My Brain Hurts After Conferences (In a Good Way)

This time last week I had just returned from FETC trying to detox from the excitement that comes from being at a conference.  It doesn’t matter if it is an EdCamp, local conference, or large conference there is always something that you can ‘take away’ when you meet up with other educators and other schools.  I recently came back from FETC (http://fetc.org/ ) in Orlando and everyone at my school wants to know what I learned and what we can use immediately.  The thing is, for me, it isn’t always a quick process.  I like to ‘sleep on’ the information I learn, process it, and reflect on it thinking about how I can use it at my school.  We hear great projects and resources at conferences but I think that the best usage comes when you think about how a tool would work for your population.  Ask yourself, “Is it the best tool for your population?”  If you believe that technology is personal, as I do, then you know that not every amazing thing is right for every classroom. 

The idea that technology is personal is something I was thinking about as I was going off to FETC.  I was really lucky that for FETC I was invited to the ‘Executive Summit.’  I love that on our tags it even said, “People Who Get It.”  If you are ever invited, take the opportunity to meet some of the other innovative educators with great vision.  The speakers were amazing during this preconference.  A special shout out goes to @JenWomble for putting the session together.  Here were some of my personal notes (In no particular order:)

• Lesson Idea:Teach something to the world (via platform web, video, sound, image, etc.)
• “Isolation from new technology is now a choice educators make.”
  • The longer you wait, the more afraid you’ll be to try something new.
• When planning videoconferencing ask: “Who teaches space best, the astronaut, then find them.”
• EdCamp for Kids.Session w/students and teachers.
• Twitter in 60 seconds
• Think about who you serve, not how you think you best teach
• How to make the student innovators (who are the outliers) the norm?
• Make videos or storytelling on the process of learning.Interview on how you produced project (ex.How you took the picture) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uDDEEHDf1Y
• Student Infographics as resumes.Student resumes as sites are changing college admissions process for those who are low test takers but ‘can do’ (more then portfolio of writing.Portfolio of work as a person.)
• Music Studios as part of literacy (Makerspaces)
• Find good titles for good people/teachers
• Connected Educators (Learning from others not at your school)
  • Don’t wait for workshop.Research online.
• Avoid Logins as too time consuming (We already knew that!
• Getting away from ‘Mind Your Own Business Learning’
  • Ex.Tech not just to replace pencil.Too expensive.

Vendors:  There is so much anticipation for the conference floor to open.  I always notice that many run to the big vendors or go booth to booth for freebies.  Me?  I prefer to head straight to the newbies that stand at small little tables.  That’s where I try to guess where the edtech is going next.  I love to ask the vendors (who are often the inventors/owners) what their inspirations are.  I love to ask them tough educational questions and try to guess what a product will look like when it gets to a more polished level.

• I really liked http://mytrobo.com/ because it synched to Bluetooth so quickly and the apps made logical sense.I see tools like this as another opportunity to have an audio center in a different way.I like how the speaker located in the toy worked without the use of the app as well.
• Another primary tool I’m testing is the Curibot apphttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/curibot/id1054731063?mt=8 because I am curious on how to use the audio encyclopedia as a differentiation tool.
• Since I run a Makerspace in an elementary school I played with tons of electronics and robots but I really enjoyedhttps://www.lightup.io/ because after building circuits (it’s magnetic) you can scan them (with the camera of an iPad and see what you did right or wrong.)I also loved how easy the tutorials were to follow on the app.

As a side note to all of the other teachers I met…Maker can be anywhere.  You can start small, even in the corner of a classroom.  When I started I didn’t have a room for Innovation, I had a table in the corner of a computer lab.  (That’s right, I started by doing ‘centers’ in a computer lab.  It is possible.)  I met tons of people who were as passionate as I and are trying to figure out the combinations of Maker, STEM, STEAM, Coding, Robotics, Problem Based Learning, etc. in the elementary setting.

Now you know why my brain hurts because it is a ton to process.  Since we have to wait a whole year to go to another FETC, L  you may want to check out theeducationcalendar.com  which lists several upcoming ways to meet with other educators all over the country. 

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I'd love to hear what your 'take aways' were from FETC or other conferences below.