My First ISTE

Sheer terror. There is no other way to describe my feelings as I opened my email and found out that I would be presenting as a 1 in 3 presenter. Immediately, I began to research past sessions and learned about the Ignites and keynote presentations. From my view, this conference looked to host hundreds, dare I say, a little over one thousand participants in each session. The fact that ISTE is the world’s largest edtech conference in the world was quite daunting and knowing that I had no idea what to expect, created knots in my stomach. But after a few deep breaths, and some reassuring friends and colleagues, I have no regrets about my choice to hit the accept button.

The theme this year’s conference was “Powerful Learning”, and given the gravity of opportunity, and depth of growth that ISTE facilitates, I was only able to experience a tenth of what I had planned. This caused me to slow down and focus on gaining insights and ideas from every presentation, session, and conversation.

Power in Student Voice

I was able to watch several student Ignites, which was an unexpected surprise, who knew that kids would be invited to help us learn and grow! Belinda Tang, a student entrepreneur, showed us that her film production crew, dominated the 4 C’s through deciding how they can use their knowledge and skills to help their community. The @steamnerds presenter noted that he was told that he was too young to code,but after listening to his passion for exploring his own curiosities about the world, reminds me that as educators, we must never set limits to what kids can learn.

Connected Educators

It brought me so much JOY to finally connect and meet the members of my PLN. For months we have been talking, sharing, and lifting each other up as we navigate our various roles as educators.

I was even fortunate enough to meet one of my classmates from the grad program that I finished in May.

Presentation Time!

It was really an honor to share Socratic Seminars Going Global. I can’t even discuss this presentation without mentioning the Digital Learning Team in my district. They work really hard provide high quality training that challenged me to hone my craft and reflect on how I can improve as a teacher and later, an instructional coach.

I am already planning for ISTE 2018!! Chi-Town BABY!