ISTE 2018....that's a wrap!!!

Well...#ISTE18 is officially over and I, along with my brain, legs and feet are TIRED!!!!!  I am sitting in the lobby of the hotel, waiting to check out and thought I'd jot down my highlights from this amazing conference!  As I'm reflecting, this post may be a little all over the place, so bear with me!  Update....I am now home, unpacked and finishing this post!  😀

First, Chicago is BEAUTIFUL!  This is my third time visiting The Windy City, The Second City, whatever you want to call it, but this was definitely my favorite visit!  Probably because of all of the like minded individuals that I was surrounded by while I was here!

ISTE is a time to connect with all of your ed tech colleagues and friends from around the WORLD!  While here, I was able to connect with colleagues from Australia, Canada, and all across the United States.

So....here are SOME of my takeaways:

1. I am UBER inspired to REALLY learn how to sketch note, like for real this time, by listening and being around Sylvia Duckworth (@sylviaduckworth) and Wanda Terral (@wterral)!  Wanda sketched the opening keynote and at the time that I'm typing this, she has over 490 retweets and 966 likes on this ONE post!  She was so excited that this post had such a far reach!  And it's REALLY a well deserved honor for her!  If you know Wanda like I know Wanda, she pours her whole heart into all of her sketches!  Congratulations, Wanda!
2. There are some new updates coming to Google for Education and I am so excited to dive into them and share them with my team in Atlanta Public Schools!  Pretty soon you will be able to keep your students from being distracted during a quiz by locking quizzes in Google Forms.  You'll be able to create quizzes directly in your Google Classrooms.  You will also be getting some more organization features within Google Classroom.  I might be the most excited about that one!  The Training Center is getting an update and will be called the Teacher Center.  There are a ton more updates coming, so get ready!  Read more about them here:  https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/live-iste-12-google-education-launches-save-time-creativity/
3. Microsoft for Education is rocking and rolling with new and updated accessibility features across their apps including but not limited to Sway and One Note!  If you have not checked these out, you definitely need to.  They bring learning to the levels of all of our students and make reading and fluency so much easier!  You are able to make your screens larger, and brighter.  There is a narrator built in that can read the text to you. It will highlight the text as it reads. It can break down the syllables so as you are reading, it makes the words more digestible.  These tools make sure that all students are able to learn, the way that they need to each and every day! 
4. In case you have been living under a rock and haven't heard....my AMAZING friends at Flipgrid talked to my AMAZING friends at Microsoft and now FLIPGRID IS FREE FOR ALL EDUCATORS!!!!   This is the most AMAZING news ever!!!!!  Now everyone gets to take advantage of unlimited grids and not be confined to recording limits, etc!  If you're not yet using Flipgrid, let THIS be the year that you dive in! Check it out here:  www.flipgrid.com
   
5. zSpace has announced that they are releasing a NEW more portable augmented reality device!  They are going to release AR laptops!!!  Say what!?!?!?  Our district will be the FIRST district in the world to get their hands on them and we are SUPER excited about it!  Check out the Forbes article announcing it's release, including thoughts from my executive director, Dr. Aleigha Henderson Rosser here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/charliefink/2018/06/25/the-biggest-ar-company-youve-never-heard-of/#70b4703c282a
6. The power of a tweet should NEVER be underestimated!  In line with Wanda's AMAZING tweet-feat, I snapped a picture during a presentation by Laura Bradley (@LAMBRADLEY) while she presented about coding at the EdTechTeam booth.  It was a quote by Jamie Casap and boy has it traveled!  At the time that I'm typing this, it has 221 retweets and 478 likes with a reach of 32,365 impressions!  The picture is below!  I think that it's the most genius thing that we can do for our students to dive into inquiry (Trevor, see what I did there?) and REALLY work towards solving real world problems THROUGH learning the content. 
   
