ISTE Top 5

Oh my goodness. I went to the coolest educational conference ever! Three words: innovative, inspiring and overwhelming. There were so many ideas that I gained and I feel like I was only exposed to the tip of the iceberg. I am sure over the next year I will share plenty of ideas through implementing them in the classroom, but for now I will give the top 5 highlights of from the conference.

#1  Twitter is the new PD. I am now following so many amazing #edtech and #flipclass leaders on twitter. I am constantly checking out the links they tweet. My favorites to follow are Adam Bellow, Steve Dembo, Hall Davidson and Leslie Fisher. There were so many #edtech geeks in one place during the conference that #ISTE was trending on Twitter during the conference.

#2  We met Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams. They began the flipped revolution. Although I have already read their book (Sarah had her copy signed) we learned oh so much more! My main take away is that flipped learning personalizes learning for each student.

#3 We presented to a large crowd and they listened. Well... Sarah and I were invited to present with our technology coach and trainer. They are amazing and so well known in the ed tech community. They are two of the most humble educational leaders I know and look up to both of them so very much.

#4 One of the many different web based resources I picked up was infuse learning. This was presented by Leslie Fisher (talk about a million ideas provided in an hour-holy cow!). With exceptional wireless infrastructure in our district I am able to use this student response platform with my 1:1 iPad class. The best part- students can draw a response. So, so cool!

Teacher Site: This is where you go to create your assessment.
Student Site: This is where your students go to take the assessment by typing in a quick code. 

#5 I met Moby! The vendor floor was crazy. I mean it all makes sense really- think about how many schools are in the nation and the technology needed to support everything in those schools.  To think that schools have no money- lol. I do believe it is imperative that we not allow, but mandate that STUDENTS are given the opportunity to immerse in the ever changing technology devices that our society depends on everyday. In my opinion there is no need for one administrator to have an iPhone, MacBook, iPad and iPad mini. Technology needs to be in the classroom not offices. Our students are the future and they will be driving the way to innovative change for all of us.

All in all it was an amazing experience and one I hope to do again! Now I need to put some really innovative pieces together so I can go back!