Why ISTE?

Photo by Marcel Leitner

This year will be my second year attending the annual ISTE conference. I have noticed that there are not many graduate students/preservice teachers that attend . In fact, last year, I think there were only two of us and we were just lucky enough to meet each other and share how overwhelmed we were at being there. Like I said: we're pretty rare.

So why do I go when there are so few people that are at my professional level?

Because I like to learn from people more advanced than I am.

Meeting the amazing Shelly Terrell

At the ISTE conference, I am surrounded by people at all stages of their career. Some of the people I've met (and hope to meet) have been teaching and training for 5, 10, 15, 20+ years and they've still maintained their sense of inquiry, discovery, thirst for knowledge. What is even more amazing to me is that despite their experience, they don't care that I am a little "green;" they care about sharing ideas and learning with me. As with any conference or event, I get to meet the people in my learning network face-to-face and move relationships beyond 140 characters and Google+ hangouts. I get to have conversations with people that are doing things in their classrooms that I hope to throughout my career. With every conversation, I am challenged and inspired. Once I come home, I don't keep what I learn to myself; I bring it back to my classes and share them with my peers so they are learning with me. I am really looking forward to four days of learning and spending time with the people who have been such a huge part of my learning and development as a teacher.

See you all in San Diego! :-)

Trial and Error and Lots O' Fun

As ISTE 2011 comes to a close, I learned a lot about being at a conference like this for the first time. Here's what I've learned:

1. Follow advice that you're given. My previous post mentioned all the great advice that I had given to prepare. Some I followed and some I didn't... and there were consequences. One blogger suggested getting plenty of rest and staying hydrated. I was running all over the place and found myself feeling dizzy halfway through the conference. I was also told to leave any session that wasn't serving me and I didn't and that session quickly became wasted time. Bad idea. Someone suggested wearing a backpack. I thought "That's not very stylish" so I brought a laptop bag. Now I'll probably be at the chiropractor for the rest of the summer from carrying around my 10,000 pound laptop. These suggestions are given for a reason so follow them!
2. Meet people. I had the chance to meet and chat with the new ISTE president Holly Jobe and she told me one of the great things about ISTE is that there are so many people to meet and she was right. Chatting with people in hallways and other random places, I met people from all over the world with some fascinating stories. I even met another preservice teacher, which hardly ever happens. It's the amazing the kind of relationships that can begin with saying "Hi."
3. Have fun! At the Newbie Lounge, someone asked me if I was feeling overwhelmed and I said I wasn't because I was having so much fun! I had my palm read, played phone games, watched dancing robots, learned words in new languages and laughed until my stomach hurt. How can you feel overwhelmed when you're having so much fun?

More thoughts and reflections from ISTE are coming but hopefully my trials and errors will serve others.