ISTE 2014

I’ve just finished my very first ISTE conference and wow am I spinning.  So many things to learn, so many smart people to connect with, and so much fun to be had.  Here are a few of my highlights from my conference!

Presenting on Student Learning Networks with Kristin.  It was so great to reorganize our ideas for this crowd and pull together some things we had been doing with our students.  As we worked on this preso we both agreed that we want to do even more and I made it my mission to link up with some teachers who I could foster some classroom collaborations with.  We’re still crowdsourcing ideas on ways to get our kids an authentic connected audience and their very own network to learn from.  Share your ideas on our Padlet.

Then there was the amazing Ignite speeches to launch the weekend.  My favorite was Jennie Magiera talking about how PD is NOT a 4 letter word.  It’s so true.  We have to embrace professional development and make it our own.  We deserve to be great learners as well.  You can check out her blog here, but if you ever get the chance to see her in person do so!

“Why do teachers get the worst teaching?  What do teachers need? …The first thing teachers need is authenticity.”  -Jennie Magiera

Between poster sessions I was lucky enough to see Ruben Puentedura talk for the first time.  He is famous for his SAMR model and he is as brilliant as his beard is long.  I became familiar with his model several years ago so I was thrilled to see him speak about the marriage of the SAMR model with the TCPK model in order to help teachers become innovate and effective technology users.  You can see his slides from the presentation here.

After standing in one of the many long lines (the longest was Starbucks) I was able to snag a seat in Gary Stager’s session on “Invent to Learn.”  It was a call to arms to make learning authentic and play based.  To not say no but to look for possibilities and opportunities and to not reserve hands on experimentation and building for only a small section of our students.  You can check out his website here.

“There is equal value in learning with your head, heart, and hands.” @garystager#ISTE2014

— Katie Muhtaris (@literacyspark) June 29, 2014

These ideas were built upon during the Sunday morning Keynote by Kevin Carroll Katalyst, self named change agent and one of the most inspirational speakers I’ve ever seen!  My summary of his presentation would not do it justice.  Please take a few minutes and watch him speak.

 

You can check out the ISTE playlist on Youtube to see other highlights and presentations from the conference.  It’s well worth the learning.

I still have so many notes and images to sift through, contacts to organize, and ideas to mull over.  I will say that in all of the session I attended and conversations that I engaged in there were a few overarching themes.

Make it authentic.

Let them play.

Lead the charge in both.

Here I am triumphant with my 4 cube tower that I built with a robot at the @vex robotics booth.