ISTE

My next session for the conference is by former podcast guest, and friend, Jon Spike presenting on VR. He started with an intro activity where he had 3 volunteers join him for a game of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, where Jon is wearing the headset and looking at a bomb he has to defuse.…

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Monday is here, my own presentation is done, so I can really enjoy and learn now! Cheyenne Batista is the founder of Firefly Worldwide, a global consulting firm focused on helping schools and organizations with improving equity within their organization. She opened the session by specifying that schools perpetuate inequity unintentionally. This is not the…

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IGNITE sessions are always my favorite part of ISTE. Seeing these typically polished, organized, and fast presentations are perfect for my general lack of focus. Dr. Virginia Duncan presented on The Edge of Epiphany. She spoke about how flawed the term “think outside the box” is in professional learning. In her terms, there is no…

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It’s #ISTE19 time, and that means I get to start learning from amazing educators back-to-back. I’m starting my learning journey this year with the amazing Kasey Bell presenting on Learning Menus. As usual, Kasey owns the stage with her soothing southern accent and TONS of shared resources, mixed with hidden Google tips and tricks. Link…

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Kyle Bowen kicked off the session talking about Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching. He had some great points about what AI really is, and ultimately shared some experiments he is working on with others at Penn State. The huge takeaway is his slides! The graphic work was excellent, from the Maslow’s Hierarchy with…

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If you have followed my ISTE journey over the past few years, you know that I am obsessed with IGNITE sessions. This series of 5 minute presentations are fast paced looks at ideas presented quickly and effectively. In these 5 minute presentations, the presenter has 20 slides which advance automatically every 15 seconds. This first…

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It is officially ISTE 2018, and that means I get to start learning from some amazing educators! My first session of the conference is Top Tech Tools for Teachers presented by Dan Kreiness. Let me start with that ISTE does not have its organization on point this morning. These are the People’s Choice sessions, which…

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This is my last session for today, possibly overall. I’m probably most excited about this, as throughout these last few months, knowing the role I’m working my way into, have been toying with the idea of changing the PD models. After the last couple days, I’m obsessed with changing everything and flipping PD. Kerry Abbott…

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This session takes place in the middle of the Expo Hall, which is really odd. It’s loud and distracting. They are organizing the session into three parts, Hacks for 12 Years & Under, Hacks for 13 Years & Up and Hacks for Any Age. Vicki Davis starts it out with hacks for 12 and under.…

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The keynote opened with things I didn’t see. There was a delicious breakfast involved and I regret nothing (Panchito’s for breakfast tacos…get the Lyft over, you won’t regret it). By the time I got in and seated, someone was talking about cilantro. Seems random, but it was about growing against all odds. The cilantro is…

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If I’m being honest, I’m mostly in this session because Vicki Davis is hosting. She is a full time teacher who has a DAILY podcast called the 10-Minute Teacher podcast. It’s a hosted panel discussion, hosted by PowerSchool, and Vicki is moderating. On the panel are: Marlo Gaddis, @mrhgaddis Dr. Scott McLeod, @mcleod Dr. Richard…

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I caught the end of the 60in60 session last year, so I was excited to see it on the listing this year. The session is presented by Brandon Lutz and Scott Snyder. The basic premise of this session is that it is a March Madness-style bracket of EdTech tools. For example, the first round has Kahoot! pitted…

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I came to this for obvious reasons, but also because I want to encourage my students to start creating podcasts next year. When I mentioned this, they were excited, so I thought my time here could be well used for that purpose. I’m also toying with the idea of creating a school-based podcast to replace…

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Despite my disappointment with the lack of actionable tools or ideas in the first round, I’m back for round 2 of Ignite at ISTE. In my defense, I looked over the list of presentations for this round and they look like they will fulfill my desires. We opened with Sylvia Duckworth talking about the sketchnoting…

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My first impression on this session was walking into “What Does the Clock Say?” an Ylvis spoof of the viral sensation. So yeah, that happened. Mister C (Kevin Cornell) seems like a really cool guy. I know, that sounds cheesy, but it’s kinda true. He is engaging and fun, he got the audience laughing (despite…

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After some interesting musical choices and a rousing speech from the new ISTE CEO, Richard Culatta about the vision of ISTE and upcoming surprises (maybe other events besides just the annual conference?!?!), we got an introduction of Jad Abumrad. Jad is the creator and host of Radiolab on Public Radio. He starts his talk by…

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The stage is set, I just enjoyed a delightful pineapple popsicle, and I’m ready for my favorite session: Ignite! For anyone that doesn’t know what Ignite is: I love these events at ISTE because you get a quick introduction to a bunch of ideas all in one session. Often when I sit in long-form sessions,…

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I landed in San Antonio on Saturday morning, and got to spend some time exploring the city. In short, not a fan. There just doesn’t seem to be much going on. Lots of chain restaurants (YUCK!) and touristy stops. Had some great tortillas at one place though, so not all is lost. I’m not alone…

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