861186
ThingLink of apps used: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/589570607880863744
If you have any questions or need assistance, let me know.
Tuesday night ended with a reception offered by the latest organization I have become involved with, Seesaw. It was nice to sit down and chat with other ‘Ambassadors’ about how easy the tool is to integrate, as well as hear how excited other teachers are when we present it to them.
Wednesday
The last day of the conference. I had a few sessions I attended, ’35 Ways to use Google Classroom’, ‘Techno-class: Incorporating apps and web resources for the middle school classroom’, ‘Let’s POP, Kahoot & link it all together!’, and ‘The little chromebook that could’. I went to the closing Keynote and then my time at ISTE 2015 came to a close.
Shirts, bags, stickers, and more!