7. I met sooooo many AMAZING people this year!  This is going to be a LOT of "I met" so hang on!  I met the actual creator of Google Docs!  I met Captain Kindness (who you TOTALLY need to follow through her father's Twitter account @BrianRSmithSr).  I FINALLY met Claudio Zavala Jr from #singasong!  I met a lot of my Innovator #LAX18 peeps!  Glad to say that I'll actually go into the experience in a few weeks knowing some people!  I met Heather Dowd from EdTechTeam, who I've been working with and Google Hang-outing with for months regarding Applied Digital Skills!  She is much taller in person!  😀 I met THE Eric Curts from controlaltachieve.com, and on his birthday I might add!  If you haven't checked out his blog, you NEED to!  Trust me!  Mark Wagner, the CEO of EdTechTeam was amazing!  He even autographed a copy of his new book, More Now, for me!  I can't wait to dive into it!  THE Dee Lanier was just as awesome in person as he is on the internet!  There are a TON more people that I met!  And of course I took pictures with them all!  There is a link to my #ISTE18 photo album at the end of this blog!
8. It was TOTALLY inspiring to see so many ed tech people of color at ISTE this year!  One of Microsoft's Hack the Classroom keynotes was a teacher from the DC area who looked just like me!  She's doing phenomenal things with her elementary students in getting them to read using accessibility tools.  Check her out at @meryljgravey !  There were students of color presenting and checking out the exhibit hall!  My Our Voice Academy cohort members (new and old) where everywhere!  We had an awesome meet up and go to chat with Jennie and her bump! 
   
   And to top it off, my friend, Ken Shelton (@k_shelton) received the 2018 Digital Equity Excellence Award from the Digital Equity Network!  He is sooooo deserving of this honor!  He lives, breathes, and eats digital equity for ALL students, EVERY day!  I think it's soooo important for us to share these types of success stories with our students of color that need inspiration to continue to dream and know that ALL things are possible!
   
9. It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to do and see EVERYTHING!  While I did get lay eyes on a lot of my edtech peeps from Google, Microsoft, EdTechTeam, Our Voice Academy, and my Innovator #LAX18 cohort, scrolling through Twitter, I realize that there are a LOT of people that I didn't get to see and there are some awesome sessions that I didn't get to attend.  While scrolling through, I definitely felt the FOMO, but what I've come to realize is that there is value in the time that I spent with those that I did see as well as valuable takeaways from the sessions that I did get to attend.  I was EXACTLY where I needed to be and I was with who I needed to be with!
10. One of the moments that stuck out to me was at Hack the Classroom and included Toney @herhymeswithme (from the Surface commercials currently airing on TV).  I tweeted (of course I did) during his portion of this event.  He stated that EVERY student deserves to be heard and none of their voices deserves to be silenced!  Students should wander AND wonder!  But what REALLY got me was when he said that students are what stands in between what currently is and what COULD BE!  Let that sink in....I'll leave you with that!

And of course, I had to get my hands on the original Garrett's Popcorn and some Chicago deep dish pizza from Giordanos!  Delicious!!!!

Regardless if you were in Chicago this week or not, be sure to follow the hashtags, #ISTE18, #ISTE2018, #notatiste, and #notatiste18 to learn all about the amazing things that happened!

Here's a link to my Google Photo Album with all of my #ISTE18 fun!!!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zH5LdNgmX33sZ4QRA

I look forward to ISTE being back in Philadelphia again next year and maybe I'll even run up the infamous ROCKY steps while I'm there!

After flight delays due to rain, we finally made it back home to Atlanta!  Chicago was amazing and the learning and networking was phenomenal!  Thanks to all that made attending ISTE 18 such an awesome experience!  Adios, Chicago!

What was your favorite part about attending ISTE this year?  What were your biggest takeaways?

#ISTE2018 Bound???

It's June....and as a technology educator, you know what that means!!!  It's time for ISTE 2018!!!  ISTE is the LARGEST international technology conference in the world and brings in hundreds of thousands of educators from all over the place!  This year, ISTE will be located in Chicago, IL.

I remember attending my very first ISTE when it was located in Atlanta, GA (my backyard) many years ago!  Since then, it has been in Philadelphia, Denver, and San Antonio.  That first year was UBERLY (yes that's a word!) overwhelming!  I remember going into the exhibit hall and being taken back at how many vendors were there, and even more so, how many attendees were there to visit those vendors!  I didn't know which sessions to attend.  I didn't know which presenters I wanted to see.  It was definitely a LOT to take in!  Sooooo, with all of the hype about ISTE in a few short weeks, I thought about putting together a quick blog post with my top 10 tips that I THINK will make you have a fantastic experience!

1. WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES!!!!!  This is the most important ISTE tip that I can give you!  You will do a LOT of walking around the exhibit hall, to and from sessions, to breakfasts, lunches and dinners, etc!  Break them in NOW while you still have a few weeks to put some miles on them!  Trust me on this one!  I learned this valuable lesson after it was hosted in Atlanta.  Whew!
2. Wear comfortable clothes!  You will see people dressed SUPER DUPER comfy all the way to business professional.  Find where you fit in the mix and dress accordingly.  Some of the rooms can get a little chilly so you may want to bring a sweater or cardigan, just in case.
3. Do your research!  Research the keynote speakers so you know what to expect.  The opening keynote speaker is David Eagleman.  Read all about him here.  Go online BEFORE You get there and pick out some sessions that you want to attend.  Categorize them by: "must attend" and "would like to attend."  You will be exhausted as you are walking throughout the conference and may decide that you want sit and chat with some new friends instead of attending a session.  Or perhaps you want to spend some more time in the exhibit hall rather than attend a session.  Leave your options open!
4. Meet people!  Don't be afraid to talk to people.  Talk to the people sitting next to you in your sessions.  Talk to those people that you bump into in the exhibit hall.  Make connections!  I've met some AMAZING people at ISTE!  What's even better is when you FINALLY meet someone that you've been stalking, I mean following on Twitter for a while!  You will definitely have some fan girl/boy moments while you're there! 
5. Explore the exhibit hall.  I have spent a TON of time in the exhibit halls at ISTE and this is where I've gained a lot of the PL from!  It's great to meet the people behind the products and really get to pick their brains about how to use different tech tools in different and innovative ways.  Be sure to check out the vendors that you both know about already and ones that may be new to you.  There are a PLETHORA (my favorite SAT word) of awesome companies that you have no idea even existed.  So be sure to schedule time in your day to check them all out!
6. Bring your business cards.  You will meet a ton of people and will want to exchange contact information quickly.  Besides following each other on Twitter, you also want to bring your business cards with you to quickly exchange your information.  Be sure to carry a pen with you and jot down notes on the back of cards that people give to you so you are able to make the connection back to that person when you get back home.  QUICK TIP: By the way, in your registration bag, you will get a booklet of entry cards to enter various giveaways in the exhibit hall.  Save the time of filling them out by bringing some tape or a mini stapler and attaching your business card to the entry forms.  This is a TOTAL time saver and you can thank me later for this quick tip!  😀
7. Save some space in your luggage for all of the goodies you'll get!  You will walk away with tshirts, posters, books, hand sanitizers, lip balms, manipulatives, brochures, pamphlets, etc.  You'll want to have somewhere to stash all of that to get it back home.  So, save a little room in your suitcase for all that you'll be bringing back with you! QUICK TIP: You may want to make your way to a Garrett's Popcorn and get you a few bags of the Chicago Mix (caramel and cheese popcorn) to bring back home with you.  I may or may not have brought back an ENTIRE suitcase full of this popcorn the last time I was in Chicago...just sayin'!
8. Take it all in.  Again, you will be 100% totally overwhelmed when you are at ISTE and once you leave.  Take the time to take it all in!  You can't believe how many educators across the world WISH they had the opportunity to attend this amazing experience!  Guess what??  You get to go!!!  So take it all in and be ready to share the knowledge that you gain while you're there!  Don't keep all of the goodness to yourself.  Pass it along!  Each one, teach one!
9. Don't try to do EVERYTHING once you get back to your schools.  Do not, and I repeat, DO NOT attempt to try to come home after ISTE and implement EVERYTHING that you learn.  Pick a few things to become an expert in and perfect those!  You can't be a master at all of the things!
10. Decompress on the way home and in the days to come.  Whew!  You will leave ISTE feeling like a superstar that can and will want implement each and EVERY idea that you have stumbled across in Chicago!  Once you leave ISTE, take the time to decompress and marinate on all the new knowledge that you gain while you're there.  This is an important step and will help you in deciding what you want implement and what sounded good in the moment.  You may get home and realize that something that you were super excited about while you were at ISTE, won't work, or perhaps isn't the right fit for your classroom or your teachers.  Breathe. Review your notes. And THEN figure out your next steps!  

So there you have it.  My top 10 tips for a newbie attending ISTE.  I can't wait to hear all about your experiences while you're there!  And if you see me there, say hi!  I'd love to meet you!  What are you most looking forward to while at ISTE?  Safe travels!