This week has been crazy for me. I started off in Apple Valley, then went to Pasadena for the CETPA conference, then from there directly to Nashville for ACTFL. I’m tired of walking around with a backpack. I’m also sick of looking at my computer.
#CETPA2017
CETPA is the California Education Technologist Professional Association. This is the third year I’ve gone and it is one of my favorite conferences. First, the entire tech department is there. The data guy. The blinky lights and switches guy. The guy who makes the decisions about the data and blinky lights and switches. And then me and Jed, the teachers. (When I say guy, I literally mean guy. There’s never a line in the women’s bathroom at CETPA.) It’s nice because I get to interact with all of the cogs of technology that have an impact on instruction. In one of the sessions, I learned about new updates to the SIS (student information system- where you keep your grades) that will have huge impact for our CTE Pathways and how they pull data for interventions. I also went to a session given by lawyers about the rules and regulations regarding drone use on campus which impacts instruction for the teachers who want to use drones. I learned more about 508 ADA website compliance for schools’ website. I even coded with Swift Playground app on the iPad. Or, I learned how to show the elementary after school teachers in my district how to use Swift Playground with their students because I HEART STEM for KEN DAVIS. (He’s our ASES Coordinator- and only for him would I go to an elementary coding session.)
CETPA isn’t a conference where my creative side gets fed, but it’s information that helps me better serve teachers as my school and therefore very valuable.
#Innovatorsmindset
I left the lawyers and regulations and coding and flew to Nashville.
On the plane I read George Couros’ The Innovator’s Mindset. I only had this in my bag to read because the guy who leads the Technology Leader’s Network in the Inland Empire wanted to do a book study and he was so enthusiastic about it, I decided that no matter what I’d get that book read just for him. I read it on the plane. The whole thing. Because it was that good. George Couros said to ask yourself if you’d want to be a student in your classroom. Well, I took one look at my lesson for next week and decided I didn’t even want to be the teacher in that classroom.
More on that later….
#ACTFL17
ACTFL, oh, my goodness, ACTFL.
Everyone is so creative! I went to some great sessions on culture, reading, and engagement. I’ll have more information about those in a later post.
I presented on Saturday and I was nervous- even though I had presented on Ditching the Powerpoint at the CLTA conference. I didn’t know if people would come or if they would be interested. But they came, and kept coming and filled up the room and then sat on the floor in every available space!! And stayed! Everyone had such positive comments. I had a handout- which I’m putting here, but it was just to get people to the website I made with resources. If you came to my session thank you! And if you didn’t here’s the link to my website with resources.
And now I am ready to ditch my backpack for a week!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Actfl Handout