ISTE 2019...The joy of missing out!

WARNING:  Long post and full of pictures!

Annnnnd that's a wrap!  #ISTE19 is over and all I can say is WOW!

I have attended ISTE every year since the last time it was in Atlanta (6 years....I think!) and I have to say that this was my FAVORITE ISTE yet!  For soooo many reasons!  Like several of my other edtech friends, Sarah Thomas and Mari Venturino, I created a schedule of all of the events that I COULD attend if I wasn't too tired, running myself too thin, or just had the time to do so.  Looking at this schedule before landing in Philly was definitely overwhelming.  I had a lot of events that overlapped or started as soon as another ended.  The point is, is that I gave myself options and choices.  In the past, I ran myself crazy trying to get to EVERYTHING to see EVERYONE!  Not this year.  I must admit that there are people that I am super sad that I didn't get to see and hug and will make it a point to connect with them next year. ISTE is just so HUGE that it's impossible to see and do everything.  Sadly, I also missed what would have been my first Google Innovator Energizer.  This event always happens the day before ISTE starts.  That day also happened to be my youngest son's birthday so being a mom had to trump being an Innovator.  I hope to be there next year!

I have waited to create this blog post as I have really had to process what happened!  LOL!  I think the best way for me to recap this amazing experience is to outline it by each day.  Here's my #ISTE18 blog!

Sunday

Chilling in first class!  

ISTE started off on a high for me!  My flight going to Philadelphia was overbooked and I was going to have to give up my seat.  At the last minute, they got me on the flight but moved me to FIRST CLASS!  This was my first time riding in first class and I loved every minute of it!  And of course I had to document it with a picture!  LOL

Our Voice Academy
Meet Up!

We dropped our bags off at the hotel and walked to the convention center to get checked in and get a lay of the land.  The convention center was HUGE!  There was a ton of walking that occurred over the week!  As a matter of fact, over the course of the conference, I walked the equivalent to a marathon!  After getting situated, I attended the Our Voice Academy (OVA) meetup.  It was refreshing to be around so many edtech educators of color that are working to share their voices in the edtech space.  The third cohort of OVA members (I am in the first cohort) was just announced and I got to meet so many of them!  I am excited to see how they take advantage of the opportunity as they begin to share their voices!

Quin (my Google
Innovator
Mentor) and I.

While waiting on the shuttle to go back to the hotel to get ready for all of the edtech meetups, I saw my Google Innovator mentor walking past the shuttle!  This was a HUGE highlight for me as this was our first time meeting in person!  I hopped off the shuttle and yelled, "QUIN!"  It was him!  We hugged and caught up for a few minutes!  Quin is JUST as awesome in person as he is over email and Google Hangouts and it was a pleasure to meet him in person and hug his neck!

After leaving the OVA meet up, I headed to the Microsoft in Education Expert (MIEE) meetup.  So many of my edtech friends were honored with some pretty darn amazing accolades!  At the end of the awards portion, they played a video of images and clips of all of the Microsoft and Minecraft trainings that have taken place over the course of the year and it was exciting to see how many educators and students that the MIEE community has touched!  We are a strong and mighty group!

Monday

Working at the
Microsoft Booth.

I got the opportunity to work at the zSpace booth and the Microsoft in Education booth and share the goodness of both with the tons of educators that walked by to check them out!  I LOVED sharing how we use these resources with our students and teachers in Atlanta Public Schools.  It was cool to learn from the educators that I interacted with and hear how they use these resources as well.

That's the cool thing about all of the technology that's out there.  All it is is a tool!  I always scream from the rooftop that it's simply a vehicle to deliver the content!  That's it!  You could have 100 different educators using the same technology resource and they could all be using it 100 different ways!  That's why it's absolutely critical that educators engage in and have a meaningful PLN (professional learning network)!  There's sooooo much to learn from one another!

My colleagues and I with the team at
@PlayCraftLearn!

My colleagues and I got to meet with the team at MinecraftEDU to talk about all things Minecraft!  We got to hear about some updates and we also got to share with them all of the awesome things we do with Minecraft in Atlanta!  Again, we were asked what support we needed and what we'd like to see.  I love that they listen!  If you think Minecraft is just a block building game, you are HIGHLY mistaken!  There are TONS of educational resources, lessons, etc for ALL content areas built right into Minecraft!

