Those of you who know me know that I was given a wonderful opportunity to attend the ISTE 2010 conference in Denver after entering a contest sponsored by Intel Education. I created a movie using PhotoPeach was chosen as one of Intel’s Inspiring Educators and the prize was a trip to the conference. I was so stoked by my win and the opportunity to experience a conference that is based on the integration of technology that I wanted to wring out every ounce of knowledge that I could.
My schedule was a joke because I triple booked my time, I signed up to volunteer and I “penciled in” the exhibitors that I wanted to see. I wanted to get the most out of the opportunity. It was my first and I wanted to see and do everything.
Did it live up to what I expected? Definitely. Did I make all of the appointments on my planner? Definitely not. As things go, I kept forgetting my schedule, getting sidetracked by poster sessions, attending interesting but unplanned sessions and giving way to sheer exhaustion. But it was one of the best experiences I have been involved with. (and I can say that even though my flight was overbooked and I spent 8 hours in the airport)
I will be blogging about the sessions that I attended to share some of the great tidbits of wisdom that I gained from the experience. Some of the sessions that I attended were
- Creating a Google-Enhanced Classroom
- Creativity and Standards: Amazing Authentic Approaches
- Using Virtual Worlds to Improve Student Proficiency in World Language
- No Paper? No Problem! Effective Teaching in a 1-to-1 Classroom
- Teaching the Digital Generation: A New Face For Learning
- Stock Market Simulations: Bullish on Engagement, Blogs, and Brainy Work
I loved them all and I learned something from each of them. From some I got ideas for activities. From some I got inspiration and affirmation. From others I got to see how people use tools that I currently use. All-in-all, it was a great experience and I would love to go again. And again. And again.
