In June I traveled with a group of my amazing co-workers to the ISTE Conference in San Antonio Texas. It was inspiring, fun, and exhausting! (San Antonio is HOT! But, at least now I can say I’ve been to Texas.)
There were many new tools I learned about and people I met in person for the first time after collaborating with them online or learning with them on twitter. One of the COOLEST things was finally meeting a teacher from New Jersey that I have done projects with for the past four years. Carlene Anderson is an amazing teacher. Our students have connected with each other to share, ask questions, and learn. We met at the conference just before giving presentations on global education.
Another incredibly rewarding experience was presenting with two co-workers, Ellen Cordeiro and Kainoa Bowman. We did a session on using Google Docs in the classroom. (A presentation wouldn’t be complete without the token “look it’s my name” picture!)
On top of all the wonderful experiences I had meeting people and presenting, the thing that really made the trip to Texas worth it was the continuous theme in all my sessions of the importance of student voice, student leadership, and student choice. It helped shape my own thoughts about my goals this year and the way I want to support teachers. We are lucky to be educators right now. It is an exciting time!
If there is one thing I recommend you do, it is to watch the closing keynote given by Adam Bellow. Yes, the video is over an hour long. But if you don’t have an extra hour, here are my favorite parts:
22:46 – 25:00
35:01 – 37:38
44:30 – 46:16
49:36 – 53:27
Adam made me laugh, cry, hope, and wonder. It was the perfect ending to an awesome experience. And most importantly, it made me excited to get back home and go to school!
