My #ISTE2016 Nugget

I’ve never been to ISTE before. This was my first trip to ‘the room where it happens’ and it didn’t disappoint. I arrived on Saturday morning and within five minutes of stepping into the conference center, I heard people geeking out about tech tools, hashtags, and backpacks. I was right where I needed to be.

Prior to the trip friends were asking why I’d make the trek all the way to Denver and the answer was simple, the people. My goal for ISTE this year was catching up and meeting people. Every time I go to a conference I learn just as much, if not more, from the people in attendance. This conference was no different.

I was fortunate to connect with so many people from the internet that I could not contain my happiness. Not only did I get to reunite with my Google Innovator #MTV16 family, but I got to meet the many of the amazing #COL16 cohort. Then there was the #tosachat, #connectedtl, and #personalizedPD friends. Then it was great to connect with leaders from EdTechTeam, BreakoutEDU, and CUE.

Throughout every conversation, I noticed one theme. We all are struggling; some of us need help with getting leadership on board, gamification, robots, pushing beyond the S of SAMR, or getting our friends connected to a PLN. But what I love about the educational technology community is we don’t give up and we share. No one had the answer, but we all were willing to share where we are in the process.

So, when asked what’s my one nugget from ISTE it isn’t a tool, app, device, or program. It doesn't let perfect get in the way of progress.

I didn't forget, honest.

Over the past two months, I've been fortunate to attend two educational technology events. The first was the Antelope Valley EdTech Summit. This event opened with a keynote by Alice Keeler.

While I don't aways agree with her tweets, I definitely agreed with this quote. During her Alice brought Christine Pinto to the stage to present the amazing work she is doing with technology and her TK students.

Christine was incredibly energetic and showed everyone in the audience that if her TK students can use technology yours can too! The final speaker of the day was Naomi Harm.

Her keynote was filled with little tips and tricks but I thought this quote was especially important for educators. 

Today, I've had the opportunity to participate in the Think. Create. Share. conference at Cal State Fullerton. Dr. Jonathan Plucker provided the opening and closing keynotes for the event.

During his keynote, Dr. Pluker debunked some myths about creativity and this was one of my favorites.

The First in a Series

This past weekend I started a new personal tradition called #CanvaKeynote. My goal is to make one Canva image for every keynote I listen to. Here are the first three I created at the Imperial Valley #GAFESummit.

The inaugural image was inspired by Dee Lanier and his #ThinkOpen initiative.

The second image was from Chris Bell and his day two opening keynote. 

The final image was from Jason Markey and his Chance Favors the Connected School (Working Title keynote.

I don't want to give too much away about the keynotes, because I hope you get the chance to hear them for yourself, but I hope you like these images and check out these amazing men on Twitter.

I can't wait to go to my next event and continute to add to this series.