I had about 30 minutes to run over to the Google Certified Trainer/Innovator meet up before heading to the next event!  And although I told myself I didn't want to drive myself crazy getting to everything, it was important to me to attend this event as it was not only my first attending as an Innovator, but it was a chance for me to see and hug a lot of people that I hadn't had a chance to see yet!  There are a ton of updates coming from Google for Education!  One of the updates that I'm most excited about is the NEW Google Student Certification that is coming!  Students will now be able to take an exam (similar to the Level 1 and Level 2 exams that we take to show our mastery of the Google tools) and earn a certification that they can then place on their resumes!

Delivering my "mic drop" at
Flilpgrid LIVE!

Then it was time for FLIPGRID LIVE!  What an AMAZING experience!  (Side note....how many times can I say amazing in this blog post?  LOL)  I was selected, along with 8 other educators to deliver a 1 minute "mic drop" about my "why" to 1,000 educators!  This was definitely the highlight of ISTE this year!  See the video below for my "mic drop."  My coworkers and I decided to wear tutus and our "Techies in Tutus" shirts!  It was too cute!  During Flipgrid LIVE, there were TONS of updates announced!  My favorite was the AR component!  This is going to be a game changer when students return back to school!  To be able to bring the hard work of students to life in a special way....I can't wait!  I can't believe how many other edtech tools are now integrated with Flipgrid!  It was like there was update after update after update announced!  I don't know how they're going to top it next year!  Read all about the evening on the FLIPGRID blog! 

Tuesday

Tuesday morning consisted of a few meetings with different vendors.  We were able to share how we use their resources in Atlanta and also make some suggestions for what we'd like to see in the future.  I love that edtech companies are so willing to listen to their end users and actually incorporate the feedback they receive to make their products better!

Sharing how to use Google
Drawings to assess students
at the Google Playground.

I had the opportunity to share my love for Google Drawings and how to use them to assess students at the Google Playground that afternoon!  I shared how I use them and provided a ton of resources with them.  I also got to listen to the educators that stopped by my table and learn a few tips and tricks from them as well! Click here to access the resources that all of the presenters shared during their playground sessions!  I love that educators are so willing to share what they do with others!

Mike Tholfsen (One Note
Avenger!)  and I being
photobombed by Toney
Jackson
(@herhymeswithme)

My friends at Microsoft EDU hosted another awesome Hack the Classroom Event!  We go to hear about a few updates and then heard from 5 different educators about their experiences incorporating the Microsoft Learning Tools (which compare to no other) into their teaching practices!  The lives of students are literally being changed because of these learning tools!  Students are learning how to speak English as a second language.  I was inspired (as always) by Toney Jackson who shared the following message with us, "Your students are filled with potential they may never know about.  Love your students.  Dig into the core FIRST!  If we don't care, what's the purpose?  The imprint you leave on your students is a fossil and not a footprint."  I love the family that Microsoft EDU creates with their team along with the educators that decide to apply to be Microsoft in Education Experts.  They listed to the suggestions of educators and make updates to their amazing products based on those suggestions.  Being able to attend Hack the Classroom in person is always a treat!

Wednesday

On Wednesday morning, I headed back to the convention center to make a few more connections and network with a few more people!  It was my goal this year to find some great things that we might be able to use in Atlanta and I think I found some goodies!  I will share all of those in another post!  Once the conference was over, my colleagues and I decided to take a bus tour of historic Philadelphia.  I am NOT a social studies person at all but the architecture and the stories behind the buildings were so intriguing!  Here are a few pics from the tour!

Then it was time to come home!

I had such an amazing time with old friends and new ones!  Here are some of the pics that I snapped with new and old friends!

It was so refreshing to NOT have to be anywhere in particular!  I made it a point to spend a lot of time in the exhibition hall checking out new vendors and learning all about what they had to offer along with visiting vendors that I'm already familiar with to find out about all of the updates they were making to their tools!

As busy as I was, there was a lot that I missed.  And I'm okay with that.  There was definitely a joy in missing out.  Not forcing myself to be at events that would cause me to run from one to another.  I had an enjoyable time and learned a lot!  I am rejuvenated to begin the 2019-2020 school year!  Being around passionate educators that just want the best for their teachers and students has a way of energizing you.  Listening to others has a way of showing you the possibilities.  There is so much to learn.  There are so many amazing people out there.  I can't wait for #ISTE20!

Regardless if you were there or not, be sure to follow the hashtags #ISTE #ISTE19 #ISTE2019 #notatiste #notatiste19 #notatiste2019 to see what happened!

So there you have it!  What were your ISTE takeaways this year?

Until next time, Philly!