I will continue the blog throughout the week to keep everyone up-to-date on my learning. Consider this my learning log throughout the day.
Sunday night - We arrived and watched an awesome keynote. This was an awesome way to kick off the conference and help us get ready to learn and be inspired! I especially like that his message was very supportive of our idea that we can create new things for our learning rather than just repeating something we've consumed. Looking forward to working on this in the fall and throughout next year.
Dinner at the hotel: A pot full of mussels! Delicious!
Monday Morning was robotics playground.
Using an Ozobot for simple line programming. Makes me think about working as a welding fabricator and using a pattern for the cutting torch to make sprockets for our conveyor belts.
Rather than sit and listen to a lecture we're playing with the devices and figuring things out as we go. It's refreshing to be hands-on and experimenting with the devices. This is a Sphero robotic ball. We have a couple in SOAR somewhere if you ever want to try it out.
Tried to get into an escape room and missed the mark. No worries, though, there are tons of vendors here so I took a walk through to see the kinds of products they had to offer and maybe pick up a little swag. Can be kind of overwhelming, but talking to people is a great way to find inspiration. Actually, came out with a couple of connections for learning opportunities for SOAR students and more than a few freebies.
Kind of like shopping without buying anything.
Made another pass through the vendors and picked up a couple of more squishy balls and some pens. Makes me think about what it would be like to work these events all around the country.
Attended a Zombie Apocalypse session about using the concepts of making a game with learning. Pretty cool. I want to work with students next year on creating learning opportunities that explore gaming and education. What's most cool is it's Project Based Learning - Just like SOAR.
Monday night we got to enjoy some authentic deep dish pizza. Loved it and it inspires me to look at local foods and specialty food from around the state, country and world. (for me it's always going to the the Pasty from the UP!)
Notice the familiar face of Mrs. Foster in the background!
Tuesday, June 26
Kicked off the morning with entertainment (7:30 am) from Musicality - a Chicago group of young people singing for us. They were featured on America's Got Talent in 2016,
After the keynote I was able to get a couple of books signed by the author. I challenge everyone to meet someone you never thought you would or could. Here's a picture of me with Andy Weir - Author of The Martian and his new book Artemis. This made me think about writing, creativity and computer science.
Great end to Tuesday at ISTE involves digital storytelling.
I left a little early, after I got the gist of the presentation and went to have a good think about it. Putting together digital images from Library of Congress, public newspapers and other historical documentation is a great idea for piecing together history and digging deeper into it. Going to see this come up next year.
Finally, after my good think about storytelling I had a chance to do something a little different to close out my Tuesday at ISTE. To get a new perspective on the world, sometimes I need to take a different perspective. Here I am, downtown Chicago, sitting on the floor near the bus pick-up. I'm watching people walk by, professional colleagues of mine, and I think about the experiences they've had today and this week. Each of them comes from someplace else in their career,. Each of them comes from a different place in the world. All are here to experience something new and exciting.
For fifteen minutes I don't tower over anyone. I don't engage in conversation. I just watch (and write this). Sometimes I listen, but it doesn't make a lot of sense if you're not in their moment.
I would love to look into how urban life is significantly different from rural. Through experience, not just by looking it up on the internet.
Wednesday
Last day at ISTE 2018. There are many ways I can describe the experience (scroll down for a reflection) and I will try to capture all sides of it when I do. Before boarding the limo bus to travel from the hotel for the last time, we took a little walk to drop off the luggage in the car since we'll be checking out of the hotel before the conference is over.
We walked through the depths of Mordor in search of Ms. Ziegler's car to put her luggage in. Underneath the city, the parking garage stretched on for what seemed like miles in every direction. Very little traffic and fewer cars than we could even imagine. We even came across what looked like a bunch of cars that a dealership was storing inside. Funny enough, it was extremely hot and humid inside even through outside it was much cooler.
The concrete jungle is a foreign place for me to walk around; navigating through the woods sometimes seems much easier and safer. On the other side, the city definitely gives a person a lot to look up to.
Paused for a minute to take a group picture before splitting up to experience our day.
First session of the day - Crafting Heroes - AR/VR/MR
Cool discussion about the importance of iteration in education. Too often we're focused on the final product (presentation) and don't want people to see the messy, dirty, clumsy process along the way. This is where learning happens. We need to remember this and celebrate the struggle. Cool hands-on, real-world game design with virtual reality and game game design. This inspires me to dig deeper into a game design class and connect with tech and cool. Absolutely cool that students were featured in this session with their projects.
"Use small successes to get bigger ones."
Last session of the ISTE 2018 experience: Funding Your Dreams
Sometimes I'm faced with the harsh reality that the pot of money in education is only so big and to get support for the experiences I want to bring to students, I have to look for someone who is willing to provide that support. Not surprisingly, the ones who take a chance and speak up are the ones who are going to get the attention. This works for your education as well. Many students may sit back and say "boy, I wish I could . . . " This is the wrong thing to say. Instead, try "I wonder how I can." This puts your mind into thinking mode and lets you actively seek out a solution rather than miss out and wonder why. I've enjoyed a wonderful career so far and much of my opportunity comes from my attitude towards my goal.
Make a decision that you'll try some of these things this year:
- Look for possibilities, not just pathways - you might not know what you are passionate about until you try something new
- Rather than "complete" your education by checking off boxes, earn a "complete education" by experiencing and learning all the time
- Make it happen. A stationary rock gathers moss because the moss chooses to be there. A rolling rock gets to where it wants to be because it found motivation
- Share. Let others know what you're doing. You CAN be an inspiration to others
- Listen. Others can be an inspiration to you as well
- Advocate. Be the voice that insists you have every opportunity to learn -
- Respect. Respect yourself. Respect others. Respect = Opportunity.
- Evaluate. Evaluate yourself, your school, your life.
- Appreciate. You have opportunities that others can't even imagine.
