Attending my first International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference in New Orleans, what a way to end my first year in my job!
Background: My undergraduate degrees included lots of experience working with the ISTE Standards and organization. I created lessons in my 4th grade and Robotics classes engaging students with the standards with the efforts of creating informed digital citizens. In May 2022, I completed my first year as a middle school technology coordinator and created technology modules aligned with ISTE Standards for Students each semester, per grade. Therefore, my goal was to enhance and evolve my lessons to match current technology trends and student needs by attending and learning at the ISTE Live 2022 conference.
MARCH - Register
I reached out to my admin and asked for their blessing to attend the ISTE Conference in New Orleans over the summer. I registered for the 4-day conference, celebrated with a rabbit hole search down YouTube watching videos from previous conference, then went back preparing for our state testing.
MAY - Get hype
Once school had finished, I finally found the time to begin exploring and researching speakers, poster sessions, and vendors who I was hoping to meet in just a few weeks.
JUNE - Ok, reaaaaaally time to get hype!
The month had come and I was ready to go. I read a few last minute tips for packing and what to expect since I truly had no idea what I had signed myself up for. For a few weeks, I went back and forth between how I would take notes, Google Keep and OneNote? The little things, like note-taking, I hadn't even considered! Thankfully, I had a few days to decide a few more logistical things...
Notes (speakers) - OneNote using my Surface Pro 7
Notes (poster sessions) - Notes app on my iPhone
Keynote speakers (Main stage) - Photos app via photo or video
Expo Hall (vendors) - Notes app on my iPhone
*I looked up the location of the vendors our school currently uses, noted their booths, made sure to stop by, then added a few other vendors I was interested in and was able to learn more about with the hope for creating a connection to reach out to in a way or so when our budget was renewed!
SUNDAY - Day 1
The ISTE Leadership Exchange kicked off my ISTE experience at an early 7am. Led by speaker Kenneth Shelton, I heard from ISTE CEO Richard Culatta, VP of Education Marketing at Microsoft Paige Johnson and many other #EdTech icons. What an honor to be a part of!
Carla Jefferson - Principal, Darlington County Virtual Academy, SC
Sophia Mendoza - Director, Instructional Technology Initiative, LAUSD, CA
Arsenio Romero - Superintendent Los Lunas, NM
Julie Mitchell - Superintendent Rowland Unified School District, CA
Marlon Styles Jr - Superintendent Middletown City School District in Middletown, OH
Brandon Olszewski - Director of Research ISTE
"We need to create 'Teacher Ready' tech'" apps or professional development needs to be all laid out, easy to navigate, user friendly through and through for teachers
Brandon challenged us, leaders in education, to ask our teachers: Which apps or programs do you like? Which apps don't you like? Why? And consider these factors in other platforms or procedures.
Becky Barrett - Ed Specialist Soundtrap for Education
Students can do so much for with podcasts! While podcasts might not be everyone's jam, offering the option to demonstrate or engage in learning through creating podcasts, interviewing, going through the design cycle and putting time into creating a modern project can transform the classroom experience.
One example Becky shared was about a student who learned about their grandparents' past and shared interviews with family members and gave this student a platform and opportunity to learn more about their past, and culture.
Michele Eaton - ISTE Author, Director of Warren Online Academy
"It's not about technology, product or piece of technology, it'll be the people with the best impact...it's a spectrum, leverage blended and online learning, we can...sustain a workforce by changing our professional learning...with momentum, funding, collaboration...resources, supports, products, and people help create sustainable policies, technology, and social wellbeing for all
What a start to the week, thankful and grateful to hear from such powerful and knowledgeable individuals.
Next step, World War II Museum. Side note, does anyone know why it's located in New Orleans? The exhibits were extremely moving and had phenomenal artifacts and interactives.
Last item on the agenda for Day: Opening Mainstage!
Avis Williams, New Orleans Public School District
Brandan "BMIKE" Odums, BMIKE LLC
Richard Culatta, ISTE CEO
Zach King, King Studio LLC
MONDAY - Day 2
Starting with some delicious beneigts, I made my way over to the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center for today's sessions.
Tech Tools that Support Classroom Instructional Strategies (Michelle Hammond & Emily Monroe)
Empowering Student Agency with Student-Run Makerspaces (Martha Bongiorno & Meggan Ford)
So you want to work for an EdTech company?
Coaching Trumps PD (Katherine Goyette & Adam Juarez)
Coaching for Creativity (Dr. Ashley McBride)
From the sessions above, I was floored by the amount of power and change #edtech coaches have in the classroom. Learning to relaunch my Twitter and blog to share my tips and tricks, responding to emails including questions by recording quick Screencastify videos walking teacher through the task, I found a better first step to becoming a more effective Instructional Technology Coordinator.
Before I knew it, it was time for dinner and a stroll down Bourbon Street!
TUESDAY - Day 3
Struggling to wake up after a long day, I found myself bright and early at the Opening Mainstage for Alyssa Carson, Florida Institute of Technology, Robert George, Princeton University, Mary Jo Madda, EdSurge, Dr. Cornel West, Princeton University. Throughout these presentation, the audience found ourselves considering many perspectives and acknowledging the power of collaboration.
Quickly after, I ended up in the Expo Hall visiting some of my favorite vendors!
After a few hours of vendors and checking out the poster sessions, my boyfriend and I scored ourselves tickets to the Ghosts & Legends Tour (which I TOTALLY recommend) to finish out the night because, when in NOLA!
WEDNESDAY - Day 4
For our very, bittersweet last day in NOLA, of course we had to go to Cafe du Monde for breakfast and Parkway Bakery and Tavern for lunch. 10/10 recommend (although, Cafe du Monde is a bit too hyped up if ya ask me).
I started my day at the conference off with a few poster sessions focused around creating an effective coaching approach using menus, interactives, and bite-sized (5-15 min) PDs, and other #edtech tips! Then, I made my way over to the Adaptive Learning Lab created by Google for Education and was wow-ed, to say the least. Although our school is 1:1 Dell computers, I am grateful to have tinkered with a 'Professional Chromebook' and learn about the new features coming soon (i.e. a screencast option with annotated time stamps!). Unfortunately I had to catch my flight and missed the closing speakers, but I was able to sneak into a few more exciting sessions before the ISTE Live 2022 doors shut. Take a look at my pictures below to check out some more awesome presenters!
JULY - Reflect and Recover
Finally home, after a 5-hour delay, I am still overwhelmed by the people, perspectives, and knowledge I obtained in a short 4-day conference with fellow tech nerds. Between the goodie bags and notes, I look forward to implementing what I've learned and sharing it with my students and colleagues this upcoming school year. In the meantime, time to get back to summer vacation!
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