My Last ISTE '10 Post

I probably could go on and on about ISTE '10, but I decided to do one final post on the topic. Mainly just to reflect on the goals I set for myself before I boarded the plane for Denver. So here I go.....

1. Going Public: I still have a real picture of myself on Twitter and I am still okay with it. There was a great discussion during Edubloggercon about transitioning online identities, but I decided to keep The Tech Tiger around. I just need to make sure that I keep progressing, evolving.

2. Be Brave: For the most part I think that I accomplished this goal. I was even joking for awhile that I was a "Bad after-school special," because I would strike up conversations with strangers. There were a couple times where I was a little too quiet or I let people make me feel out of place. Which brings me to a piece of advice for newbies and especially veterans to the conference: Venture out of your comfort zone every now and again. I was a little surprised that some who strongly promote PLNs hung out with the same people all day, every day.

3. Experience as much as I can!: Mission accomplished!
Of course I missed a lot, but I sure had a lot of fun!
I loved having a chance to create at The Constructivist Celebration.




Probably one of the best evenings was the adventure to Casa Bonita. It was fun being a kid with really cool people. There were so many cool life stories that developed from me being open for new experiences.

4. Not to plan every second of the day: this worked out really well. I saw some awesome sessions even though I didn't always get my first pick. I loved my "firsts" including my time in the Google booth and the GCT Birds-of-a Feather session. Most of all I loved that after a school year that seemed a little chaotic, I was in control of my ISTE experience.

Since being home many have asked, "How was it?" In one word, "Amazing!"

Now this chapter is closed I can concentrate on my other summer adventures: Google Geo Teacher Institute, Being a freelance web designer, and some time to share some ideas for the classroom.

Make Time to Play!

There is not one educator that is "really good at tech stuff" that doesn't have multiple jobs and titles in their school. If you are shaking your head right now then you know that these extra duties can really wear you down at times. I will admit that sometimes they are so overwhelming that it distracts me from the part of my job that I love the most: creating with students.

Yesterday I got a rare opportunity: time to play. I was at a workshop with The Art/Tech Guy and other techies during a school day learning a new piece of software for our labs, Frames 4. I got a chance to work with clay and it brought back great memories of Play-doh. I did love those little, yellow tubs and the smell when you took off the lids.

There was laughter, creativity, and learning: who could ask for more? So if you haven't had to play in awhile, I highly recommend it! It was life reminding why I LOVE my job!

In case you were wondering, here was my finished product. There is a million mistakes and for one of the few times in my life, I don't care!