Feelin’ Groovy!

I’ve heard about the big educational technology conference, ISTE. This June it was in Denver and 18,000 educators were in attendance. I didn’t feel I was ready for such a big conference and felt I’d be lost in their sessions. It’s hard to know what sessions are valuable for me when there is so much to choose from. I felt this way when I went to NCEA in Minneapolis in April. There was so much to choose from and so hard to tell from the paragraph description what would be a benefit for me as a classroom teacher.??

Podstock was different. There were 102 attendees of people Just. Like. Me! People who are geeky and techy and enjoy sharing, learning and growing. People who are passionate about what they do in their classroom. People who like to try the latest gadgets and tools. People who are just plain fun!

My husband drove my friend Lori and me down to Wichita. While we were at the conferences he worked on some lessons for his new school year and visited their art museum and botanical garden. He enjoyed his time in Wichita too.??

Podstock started out with the presenters giving a 30 second description of ‘why I should attend their session’ pitch. This was a perfect way to kick off the conference. It was homey and fun. Shout outs were given for attendees from far and wide. Podstock is sponsored by ESSDACK which stands for Educational Services and Staff Development Association of Central Kansas, so many of the attendees were from Kansas. But there were people from Texas, Arkansas, New York, and even Oregon!??

I picked up many tools that I plan on using right away http://www.tagxedo.com/ is one of them. One teacher shared that she used this for Mother’s Day and her students typed in words to describe their mom and put it in a heart shape. This would be a perfect gift for my 3rd graders to give their moms!??

The cool part of this conference is that everyone had their laptop. One session used another favorite tool, Wallwisher.??http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/podstock As the presenter shared what apps they liked for their iPod and iPad, we typed on the Wallwisher what apps we liked. I found that a perfect way to share. I had the name of the app to look up later, there was no need for repeats or the question, ‘how do you spell that?’

I also enjoyed the closing speech. The presenter set up a Google Doc for us all to share our thoughts. It was so cool! I’ve heard about back channelling which can be described as a digital way to pass notes. But this was even better. Some people were typing in the notes from the presentation. Some were adding reflections. And some were even commenting and changing the colors of the type! Here is the link to the Google Doc.??http://is.gd/dyR5b

But the best part of this whole conference was being able to meet, face to face, the people who are my Twitter and Plurk friends. People who are in my PLN (Personal Learning Network) These people have shared ideas with me and commented on my ideas. They have helped me with my wiki by encouraging me and sharing their projects.??

I was even able to set up a new project for the upcoming school year. Mary, who teaches music at a Catholic school in Dallas, TX shared their school’s Saint project which takes place in November. It sounds like an amazing project! Mary jokingly referred to it at “Saints-a-Palooza” I would love to duplicate it at my school, but I’m not sure I can this year. Their Religious Education Coordinator picks 12 Saints for the whole school to learn. During the last week of November the morning announcements contain hints on the Saint of the day. If your classroom guesses, your room earns a sticker. The closing activity is similar to the old TV show “What’s My Line”. Several Junior High students are the participates and the whole school guesses, with applause, who is the real Saint. This is what I’d like to connect with Mary’s school. I think I will call it ‘Skyping with the Saints’.??

I’m getting excited about the new school year and using the new tools I learned at Podstock. I also came away with my classroom theme for the 2010-2011 school year. It’s going to have the 60’s theme. How does “Peace, Love, and Technology in Room 113” or “The Groovy Students are in Room 113” sound???

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJBhdKrwTOc?wmode=transparent]